Hintertreppe (1921)

A crippled mailman is in love with a maid who lives in the same building he does in one of the city's poor neighborhoods. She, however, is in love with a wealthy, handsome young man. ... See full summary »

Directors:

Leopold Jessner, Paul Leni

Writer:

Carl Mayer

Stars:

Henny Porten, Fritz Kortner, William Dieterle

Cast

Credited cast:
Henny Porten	...	Das Dienstmädchen
Fritz Kortner	...	Der Postbote
William Dieterle	...	Der Handwerker (as Wilhelm Dieterle)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Eugene Dieterle

Storyline

A crippled mailman is in love with a maid who lives in the same building he does in one of the city's poor neighborhoods. She, however, is in love with a wealthy, handsome young man. Desperate to win her love, he begins to intercept love letters they send to each other and replaces them with his own messages, which each thinks is from the other. His plan seems to be succeeding, but then something happens that bring tragic results to them all.

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

3 June 1926 (USA)

Also Known As:

Backstairs

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gloria-Film GmbH, Henny Porten Filmproduktion

Technical Specs

Runtime:

40 min 49 min 50 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

User Reviews

The man liked stairs

Aside from Reinhardt, Leopold Jessner was considered the most-advanced director in the German theater. The hallmark of his stage productions was the use of stairs, and his critics coined the word, "Jessnertreppin", as a short-club to beat him with in their newspaper reviews. In his only film, "Hintertreppe", he uses stairs to dramatize both the social status of the characters and their emotional relationships. For the greater part of the film, only three people are seen, and the lighting, described by Carl Vincent as "seeming to come from within the characters," is used to convey the sense of isolation. Based on the comments on this site page, most of them missed whatever it was Carl Vincent was so taken with. So did I while watching the USA 16mm under the title of "Backstairs."