Der Müde Tod

Morbidly engaging, this silent German fantasy begins with a frame story followed by three separate stories of ill-fated love - independent from each other but ultimately connected to the fate of the film’s two main protagonists.

It starts off in suitable foreboding mood when a young couple in love (Lil Dagover and Walter Janssen) are riding in a carriage along an idyllic country road somewhere in Germany though the exact time, that is to say the precise century, is not specified… judging from the clothes it could be the late 18th or 19th century. Along the way they pick up a mysterious stranger (Bernhard Goetze), however, the couples’ generous gesture turns out to be a mistake as unbeknownst to them, the stranger is in fact the Grim Reaper. In town, the couple rent a room in a nearby Inn whilst the stranger proceeds to purchase a small piece of land next to a cemetery and erects a big wall around it. That same evening, the couple visit the tavern for a meal and Death sits at the table opposite, although he seems invisible to the young woman. Momentarily distracted, the woman returns to the table to find her beloved has suddenly disappeared and she traces him direction cemetery wall. There, she sees a group of ghosts walk by and vanish through the wall, her lover among them. He cannot hear her, he cannot see the desperation and fear in her face. Seconds later she spots the mysterious stranger from the carriage again and now recognises him as Death. Unable to accept the fact that her beloved had been taken from her so prematurely, she decides to confront Death in an attempt to win back her lover. Leading her to a dark room with lots of candles, Death explains to the woman that three candles are flickering, meaning that three lives could be extinguished any minute. Upon realising her sorry state he takes pity on her and offers her a deal: if she is able to save one of these lives with true love she shall be united again with her betrothed.

Thus the story of the First Light unfolds, set somewhere in Arabia during the holy month of Ramadan. Princess Zobeide (Dagover), the Caliph’s sister, happens to be in love with an infidel (Janssen)… no prices for guessing there won’t be a happy ending for no one makes a fool of the Caliph (Eduard von Winterstein)! A sumptuous sequence with impressive costumes and architecture, though the performers look anything but Middle-Eastern.

The story of the Second Light is set during the famous Carnival in Venice where noblewoman Monna (Dagover) enjoys a visit from her secret lover, Gianfrancesco (Janssen) – a man below her status. When Girolamo, an influential council member and Monna’s fiancé, gets wind of the affair he takes his revenge by revealing to Monna his plans of executing Gianfracesco. In a desperate attempt to save her lover’s life, Monna hatches a plan to get rid of her fiancé but a case of mistaken identity seals his fate… and the second candle burns out.

The story of the Third Light is set in ancient China and concerns master magician A Hi (Paul Biensteldt) who receives a letter from the Emperor with the request to perform the most impressive magic tricks at his birthday party. Failure to impress him will result in A Hi losing his head. Sure enough he impresses the Emperor with all sorts of trickery and we too are treated to some wonderful special effects. Unfortunately the Emperor fancies Tiao Tsien (Dagover), one of A Hi’s assistants, while Tiao is in love with Liang (Janssen), who is A Hi’s second assistant. A recipe for disaster and once again there will be no happy end as the last of the three candles burns out.

Death has won but decides to offer the grieving young bride-to-be one last chance: if she is able to find another soul to replace her lover in death he will return him to her, although the woman only has one hour to find a replacement – will love be stronger than death?
Der müde Tod (aka Destiny aka The Weary Death) is one of Lang’s earlier films (it was made in 1921) and received mixed reviews upon its initial release: while some praised the visual grandeur others criticised the film for being too ‘un-Germanic’ – presumably because none of the three sub-plot stories were set in Germany but Arabia, Italy and China instead. Well, isn’t that what movies should be all about? Transport the viewer into far-away realms?

This brand-new 2K restoration looks simply brilliant, with various sequences tinted and a score by Cornelius Schwehr. The film offers the original German inter-titles with optional English subtitles and the Dual Format Edition comes with a 44-page booklet.