Valdemar Psilander

The only surviving excerpt of a documentary on film production in Weimar Germany, featuring the different personalities of several famous directors of the era at work on the set including Fritz Lang, Robert Wiene, and E.A. Dupont.

The ballet pupil Camilla Favier makes for a quick success and falls for the author Jean Mayol. She discovers a love letter to him from a rich married woman and is devastated. In revenge she reveals the secret love story for the cuckolded husband and his guests at a big party. Later she finds a new love message from the wayward wife and brings it to the husband, who gets furious, grabs a pistol and incites the climax of the story.

Of the films that Psilander made at Nordisk during the first two years it is the film Dødsspring til Hest fra Cirkuskuplen (The Great Circus Catastrophe), that is worth noting. Maybe not so much for Psilander's acting, but for the sensational, action-packed storylines that he was in. This film shows the other side of Psilander's fame: his daring. He was an excellent rider and looked fantastic in long riding boots and elegant riding jackets and this skill was exploited in his films.

A corrupt young man somehow keeps his youthful beauty, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.

Stella, a circus princess, has two suitors: young, handsome Count Waldberg and the greying, hidebound jeweller Hirsch. Stella’s love for Waldberg drives Hirsch mad with jealousy. He will stop at nothing to be near the woman of his dreams. When the count loses a staggering sum to the jeweller in a gambling duel, Stella embarks on a fateful mission to save her beloved’s honour. (Stumfilm.dk)

Mrs. Hellertz is distraught about her son Aage, who – in spite of a good pay and generous support from home – manages to spend every penny on debauchery in the night life. He indebts himself deeply and falls into the clutches of a malicious loan shark who is out for Mrs. Hellertz's fortune. To complicate things further, Aage starts a relationship with the loan shark's beautiful daughter. (Stumfilm.dk)

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Young hothead Billy, quick to speak and drifting into a life of crime, has many encounters the community's lay preacher, John Redmond. Billy's conscience stirs as Redmond recounts his life's story. Holger-Madsen supplied three different endings for the film's various releases.

FRAGMENT | Wild love drives a woman to steal money from her own father. It is the lodging lieutenant Von Bremer, who has charmed her with empty words. Von Bremer leaves with the money, while the father throws the woman out. Twenty-two years later, a young man seeks accommodation with Von Bremer and his wife. Von Bremer suddenly discovers cracks in his happy marriage. Will he discover in time that it’s his nemesis that has caught up with him after all these years? (Stumfilm.dk)

On a holiday, the family Gram meets a young, mysterious man who turns out to be a Mormon. In spite of her fiancèe's presence, the daughter Nina is drawn to the stranger. Hypnotized, she soon follows his every step. When she finally awakes from her trance, she finds herself on a ship to Utah, in the clutches of a dangerous man. (Stumfilm.dk)

A satire on movie newsreels combines with humorous narration of silent screen footage in this one reel comedy short.

Two friends, Fritz and Theodor, make the acquaintance of Christine and Mizzi, who are also friends. Fritz is immediately captivated by Christine, who is bashful and modest as opposed to the eager, effervescent Mizzi. But even though the love between the two grows, Christine is not the only woman in Fritz’s life. His affair with a married woman will prove to have fatal consequences.

The merchant’s son Aage wants to save his father from bankruptcy by marrying the rich man’s daughter Irma. Aage dutifully courts her, although not a single spark flies between them. One day, Irma’s household receives guests, and Solveig, an 18-year-old beauty, opens Aage’s eyes as to which love he’s about to sacrifice for the sake of his father. Will duty outweigh love for Aage? (Stumfilm.dk)

When Lucca meets Lt Victor quite by chance, he sweeps her off her feet in a whirlwind romance and the couple are quickly engaged. Unfortunately, the cheerful lieutenant turns out to be a drunkard, so the engagement is called off and Victor leaves for South America. When he returns a few years later, he has become an upstanding pillar of the community. In the meantime, Lucca has married Mr Rafn, a factory owner, but old feelings flare up when the former couple meet again. When Rafn accidentally learns about the budding relationship, he becomes enraged with jealousy and makes a drastic decision. Stumfilm.dk

The circus clown Joe Higgins is scouted by a world famous artist agent, who promises him fame and fortune. Joe takes the offer on one condition: His fiancèe Daisy and her parents are coming with him. Soon, Joe finds himself performing on the biggest stages in the city, enthralling his audience night after night. But the glamorous life in the big city is no fairy tale after all.

INCOMPLETE | The Widow Stein’s children, Vita and Arthur, are as different as night and day. Vita spends all her time taking care of her mother at home, while Arthur squanders his money at the city’s most notorious nightclubs. Vita is engaged to the diligent and striving Jacob, who has to step in when Arthur’s debauched life leads him into great debt. A particularly drunken pub crawl ends tragically when Arthur falls into the harbour and drowns. Vita and her mother grieve deeply, and Jacob, who has sacrificed all his savings to cover his brother-in-law’s debt, must travel to Australia to rebuild a fortune for his and Vita’s future. Here, by a stroke of fortune, he comes into contact with a man who will prove to be of great importance to himself, Vita and her mother. (Stumfilm.dk)

The popular artist Frank Harvey has been offered a job in America. On the voyage across the Atlantic, Harvey catches sight of the captain’s beautiful daughter, and the two quickly become good friends. However, a fire breaks out in the ship’s hold, and while the crew struggles to put out the flames, Harvey has to keep the passengers calm with his very best performances, and pray for his and the lives of others. (Stumfilm.dk)

The young Englishman Cecil Brown lives and works on a tea plantation in India. When he is about to set off to London on leave, his Indian girlfriend Profula wants to go with him. He refuses even though she begs him. Only when she threatens to take her own life if they do not immediately get married and travel together to London does he give in. Their early days together as a married couple in London are pure happiness, but soon problems arise. (Stumfilm.dk)

The manufacturer Laroque stops at nothing when trying to destroy his enemies, and this time Fréderic Nessières, one of his competitors, is in the line of fire. With his diabolical, hypnotic power, Laroque has snared Nessières’s wife, Madeleine, in his evil web, and she will now do anything to help her husband’s enemy. But even though Laroque’s first plan to ruin Nessières fails, he does not give up. Once he has selected a victim, he will quite literally fight to the death to vanquish them. (stumfilm.dk)

Out of the blue, war is declared, making two otherwise friendly neighbouring nations deadly enemies. Amid the inferno, finding themselves on different sides of the conflict, Elsa and Alexis are forced to call off their engagement. Will they ever get back together again? (stumfilm.dk)