Movie spotlight
The Four Devils
As children, Fritz and Adolphe are sold to a traveling showman, who trains them to become circus artists. Together with the two girls Louise and Aimée, they perform to audiences night after night while being subjected to a harsh training regimen and daily beatings. As the four friends grow up to become young adults, their master dies, and they begin to perform to an enthusiastic audience as The Four Devils. Countess Taube, who regularly watches their performances, falls in love with Fritz. Despite the budding love between him and Aimée, Fritz embarks on a relationship with the Countess, causing Aimée to devise a fatal revenge plan. (stumfilm.dk)
Insights
Plot Summary
This silent film, based on a novel by Carl Hauptmann, is set in a psychiatric hospital. It follows the story of a doctor who is obsessed with creating a more humane and scientific approach to treating his patients. However, his methods are challenged by the staff and the patients themselves, leading to psychological turmoil and dramatic revelations.
Critical Reception
As a lost film, "The Four Devils" has no verifiable critical reception or audience reviews from its initial release. Its significance is primarily in its historical context as an early work by F. W. Murnau and its relation to German Expressionism, though it predates the movement's peak.
What Reviewers Say
Significance as an early F. W. Murnau work.
Represents a precursor to German Expressionist themes.
Lost film status makes direct assessment impossible.
Google audience: No audience reviews are available for this lost film.
Fun Fact
"The Four Devils" is considered a lost film, with no known surviving copies in existence. Its narrative and visual style are known only through contemporary reviews and Murnau's own notes.
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