Asta Nielsen Movies
Silent screen actress Asta Nielsen was renowned worldwide. Considered "the most fascinating personality of the primitive era," she made over seventy films in her 22-year career. Prior to her silver screen debut in 1910's Afgrunden, the Denmark born actress worked in the theater for ten years. She made Afgrunden against the advice of her theatrical peers, but it earned her immediate recognition for her naturalistic, subtle style that was in direct contrast to the broader acting style affected by most silent film performers. Soon after the film's release, she received a contract offer from a German film company. Three years later she became a world-renowned star. Part of Nielsen's naturalness on film came from her ability to 'live herself into' her characters. In addition to acting, she also participated in other aspects of filmmaking including the selection of locales, props, character development, casting, costuming, and publicity. While most of her films were melodramas, such as Die Verraeterin (1911), Nielsen always endeavored to expand her range. As a result, she has been described as not only, an extremely erotic actress, but also a gifted comedienne in films like Das Liebes-ABC (1916). In 1920, she formed her own production company. In 1932, she reluctantly made one sound film Ummoegliche Liebe and then permanently retired. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1925
G. W. Pabst's The Joyless Street (Die freudlose Gasse) is an unvarnished study of post-World War I Vienna. Plagued with skyrocketing inflation, the Austrian metropolis becomes the domain of every scurrilous form of profiteering. The central character is a crooked butcher, whose negative influence dominates the lives of virtually everyone on a single Viennese street. The supporting characters include a poverty-stricken professor, his beleaguered daughter, an idealistic American Red Cross worker and a slinky harlot. Each character is photographed in a symbolic manner underlining his or her basic personality: the domineering butcher is photographed from a low angle, emphasizing his corrupt power, while the professor is lensed in long shot, highlighting the bareness of his apartment-and by extension, his life. The stars of The Joyless Street include Asta Nielsen and Werner Krauss, but latter-day audiences will find more interest in the supporting part played by young Greta Garbo. Incidentally, despite the claims of many film historians, Marlene Dietrich does not appear as an extra. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Asta Nielsen, Greta Garbo, (more)
- 1921
Denmark's leading silent-screen actress Asta Nielsen had the audacity to play the title role in Hamlet, produced by her in Germany and co-directed by Svend Gade. Nielsen actually succeeded in turning the Bard's perhaps finest play into a star vehicle for herself. Mistakenly believing her husband to have died, a scheming Gertrude raises her daughter as a boy and heir-apparent. Nielsen's Hamlet is not only Horatio's best friend in this version, but she falls in love with him as well, thus becoming Ophelia's rival. The scenes between Hamlet and Horatio (and to a lesser degree between Hamlet and Fortinbras) are quite intense in what, for all the world, appear as homosexual trysts. Nielsen did not base her prince(ss) of Denmark entirely on Shakespeare, obviously, but also on a then much-talked-about novel by one Professor E. Vining. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- 1910
This early Danish silent film was more than any other the reason for that country's international reputation for sexual melodramas. The story is a lurid tale of a music teacher (Asta Nielsen) who's lured away from her stolid fiancee (Robert Dinesen) by a handsome, but ultimately faithless circus performer (Poul Reumert). The plot is typical for the era and the film's importance was more due to the naturalistic performances given by the small cast, especially Asta Nielsen, who made an auspicious screen debut. The film became a cause celebre in many places because of one scene in particular: The girl and her lover perform an erotic Parisian "Apache" dance, which was considered extremely vulgar at the time. (Viewed today, the dancing is at best clumsy.) Afgrunden, re-titled Woman Always Pays, reached American shores in 1912 but was so heavily censored as to be virtually meaningless. Nielsen, who married the film's director, set designer Urban Gad, went on to become Europe's most admired screen goddess. Working mainly in Germany (where she was nicknamed "Die Asta" and had theaters named after her), Nielsen finally succumbed to the call of Hollywood in the late 1920s. She didn't stay long and never filmed there (the California sun played havoc with her Scandinavian soul) and is unjustly forgotten today. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
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