| The Plague of Florence | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Otto Rippert |
| Written by | Fritz Lang |
| Based on | The Masque of the Red Death, short story by Edgar Allan Poe[1] |
| Produced by | Erich Pommer |
| Starring | Theodor Becker Karl Bernhard Julietta Brandt |
| Cinematography | Willy Hameister Emil Schünemann[2] |
| Music by | Bruno Gellert |
Production company | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 102 minutes (2000 restored version) |
| Country | Weimar Germany |
| Languages | Silent German intertitles |
The Plague in Florence (German: Pest in Florenz)[a] is a 1919 German silent historical film directed by Otto Rippert for Eric Pommer's Deutsche Eclair (Decla) production company. The screenplay was written by Fritz Lang.[2] It stars Marga von Kierska, Theodor Becker, Karl Bernhard and Julietta Brandt.[4] The film is a tragic romance set in Florence in 1348, just before the first outbreaks in Italy of the Black Death, which then spread out across the entire continent.[5]
Lang's screenplay was based on the Edgar Allan Poe story "The Masque of the Red Death", but he heightened the story's sexual tension by making the plague the result of the actions of a young seductress.
- ^ Sarno 2005, p. 132.
- ^ a b Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 209.ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
- ^ Film-Kurier (Berlin) vol. 1, no. 107, 9 October 1919, p. 3. (in German). Accessed 23 February 2016.
- ^ Ott, p.19
- ^ Tibayrenc 2007, p. 731.
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