The Governor of the city of Turin ( Herr Paul Wegener ) puts down a revolt and the leader of such longhaired boldness, Herr Octavio ( Herr Paul Hartmann ) is successfully captured and sentenced to death but the Governor's daughter, Frau Vanina ( Frau Asta Nielsen ) loves Octavio so she will try to do anything in order to save him, even marrying him!.
The Governor permits this act of cruelty ( that is to say, his daughter's wedding ) but nevertheless he will order afterwards the death sentence to be carried out in order to prove his unshakable will of iron and indisputable authority. Frau Vanina, desperate, will try again to save her lover by forging a dismissal document and trying to lead him through the corridors of the prison searching for freedom. However, as they both open the last gate, they find themselves in the inner court where the executioner awaits Octavio.
Well
it seems that Frau Vanina , even after so many efforts, wasn't able to be much help to her lover but that's what happens when a bourgeoisie fraulein take a fancy to one of these "romantic revolutionary young leaders", especially if your father is the powerful and inflexible Governor of Turin.
In the early Teutonic silent times, there were impressive and great actors, including Frau Asta Nielsen und Herr Paul Wegener. It is not a revelation to say this but it is necessary to remind new generations of these outstanding actors.
In this film "Vanina; Die Galgenhochzeit" ( Vanina; The Gallows Wedding ), directed by Herr Arthur von Gerlach in the silent year of 1922, based on a story by Herr Stendhal and a year before his epic "Zur Chronik von Grieshuus" (1923-1925), Frau Nielsen und Herr Wegener cast a spell on the audience with their impressive presence and acting, specially the Danish actress. She loves and suffers enormously and tragically, sometimes in a deliciously theatrical way.
Herr Wegener has a more "rough" presence due to his particular physique, perfect for tormented or authoritative roles so he is well cast as the Governor of Turin, a tough, merciless and strict official who ignores even his own daughter's pleas. The conflict between father and daughter is against a background of bloody revolt ( Herr von Gerlach uses many medium shots to depict these complicated indoor and outdoor happenings). The dramatic development that ends in a terrible fatality makes for a film that is impressive and expressive (though not exactly an Expressionistic oeuvre for this Herr Graf, as some modernen film critics think).
And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count mustn't show his lack of willpower in front of one of his rich Teutonic heiresses.
