Stale, slow-moving drama featuring Asta Nielsen and Valdemar Psilander, two of Denmark's biggest stars at the time. They give solid performances, but the simple plot is stretched out to nearly 45 minutes for no good reason as it could quite easily have been told in twenty.
4 Reviews
Correctness And Efficiency
FerdinandVonGalitzien23 March 2007
Camille is a pretty girl who has more than one job in the arts world ( she is an occasional actress and a ballerina ) and a very complicated love life that this German Count will try to explain. Camille loves Jean, a playwright, but he is having an affair with Herr Simon's wife. Herr Simon, a vigorous Dane, has no remorse using the whip "à la Pola style" on his wife when he finally discovers that she is deceiving him. However it is Paul, a painter, who really loves Camille. Paul even dares to paint his lover, a very risky business because everybody knows that it is not very advisable to mix work with love affairs.
With such a story, the film "Balletdanserinden" is full of the comings and goings of occasional lovers, dates and escapes, meetings and mix-ups and, the least that could be expected in such a tangle of loving and fussing, a tragic final ending for one of the characters and an illuminating and even happy outcome for another one.
Damen Nielsen stars together with Herr Psilander ( this time this handsome Danish fellow is not the main character of the story )in this exemplary "Nordisk" film production directed by Herr August Blom. As always one must emphasize the correctness and efficiency of those films productions, as they are very well done by the versatile film directors of this Danish company.
And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count too must sort out another fuss involving more than one Teutonic and fat heiress
Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/
With such a story, the film "Balletdanserinden" is full of the comings and goings of occasional lovers, dates and escapes, meetings and mix-ups and, the least that could be expected in such a tangle of loving and fussing, a tragic final ending for one of the characters and an illuminating and even happy outcome for another one.
Damen Nielsen stars together with Herr Psilander ( this time this handsome Danish fellow is not the main character of the story )in this exemplary "Nordisk" film production directed by Herr August Blom. As always one must emphasize the correctness and efficiency of those films productions, as they are very well done by the versatile film directors of this Danish company.
And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count too must sort out another fuss involving more than one Teutonic and fat heiress
Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/
Disappointing
Reichswasserleiche7 April 2009
Warning: Spoilers
I am getting a bit skeptical of Danish silents, but I suppose I am being quick to judge since I've only watched two. I should look for early Carl Theodor Dreyer works and see if they are in a similar style as the ones I'm watching, but sadly Dreyer directed after the films I'm watching, so maybe his films won't be a good way to compare. Anyway, Balletdanserinden, I found out, is directed by a famous director during the Danish golden age in cinema, and despite all this, I was disappointed. This film felt so trivial and that it was a film that wasn't worth my time. That was a bit harsh and maybe I do take that back, but this film was something that one could POSSIBLY call cute (seeing Asta Nielsen in a tutu of sorts was adorable), maybe this film can be called a (melo)drama, and well, in the end I was like, "Well now! That's that?!" To me, the whole film was rather confusing. Camille falls in love with Jean and Jean supposedly loves only her yet he cheats on her with Mrs. Simon (who I assume is a very wealthy woman). Mr. Simon finds out about his cheating wife and is about to beat her with a whip when Mrs. Simon, I assume, says that she'll stop and all is forgiven. Alas, Mrs. Simon can't help her urges and Camille finds out that Jean is still cheating on her with Mrs. Simon, thus Camille, in a fit of jealousy, tells Mr. Simon about everything and when Mr. Simon decides to either kill Jean or Mrs. Simon (it's a bit unclear), Camille regrets telling Mr. Simon about the whole affair and finds Jean and Mrs. Simon, who are not-so surprisingly together, and warns them about Mr. Simon. Camille exchange clothes with Mrs. Simon so that when Mr. Simon sees Camille walk out of the house with Jean in Mrs. Simon's clothes, he'll think that he caught her in the act, but it's really another woman. Camille covers her face with a veil so that her identity is not discovered by Mr. Simon. Mrs. Simon walks out when her husband is still outside and when Mr. Simon sees his wife, he chases her and kills her with a gun. When Camille finds out about this, she becomes ill, but her friend, Paul (Valdemar Psilander) takes her away to his house and all is good since Camille gets along with his parents. The final scene confused me at first because the two male characters looked the same, but I figured it all out thanks to the BFI website. Camille is alone when she sees Jean. Jean is glad to see her and he kisses her hand when Paul sees them, but Camille all too easily leaves Jean for Paul and the film ends.
Nielsen's performance was below-par and I thought she over-acted in some scenes. I felt as if she was nothing special especially since the other actors were pretty naturalistic in their performance. The death scene with Mrs. Simon wasn't as bad as the one in Afgrunden and overall, nothing too spectacular in the acting department.
The final scene disappointed me the most. There wasn't even a moment when Camille thought for a second before she made a choice with which man she'll be with, but she just went from one guy to another.
I was happy that it shows Camille in a positive light since she got over her jealously and "for the sake of love" (I think that is what the intertitle said.), she tried to save Mrs. Simon and Jean and she stayed with the nicer guy.
FILM BLOG - http://sachlichkeit.net
Nielsen's performance was below-par and I thought she over-acted in some scenes. I felt as if she was nothing special especially since the other actors were pretty naturalistic in their performance. The death scene with Mrs. Simon wasn't as bad as the one in Afgrunden and overall, nothing too spectacular in the acting department.
The final scene disappointed me the most. There wasn't even a moment when Camille thought for a second before she made a choice with which man she'll be with, but she just went from one guy to another.
I was happy that it shows Camille in a positive light since she got over her jealously and "for the sake of love" (I think that is what the intertitle said.), she tried to save Mrs. Simon and Jean and she stayed with the nicer guy.
FILM BLOG - http://sachlichkeit.net
Trifling
Cineanalyst24 May 2006
Two scenes in this film, "The Ballet Dancer", led me to believe there might be something worthwhile in it: a play within the play that is this film and a painting sequence. I was reminded of the work of Russian silent film director Yevengi Bauer, especially his "The Dying Swan" (Umirayushchii Lebed) (1917), which was about a painter and a ballet dancer. Additionally, Bauer included references to theatre throughout his film oeuvre. But, Bauer was also an artistic genius.
I was also led to believe there might be something to this film because August Blom seems to have been a talented filmmaker. In addition to directing "Atlantis" (1913), he made two intelligent little films in 1911, "Temptations of the Great City" (Ved Fængslets Port) and "Desdemona" (For Åbent Tæppe). But, alas, there's nothing worthwhile here.
The film centers on a story of adultery, which isn't very interesting--rather, it's merely sensational. The film boasts Denmark's two biggest stars of the era, Asta Nielsen and Valdemar Psilander, but I'm not a big fan of either. "The Ballet Dancer" is like most Danish films of the time, sensational but unfulfilling. There are good things to say about some of these films, and I've said them elsewhere when deserved. It seems to me that Danish films became set to fit a mold, and while I can see how a great filmmaker like Carl Theodor Dreyer came out of it and why the country in some ways led the world in the art in the early silent era, I also see why the national cinema largely faded away.
I was also led to believe there might be something to this film because August Blom seems to have been a talented filmmaker. In addition to directing "Atlantis" (1913), he made two intelligent little films in 1911, "Temptations of the Great City" (Ved Fængslets Port) and "Desdemona" (For Åbent Tæppe). But, alas, there's nothing worthwhile here.
The film centers on a story of adultery, which isn't very interesting--rather, it's merely sensational. The film boasts Denmark's two biggest stars of the era, Asta Nielsen and Valdemar Psilander, but I'm not a big fan of either. "The Ballet Dancer" is like most Danish films of the time, sensational but unfulfilling. There are good things to say about some of these films, and I've said them elsewhere when deserved. It seems to me that Danish films became set to fit a mold, and while I can see how a great filmmaker like Carl Theodor Dreyer came out of it and why the country in some ways led the world in the art in the early silent era, I also see why the national cinema largely faded away.
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