Der Tod in Sevilla (1913)

Gayetano and Manuel are two famous bullfighters, with women’s hearts practically flying toward them. The two men are close friends, and their bond is strengthened even further by the fact that Manuel’s sister Conchita is engaged to Gayetano. One day, on their way home, the bullfighters encounter Juanita, a fiery Spanish woman, and both men’s hearts instantly catch fire. Manuel even follows the young woman to her mother’s house, where Juanita lives. When the bells of Seville’s La Giralda ring out the evening hours, the lovestruck Manuel returns to Juanita’s house and sees her sitting on the roof. As local custom dictates, the torero immediately begins a serenade to charm the beauty enthroned high above him. As a reward, Juanita comes down and spends fifteen minutes in playful conversation with the lovestruck amateur singer. The sweet talk continues the following day, when they meet at the town fountain. Ruy, a somewhat clumsy fellow who has also set his sights on Juanita, watches them jealously. Juanita accepts her troubadour’s invitation to a dance. While Manuel strums his guitar, Juanita, an excellent dancer, begins sweeping across the floor as if unrestrained, her castanets always at the ready. At that moment, every man’s gaze is fixed on Juanita’s body. Ruy, who has followed them there too, is nearly bursting with jealousy and now emerges from his hiding place. He sternly warns Juanita against getting involved with this stranger of a bullfighter. Manuel merely mocks the little fellow, who, stung by his taunting words, pulls out a knife and lunges at Manuel. As the men take up fighting positions, Juanita seems uninterested in it all and turns her back on the two combatants. Then Gayetano appears as if from nowhere, grabs Ruy by the neck, and hurls him to the ground. Suddenly Juanita is transformed: her eyes wide, she beams at the new hero. Manuel is completely confused. He cannot understand why, in the blink of an eye, Juanita has dropped him and now seems to be giving Gayetano her favor. Gayetano quickly accepts Juanita’s attentions; his bride-to-be, Conchita, seems forgotten. For the young woman, this is a major warning sign, and she demands that Gayetano explain himself. Conchita instinctively senses that another woman must be involved. Her suspicions are confirmed when Gayetano tells her to leave. The jilted former fiancée then swears bloody revenge. Conchita decides to enlist her equally slighted brother Manuel in her revenge plot. Ruy adds fuel to the fire by telling the siblings that he saw Gayetano and Juanita kiss. When Gayetano is away from home for a few days, Manuel and Conchita plan to strike: Ruy brings Juanita the news that her mother Isabella is seriously ill, so she immediately sets off to see her. Manuel’s hired accomplices lie in wait by the roadside and abduct Juanita. They take the unsuspecting woman to a rarely used farmhouse belonging to Manuel, high in the mountains. Manuel keeps her behind its thick walls and once again professes his love, which she coolly rejects. Only when Manuel bluntly says that he could keep her there forever does Juanita give in and beg for mercy. Manuel does not trust her, so after leaving the farm he assigns Ruy to guard her. Manuel hurries back to town with Conchita. There they meet the returned Gayetano and tell him that Juanita has long had another lover and is betraying him. Moreover, they say, she has run away so that she will not have to live by Gayetano’s side. Gayetano looks remorsefully at his former fiancée and kisses her, asking forgiveness. Conchita, now confident that she has regained Gayetano’s affection, wants to return with Manuel to the mountain farm and invite Juanita to attend the great bullfight the following day, in which Manuel and Gayetano will also take part. In the meantime, Juanita has charmed Ruy into helping her escape from the siblings’ clutches. She coaxes him until he lets his guard down, then takes the key that locks the door to freedom. At last, Juanita escapes. After a long, arduous journey down to the valley, she reaches Gayetano’s front door and knocks. She wants to throw her arms around him, but the proud Spaniard rejects her as supposedly unfaithful. Juanita cannot make sense of it. The next day, the great bullfight is to take place in the arena. Juanita, dressed all in black, takes a seat in a box near the railing. When she sees Manuel, her gaze is full of hatred. The bullfight is underway, and Manuel prepares to deliver the killing blow. Then he hears a piercing scream: Juanita has called out the name of his rival, Gayetano! Manuel looks up in shock. The bull takes advantage of this moment of inattention and drives its horns into the bullfighter’s body. Fatally wounded, he staggers to the ground. Gayetano rushes to him and hears Manuel’s final words: he asks Gayetano, in view of his approaching death, to take revenge on the woman who, with her scream, has caused his death. Then the light of his life goes out. When Gayetano and Conchita are about to marry, Juanita appears at the celebration and once again tries to bewitch her former lover. When Gayetano then tries to kiss her, she rejects him with a mocking smile, for with Juanita it is all just a game. This is one cruelty too many, and the rejected Gayetano draws a knife and stabs Juanita beneath a crucifix, where they had once shared their first kiss. As she lies dying, Juanita reaches out a hand toward him. In despair, Gayetano throws himself over Juanita, who once meant so much to him.