Cape Forlorn (1930)

Inhalt - Synopsis

Auf einem isolierten Leuchtturm vor Küste Neuseelands lebt und arbeitet Captain Kell gemeinsam mit seinen Gehilfen Cass und Parsons. Kell heiratet die junge, hübsche Eileen, die bei ihm einzieht und durch ihre Anwesenheit das Leben der Männer verändert. Eileen hasst die Einsamkeit des Turms und beginnt eine Affäre mit Cass. Doch als der schiffbrüchige Gangster Kingsley bei ihnen Unterschlupf findet, führt Eileens Zuneigung zu dem mysteriösen Fremden die fatale Auflösung des klaustrophobischen Kammerspiel herbei.

Captain Kell is running an isolated lighthouse off the coast of New Zealand with the help of his assistants Cass and Parsons. Kell marries the young and beautiful Eileen, and when she moves in with him, her presence changes the lives of the men. Eileen, who hates the solitude of the place, starts having an affair with Cass. But when shipwrecked gangster Kingsley washes up on the shore, Eileen's affection for the mysterious stranger leads the claustrophobic chamber piece to its fatal conclusion.

Kritik

Quite a good piece of dramatic work in its way but possibly too much of the same note for box office. Picture is an adaptation of Fran Harvey’s stage play. No rave in London. As film material it suffers through being too much on the note of sombre tragedy and has one habit which possibly struck the director as being clever. This is the knack, repeated by Dupont frequently throughout the picture, of introducing comedy anti-climax at the end of dramatic passages. It’s a dangerous thing to do and the laughs ought not to be inserted.
First and foremost this is a cameraman’s picture. Claude Friese-Greene, recognised as one of the best men in the studio here, has turned out the finest piece of photography yet emerging from an English studio. The characteristic Dupont stunt of panning all round staircases and dithering with close-ups of legs are all in the film, but you shouldn’t blame the cameraman for that.

Chap.: Cape Forlorn. In: Variety, 28.1.1931.


Regie: Ewald André Dupont. Regie-Assistenz: John Harlow. Buch: Victor Kendall, Ewald André Dupont; nach dem Bühnenstück »Cape Forlorn« von Frank Harvey. Kamera: Claude Friese-Greene. Kamera-Assistenz: Walter Blakeley, Hal Young. Bauten: Alfred Junge, Fritz Maurischat. Schnitt: A. C. Hammond. Ton: Alec Murray. Musik, Musikalische Leitung: John Reynders.

Darsteller: Fay Compton (Eileen Kell), Frank Harvey (»Captain« William Kell), Ian Hunter (Gordon Kingsley), Edmund Willard (Henry Cass), Donald Calthrop (Parsons).

Produktion: British International Pictures Ltd. (BIP), London. Produktionsleitung: Ewald André Dupont. Drehzeit: 19.8. – Oktober 1930. Drehort: B.I.P. Studios Elstree, Hart. Länge: 89 min, 7970 ft = 2429 m. Format: 35mm, s/w, 1:1.19, RCA Photophone. Uraufführung: 8.1.1931, London (Regal, Trade Show).