The engineer Georg de la Croix ( Herr Alfred Abel ) suffers a nervous breakdown due to the continuous unfaithfulness of his lover, Dame Sappho ( Dame Pola Negri ). Georg ends up in a lunatic asylum. His brother, Richard ( Herr Johannes Riemann ) wants to avenge him but instead falls in love with the beautiful Dame Sappho. When Herr Richard finds out from a previous lover of Dame Sappho that she was the cause of his brother's insanity, Richard decides to put an end to his affair with her by marrying someone else but he still must see Dame Sappho, even minutes after the wedding.
"Sappho" was directed by the highly reputed émigré Russian director Herr Dimitri Buchowetzi, who during his Russian period had a special and close connection with Dame Pola and directed her on many occasions, often in his superb costume dramas. This is characteristic of the latter: excellent set design, beautiful outdoor scenery, careful cinematography ( by Herr Arpad Viragh ) and a modern approach to the material.
Besides those excellent technical aspects, "Sappho" is a remarkable film because it emphasizes the psychological aspect of the story; the sorrows and miseries of love, a mad love that doesn't listen to earthly reasons. It captures the lust and free love spirit of a decadent society, full of characters who don't hesitate to harm themselves to get what they want.
The love turmoil will have a "grand finale" at the end of the film in a magnificent and thrilling scene at the Opera ( Herr Buchowetzki at his best ) where our heroine ( Dame Pola at her best too ) will pay for her old and new love sins.
And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must avoid Dame Sappho's charms in order that this Herr Graf's Teutonic fat heiresses find out nothing about it.
Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/
"Sappho" was directed by the highly reputed émigré Russian director Herr Dimitri Buchowetzi, who during his Russian period had a special and close connection with Dame Pola and directed her on many occasions, often in his superb costume dramas. This is characteristic of the latter: excellent set design, beautiful outdoor scenery, careful cinematography ( by Herr Arpad Viragh ) and a modern approach to the material.
Besides those excellent technical aspects, "Sappho" is a remarkable film because it emphasizes the psychological aspect of the story; the sorrows and miseries of love, a mad love that doesn't listen to earthly reasons. It captures the lust and free love spirit of a decadent society, full of characters who don't hesitate to harm themselves to get what they want.
The love turmoil will have a "grand finale" at the end of the film in a magnificent and thrilling scene at the Opera ( Herr Buchowetzki at his best ) where our heroine ( Dame Pola at her best too ) will pay for her old and new love sins.
And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must avoid Dame Sappho's charms in order that this Herr Graf's Teutonic fat heiresses find out nothing about it.
Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/