Leutnantsstreiche (1914)

The young Lieutenant Ritter von Kriegerstein, for the sake of his love for the Countess Leonie von Czernowitz, deceives her father and his commander-in-chief, Prince von Czernowitz, by pretending to be in two places at once. On the one hand, he accompanies his beloved to the court ball, and on the other, he has to stand guard in the orangery that same evening. Act 1 ends (according to the intertitle) with the recognition of Kriegerstein by Colonel Czernowitz, who had assumed that he was on guard duty. It is not until Act 2 (according to the short story) that Kriegerstein's amusing double-cross begins to unfold. The farce ends happily, as Kriegerstein's daring deed and confession win the approval of Colonel Czernowitz, who finally releases his daughter. The content of the 1914 film, however, differs in several respects from the 1901 short story: The characters have been changed for the movie. However, their relationship to each other remains the same. In the movie, for example, Lieutenant Ritter von Kriegerstein replaces the young officer Nikolayev Andreyevich. The role of the antagonist, which in the literary version is divided between two characters - the commanding Tsar Nicholas I on the one hand, and the father of the desired Malka Paulovna, Commander Ivanoff, on the other, is played in the film by only one character, the Colonel of Czernowitz. Moreover, the historical and regional context of the action in the film is not quite clear, while the original short story is set in Moscow in the first half of the 19th century, as the historical cornerstone is given as the beginning of the action with the accession of Tsar Nicholas I Paulovich. The changes mentioned above can be understood as an updating of the 1901 short story to the context of war events. Thus, references to the German Empire under Prussian rule can be found in the choice of the characters' names: The name "Ritter von Kriegerstein" can be related to the medieval cult of the late 19th century and the associated legitimization of the rule and heroization of the Prussian monarchy. Czernowitz (Ukraine), mentioned in the title of the colonel, belonged from 1775 to 1918 as the capital of Bukovina to the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary and thus to the most important ally of Kaiser Wilhelm in the World War. The Colonel can be interpreted as a personification of the German Empire, more precisely of the Austro-Prussian government. His virtues of wisdom, reason and graceful indulgence are thus transferred to the monarchies, justifying and positively emphasizing their decision to enter the war with the rest of Europe.