Der große Schatten (1942)
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Directors
Cast
Heinrich George, Heidemarie Hatheyer, Will Quadflieg, Marina von Ditmar, Ernst Schröder, Ernst Stahl-Nachbaur, Ernst Legal, Hans Hermann
A married pair of actors preparing to perform together on a provincial stage recognize a former Berlin actor working as their prompter.
The story
Actors Gisela Ahrens and Robert Jürgensen are married and due to appear together in a provincial production of The Mayor of Zalamea. They recognize Conrad Schroeter, once a Berlin actor, now serving as their prompter. Years earlier, Conrad met and hired the young Gisela for his Berlin theater. She fell for the actor she admired, and he came to share her feelings. When Conrad has to cancel their first date because his daughter Inge is unwell, he asks Robert to explain his absence. Robert instead tells Gisela that Conrad will not return her love, and seizes the opportunity to seduce her.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
The married couple Gisela Ahrens and Robert Jürgensen are both actors and are due to appear together on a provincial stage in Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s play The Mayor of Zalamea. They both recognize the former Berlin actor Conrad Schroeter as the prompter. Several years earlier: Conrad Schröter meets the young Gisela Ahrens during a tour and hires her for his theater in Berlin. Gisela falls in love with the actor she admires, and Conrad, who initially resists his feelings, has also fallen in love with his young colleague. However, he has to cancel his first date with Gisela because his daughter Inge is unwell. Conrad asks the actor Robert Jürgensen to tell Gisela that he will be absent. Instead, Robert seizes the opportunity, convinces Gisela that Conrad will not return her love, and seduces her. Shortly afterward, Robert finds a new love affair with Conrad’s daughter, Inge, who feels abandoned by her father and her fiancé, Martin Scholz. Gisela becomes pregnant by Robert and tells Inge in a conversation that breaks her heart. Inge kills herself. Conrad learns of her death while standing on the stage during a performance of The Mayor of Zalamea. In his role as Pedro Crespo, he then confronts Robert, who is playing Captain Don Alvaro, the man who seduces his daughter Isabel, played by Gisela, in the play. He begs Robert to give his daughter back to him. Fiction and reality blur when, in a fit of anger and despair, Conrad strangles Robert onstage. The curtain falls prematurely, and the almost-mad Conrad is taken to a psychiatric hospital. Robert recognizes his guilt and is close to suicide; Gisela helps him out of his despair, and the two begin a new life together for the sake of their child. They lead an unsettled life and get by on invitations. Now: At the director’s request, Conrad is to perform in The Mayor of Zalamea alongside Gisela and Robert. The audience celebrates Conrad, who has returned to the stage and manages to come to terms with his past and reconcile with Robert during the performance. At the end, he shakes hands with both actors and says:
Genres
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