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Pierrot
Also known as The Prince and the Actor in the USA : [Skuespilleren og Prinsen]
(1908) Denmark
B&W : One reel
Directed by (unknown)
Cast: (unknown)
Nordisk Films Kompagni production; distributed by Nordisk Films Kompagni. / Produced by Ole Olsen. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format. / The film was released in the USA by Great Northern Film Company on 3 July 1909.
Drama.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Henry B is an idolized Pierrot-impersonator at a large theater He shares the triumphs with his beloved, the beautiful Jeannette, who is prima-donna at the same theater. The two are very happy together, until Jeannette one day yields to the temptations of another man’s riches and elopes with him. The poor B. is very grieved, but as he is appointed director for a princely court theater, he has so much work to do that he almost forgets his misfortune. Two years have passed, and we find B., as theater director, at his office. He expects some actors and actresses, who are to be engaged. They arrive and one of them is Jeannette. All the memories of old and happy days come back to him. His old love for Jeannette awakes and becomes stronger every day. He does not know that the prince also loves Jeannette, and that she on her part prefers the love of a prince to that of an artist. One evening he goes to see her in her elegantly furnished apartments. She receives him very coldly and asks him to leave, as she expects the prince. He gets wild with rage, and seeing a full-sized picture of the prince hanging on the wall, he spits on it. As he turns round the prince is standing right in front of him. B. is now sentenced to imprisonment with hard labor for life for lese-majesty. Twenty years later the old prince, who is still stately and buoyant, visits the prison. The face of an old, white-haired prisoner recalls an old forgotten memory to his mind. He asks the manager about this man, and his supposition is confirmed. It is B., who has now passed twenty years in prison for the sake of his love. He is now immediately released and allowed an annuity, which enables him to spend the rest of his life without financial worry. Shortly afterwards we see the old man, broken in body and mind, sitting in his chair in a plain little room. He knows that he is dying, and has sent for a minister to administer the Sacrament to him. The minister enters, accompanied by a deaconess. It is Jeannette. When he sees her a happy smile brightens his face, before his eyes are closed. Still in death, he holds his hands on the head of Jeannette, who kneels down by him, weeping mournfully.
Survival status: The film is presumed lost.
Current rights holder: (unknown) [Denmark]; Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Actors
Listing updated: 21 November 2022.
References: Mottram-Danish p. 40 : Website-IMDb.
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