The pioneer Danish film director Herr Urban Gad directed "Den Store Flyver" ( The Aviator's Generosity ) in the silent year of 1912, a drama with romance, compromising documents and modernen aircrafts.
The film depicts the story of two bourgeois siblings, Herr Arthur Vidart, an aviator, and his sister, Frau Else, who is in love with Herr Jean Aubert, an aviator too and friend of Herr Vidart. Until here the story was very easy to follow for this German count but due to the fact that the blurry copy that this Herr Graf watched at the Schloss theatre was another, errrr...."restored" copy from the Library Of Congress, the old nitrate didn't have any intertitles. For this reason this German count was very confused ( more than usual
) about some fundamental plot elements included in the story: Why is Herr Vidart constantly harassed by (I think) a pawnbroker? Who has the compromising document? If this Herr Von is right, then the mysterious paper could be some money debt that Herr Vidart can't pay.
Compounding the confusion, Herr Vidart doesn't allow his sister to continue her engagement with Herr Aubert, a strange fact this because he is a good friend of his (just one title card would clear this up), In the end the aviator's generosity seems to pay Herr Vidart's money debt (if that's what it is) to the annoying
pawnbroker?... releasing Herr Vidart from such a burden and in this way allowing Herr Aubert to resume his engagement to Frau Else.
This three reels "Nordisk" film production includes some aerial scenes wherein the most modernen aircrafts of the time are in action in a flying competition ( historical scenes that were a relief to this Herr Graf because it wasn't necessary to keep speculating about the plot). There are some naïf tricks used when the aviator's plane is in close-up; these bold and daring aviators have nothing in common with the nowadays safe and well-paid pilots with their common planes.
In spite of the lack of intertitles that often made this Herr Von yell, "an intertitle, an intertitle, my Schloss for an intertitle!", "Den Store Flyver" is an interesting piece of Danish film archaeology that certainly needs to be restored properly in order to be enjoyed at its best one hundred years after its official premiere.
And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count has a terrible headache after so much guesswork.
