Der Geisterzug

Although the title is familiar as the play written by Private Godfrey very few people have actually seen it. Even less familiar is how close the British and Continental film industries were in the twenties, Alfred Hitchcock actually making his first two films in Germany. Despite the lead going to quintessentially English lead Guy Newell the original silent version was filmed in Berlin with photography by Otto Kanturek and design by Oscar Werndorff - both of whom would subsequently settle in Britain - and the chic twenties look of the women all share a very Germanic ambience; while Geza von Bolvary was one of many Magyars to make his mark in British films.

Considering its theatrical origins it works surprisingly well in visual terms, containing such fanciful sights - characteristic of the silent era - as Isle Bois' alcohol-induced vision of an animated pair of bellows joining a pair of items of luggage in a dance.