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Der steinerne Reiter (1923)
Touching Expressionist fairy tale (moderate spoilers ahead)
This film surprised me when I first saw it, as I was not at all expecting such moving scenes from this fairly unknown masterpiece. Thea von Harbou wrote the screenplay, and obviously she wrote the main part for her ex-husband, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, as no one else could have played this role with such suffering nobility as he did.
The Rider lives on a mountaintop overlooking the village that he rules over with cruelty. The very thought of him making a visit to the village stirs the most absolute dread and hatred. But if the people could see beyond his wild, brutish exterior, they would see that he is actually very lonely and miserable with the place he was given in life. His mother died when he was born, and his father hated him all of his life. Because of his wretched existence, the Rider lives spitefully, purposely stirring up trouble just to make a sensation of himself.
But when his antics get an innocent young bride killed, he seriously begins to contemplate how evil he is becoming. The bride's vengeful sister soon comes for the Rider at his mountain fortress, intent on driving a blade through his wicked heart. However, when she finds him broken and tearful in repentance for the unintentional murder he had brought about, she cannot find the strength to kill him. Through time, they come to grow attached to each other, as she sees that he is in fact a courteous lord who treats his servants well. Although timid and afraid of his advances at first, she soon falls deeply in love with him...
The rest of the story I won't give away. You just have to see it. This film is very much an Expressionistic piece, but it has a healthy dose of German Romanticism that fits it just perfectly. Worth the effort of finding if just to see the kinder, gentler side of Klein-Rogge's acting.