The Woman Always Pays (1910)
"Afgrunden" (original title)

Magda meets her fiancé and he invites her to visit him and his parents. While visiting them, a circus comes to town and Magda asks her fiancé to take her to the show. Afterwards one of the ... See full summary »

Director:

Urban Gad

Writer:

Urban Gad

Stars:

Asta Nielsen, Robert Dinesen, Poul Reumert

Cast

Cast overview:
Asta Nielsen	...	Magda Vang
Robert Dinesen	...	Ingenieur Knud Svane / Magda's Fiancé
Poul Reumert	...	Artist Rudolf Stern / Circus Performer
Hans Neergaard	...	Pastor Peder Svane / Knud's Father
Hulda Didrichsen	...	Frau Svane
Emilie Sannom	...	Varietésängerin Lilly d'Estrelle / Magda's Rival
Oscar Stribolt	...	Kellner / Waiter
Arne Weel	...	Guest in Garden
Johannes Fønss	...	Guest in Garden

Storyline

Magda meets her fiancé and he invites her to visit him and his parents. While visiting them, a circus comes to town and Magda asks her fiancé to take her to the show. Afterwards one of the artists shows interest in Magda and her fiancé becomes jealous and brings her home. The artist follows and enters her room through the window. She runs off with the artist leaving a goodbye note. The fiancé later locates Magda, but she rejects him. We see Magda perform a gaucho dance on stage around the artist who she has tied up with a lasso but afterward the artist shows interest in another woman. Magda becomes jealous and starts a fight which gets her and the artist fired. She finds work as a piano player by which time her former fiancé sees her again. He sends her a note asking her to meet him. The artist follows Magda, interrupts their meeting and throws the fiancé out of the room. Magda starts a fight during which the artist drops dead on the floor. The police arrives and arrests Magda leaving...

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Plot Keywords:

dance | tram | theater | actress | letter | 

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Genres:

Short | Drama

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Details

Country:

Denmark

Language:

Danish

Release Date:

18 April 1912 (USA)

Also Known As:

Woman Always Pays

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kosmorama

Technical Specs

Runtime:

38 min 37 min (2004 restored)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in I Am Curious, Film (1995)

User Reviews

First films of the first European superstar

All four films made by Asta Nielsen in Denmark (in 1910, 1911 and 1919) , before she became an international superstar, have been released by the Danish Film Institute, which was created a hundred years ago and has taken care of Danish films ever since. Thus we usually get very good, clean and sharp copies of films almost 100 years old. The series is truly amazing, and the Asta Nielsen disk is one of the best. The four features (on one disk) are: Livets storme, Afrgrunden, Den sorte drøm, and Mod Lyset. I had only seen Asta Nielsen's later films, such as Hamlet, before, therefore I was astounded to see that she was a rather beautiful actress in her youth, with a figure of a Barbie doll which she isn't afraid to show. The films are remarkably good as well. In Afgrunden, we see Miss Nielsen as a shy piano teacher who abandons her fiancée in order to elope with a circus artist, who turns her into a harlot and a murderess; in Livets storme she is a dancer whose beauty brings along the ruin of her and of men; in Den sorte drom she is a circus star who does everything for the man she loves, and in Mod Lyset a reckless countess who has to destroy the lives of several men as well as her own before she learns the true values of life. The last tale is a bit moralizing for modern tastes, but the first three (from 1910-1911) are true gems. These films are naturalistic, strong portraits of life before the WW I. Miss Nielsen is a very good actress indeed, as well as a gorgeous clothes horse, wearing the trendiest models of the day around her nonexistent waist. The prints are very sharp, even though the first film shows some decomposition. They should have been released colour tinted and with somewhat more interesting musical accompaniment than the constantly meditating piano, but who cares? These films still were eye openers. When you thought the film wasn't a true art form back in 1910, think again: moving camera, panning camera, closeups, parallel editing, fluent narrative – it's all there, and years before these techniques became accepted in UK, US or Italy.