My review was written in May 1988 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.
"Silent Night" is a well-mounted, romantic costumer that recounts the dramatic and historical events in 1818 that backdropped the writing of the Christmas hymn of the title. Old-fashioned approach will find more interest overseas than Stateside, despite the highly professional English dialog track.
Set in Oberndorf (near Salzburg) story concerns a new priest in town, Father Mohr (U. S. thesp Steve Bond), who's staying with the family of teacher and composer Guber (Cyrus Elias). A local baron (David Warner) is persecuting everyone in sight, including his own family (he won't let his lovely daughter Helga (Katharina Bohm) marry Guber's son Robert (Max Tidof).
Key subplot has B-girl at the local inn Magdalena (Nastassja Kinski) falling in love with Mohr, who obviously can't reciprocate. Meanwhile rebel Janza (Franco Nero) is on the warpath, trying to get a revolution going.
Film suffers from having several false endings, as action keeps climaxing and then leading to an even more bizarre development. Idealized approach is fun, almost amounting to a fable, as ultimately even baddie Warner repents and gives the peasants back their land. Another arch-villain, Gunter Meisner (as a continually plotting prior) is aghast at Warner's change of heart, but he, too, finally bares his soul and asks God for forgiveness.
Given the script's emphasis on themati and religious significance, the decision to shoot in English (for international markets) hurts the pic's credibility. Time and again characters intone about their era's repressiveness and the need to bring people back to religion by praying "in our own language". Yet when Bond and Elias team up to add lyrics to a waltz theme of Elias' (switched to 4/4 time), it turns out that English is "our language". It ain't Latin, but it doesn't ring true.
With beautiful lighting by ace Italian lenser Armando Nannuzzi and a bountiful symphonic score by Cliff Eidelman, pic is impressive. Filmmaker Monica Teuber's eschewing of humor makes it oppressive, however.
Kinski is fresh and moving as the heroine, but Bond is inexpressive as the valiant priest hero, miscast due to his modern demeanor. Supporting cast is fine, with Bohm an attractive new face, Janet Agren getting a character part (instead of glamorous decoration) as the housekeeper for a change and Warner generating surprising sympathy in a blackguard role. Meisner's lip smacking, snake hiss readings are delightfully campy, though not on the same wavelength as the other players.
