When Walter Rilla was a boy, beating his drunken grandmother at checkers and being beaten in return for the impudence, he prayed to the Virgin Mary for a violin. His prayer was answered in the form of a painter. In return for posing for him, the child received a violin and lessons from Bernhard Goetzke. Two noble ladies visited the painter's studio and admired the portrait. Years later, Rilla is all grown up and considered the finest violinist in the world. The younger of the two noble ladies visit the shop where he is admiring a set of fine violins. She has grown up into Jane Novak. She tells him she is the poor companion of a great princess, and Rilla and she fall in love. But she is engaged to be married to Grand Duke Robert Scholz, so she satisfies herself with swapping her jewelry for the violins and sending them to him anonymously. When they meet again, he has purchased the jewelry and wants to give it to her, so she tells him the truth. He urges her to run away to England with him. She refuses because of her sense of duty. So they part, with Rilla fiddling away to worldwide acclaim, and she to Imperial Russia. Then comes the Revolution, and the world turns upside down.
It was the first collaboration between Michael Balcon's Gainsborough Films, and Erich Pommer. Balcon contributed director Graham Cutts, two of his writers, Alfred Hitchcock and Adrian Brunel, while Pommer lent some UFA studios and DP Theodore Sparkuhl. There are some issues with the story, particularly the ending. It is, however, visually striking, with fine set design, and Sparkuhl framing the images perfectly, and the editing by unnamed UFA technicians making up for a still camera -- I noticed only one brief tracking shot.
Nowadays, it's Hitchcock's contribution that raises the interest of most people. It is, however, a very good example of silent film making. Clearly Cutts knew what he was doing.
