| The Miracle | |
|---|---|
_)_01.jpg) Scene from the Lyricscope play ofThe Miracle with Florence Winston, Ernst Matray and Ernst Benzinger | |
| Directed by | Michel Antoine Carré (film) Max Reinhardt (play) |
| Written by | Karl Vollmöller (play and film) |
| Produced by | Joseph Menchen |
| Starring | Maria Carmi Ernst Matray Florence Winston Joseph Klein |
| Music by | Engelbert Humperdinck (play and film) |
| Distributed by | Joseph Menchen (UK) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 7,000 feet (UK) |
| Countries | United Kingdom (American producer with main production office in London, French co-director, filmed in Austria, coloured in France, international cast) |
| Languages | Silent film with intertitles |
| Budget | $50,000[1] |
The Miracle (German:Das Mirakel,French:Le Miracle) is a 1912 British[n 1] silent full-colour film, using a hand-coloured process similar toPathéchrome. Produced byJoseph Menchen and directed byMichel Carré, it is among the firstfull-colour feature films to be made. It starsMaria Carmi, Ernst Matray, Florence Winston andDouglas Payne, and was filmed on location inAustria.
The Miracle was not intended to be shown as an ordinary film in the usual way but was designed by Menchen to be shown as part of a 'Lyricscope play'.[2] This was an unusual (if not unprecedented) spectacular theatrical presentation which – in its most elaborate and complete expression – included: the projected colour film; a full-sized symphony orchestra and chorus performingEngelbert Humperdinck's score; live sound effects such as church bells and crowd noises; stage sets around the projection screen which changed during the performance;[3][4] and live (non-speaking) actors and dancers in medieval costume.[5][6] The various component parts of this ideal production varied somewhat according to local conditions.
This 1912 multi-media production was an adaptation ofMax Reinhardt's wordless spectacular stage production ofKarl Vollmoeller'splay of the same name, which had played to huge audiences at the LondonOlympia exhibition hall in 1911–1912. As some contemporary critics realised,The Miracle was not a "moving picture drama" in the normal sense of the word, but a "filmed pantomime," a celluloid record of the action of the stage production in a unique presentation.[7]
The world première of the full-colour 'Lyricscope play' ofThe Miracle took place at theRoyal Opera House,Covent Garden, London, on 21 December 1912 and it was shown all over the country until Easter 1913, breaking many records for attendance. The colour film with its attendant show subsequently made its way around the world, being shown in the U.S., Australia and Germany.
A rival, unauthorised version (Das Mirakel) directed byMime Misu forContinental-Kunstfilm in Germany appeared in the same year with the same subject and English title ("The Miracle") and was the subject of various copyright legal actions in the UK and the United States, resulting in seven different titles shared between the two films.
Although various claims have been made thatCherry Kearton andErnst Lubitsch were somehow involved with this production, such claims are wholly without foundation.
The film tells the story of a wayward nun, Megildis, who deserts her convent with a knight, influenced by the music of an evil minstrel. A statue of theVirgin Mary comes to life and takes the place of Megildis, who makes her way through the world and its many vicissitudes. Later, Megildis returns to the convent with her dying infant, and is forgiven as the statue resumes its place.
Act 1 – Temptation
Intermezzo
Act 2 – Forgiveness
A number of normally reliable sources have been inveigled into thinking thatErnst Lubitsch somehow appeared in the cast in a minor role, or even as theSpielmann or Player.[9] This is absolutely not the case, any more thanCherry Kearton was the director.
All the actors in the film (except Florence Winston) had just given sixteen stage performances of the play in Vienna during the two weeks immediately preceding shooting and were well rehearsed in their parts.
Although some advertising for the film implied that all the cast had been in the 1911–12 Olympia production, this was only true for Maria Carmi, Douglas Payne, Ernst Benzinger and Joseph Klein. Carmi was married toKarl Vollmoeller, the author of the stage play, andThe Miracle was the first of her 26 films. Apart from Payne and Matray, who had made one film each, none of the cast had any experience in film acting; between them Carmi, Matray, Payne, Benzinger and Klein went on to make some 160 motion pictures[10] Carmi, Matray, Klein and Rocholl also starred in the film of Vollmoeller's next pantomime,Eine venezianische Nacht (A night in Venice).[11]
The miraculous legend of a wayward nun named Beatrice has been retold many times[12] since it was first collected in the early 13th century byCaesarius of Heisterbach in hisDialogus miraculorum (1219–1223).[13] The tale was revived byMaurice Maeterlinck in 1901 in a minor play namedSoeur Beatrice (Sister Beatrice), drawing on versions byVilliers de l'Isle-Adam and on the 14th-century Dutch poemBeatrijs.[14] Maeterlinck described his own work (andAriane et Barbe-bleue) as "...little scenarios, short poems of the type unfortunately called 'opera-comique', destined to furnish the musicians who asked for them, a theme amenable to lyrical developments. They pretend to nothing further."[15] According to one critic, however,Ariane et Barbe-bleue andSoeur Beatrice "are, in truth, absolutely devoid of serious effort, aesthetic, doctrinal, or moral."[16]
According to Jethro Bithell, "As a reading play Sister Beatrice is ruined by the species ofblank verse in which it is said to be written. Typographically it is arranged in prose form; but palpable verses of this kind madden the reader:"
"II est prudent et sage; et ses yeux sont plus doux
Que les yeux d'un enfant qui se met a genoux."
Maeterlinck used the same style inMonna Vanna: "...written, partly, in the same kind of blank verse as Sister Beatrice—very poor stuff considered as poetry, and very troublesome to read as prose."[17]
Sister Beatrice was produced byVsevolod Meyerhold at the Moscow Arts Theatre in 1906,[18] a production which Reinhardt may possibly have been aware of. Maeterlinck's play was also produced in March 1910 at the New Theatre, New York, withEdith Wynne Matthison in the title part.[19]
While recovering from an illness aged 18 in 1896,Karl Vollmoeller had a vision of theBlessed Virgin Mary which had a profound impression on him, and which later became the basis of his wordless play,The Miracle.[20] In a later interview he recounted: "While living in Italy, I had the chance to become absorbed in Latin manuscripts which told the history of the saints of the Catholic Church. (ie Heisterbach). One of these legends inspired me to write my play known asThe Miracle... I wrote this piece (play) all at the same time (in one go), before films were made. I wish to state most emphatically that my play contains a spiritual message for the whole world, not only for Christians."[21]
In another interview in 1913, Vollmoeller said ofThe Miracle: "The Miracle is not a theatre play in the ordinary sense. It is intended as an appeal to religious feeling. To attempt to cater in a play of this sort exclusively to the rich or the snobbish would be a great mistake. Often the people who would appreciate a play are the people who cannot afford the price of admission. For a production like The Miracle to attract the people for whom it was primarily intended, it must have a low price of admission."[22]
The film seems to have been the brainchild of its producer,Joseph Menchen, a London-based American inventor, film projectionist and owner of a New York theatrical lighting business who later became a literary agent for film scripts.[3] Reports of copyright cases in the English and US courts confirm that Menchen made the film, and a review of the film's US première in New York referred to it as "the Menchen Miracle".[23]
Menchen obtained the sole rights and film rights fromReinhardt and fromBote & Bock (Vollmöller's andHumperdinck's publishers),[24][25] and had "gone to very considerable expense" (£20,000[3] or $50,000)[1] "in preparing a film of the play, which he intended to produce with Mr. Walter Hyman"[n 2] at theCovent Garden Opera House on 21 December."[24] Another name (possibly a financial backer) appearing in connection with the production is that of A. D. Rosenthal.[26] The 'Lyricscope play' was designed to be a partial re-creation (on a slightly smaller scale) of Reinhardt'smassive theatrical spectacle which had drawn such large crowds toOlympia the previous year.
Reinhardt seems to have been involved in some initial technical discussions about a film ofThe Miracle (according to a July 1912 article inThe Cinema before the film had been made) although he seems to have had little to do with its actual making.[27]
Although much of the 'direction' belongs essentially to Reinhardt (since the movie was intended to be a recording on film of Reinhardt's stage production),[28] Menchen engaged the experienced French film directorMichel Carré to supervise the filming. Carré had recently completed a historical film aboutNapoleon Bonaparte,Le Memorial de Saint-Hélène (1911). He had previously directed the first European full-length (90 minutes) film,L'enfant prodigue (1907), based on his own earlier pantomime with music (Carré 1890); and with Albert Cappellani he co-directed the popular and successful 1909 filmFleur de Pavé starringMistinguett andCharles Prince.
According to apuff piece in aBerkshire local newspaper, Menchen and Carré had "countless experiences" in designing the film's appearance; eventually they devised a method of arranging backgrounds that would "reproduce every phrase of photographic light and shade, together with extreme depth."[3] Before producing the film, Menchen had owned his own theatrical lighting business inKansas City and New York, having started as a theatre electrician inMissouri aged about 18,[29] and Carré was an experienced filmmaker, having already worked on some 40 films as either (co)-director or screenwriter. Carré and Menchen apparently continued to get on well together; when Menchen opened his new Studio Menchen in the Paris suburb ofEpinay-sur-Seine in 1913, Carré became its artistic director, although no films (or very few) seem to have been actually produced there.[30]
The film was designed to be accompanied by the original score whichEngelbert Humperdinck had written for Reinhardt's Olympia production exactly a year before. In much of his advertising (he was his own self-publicity agent) Menchen fairly consistently promotes the film as being "accompanied by Humperdinck's glorious music", since it carries much of the weight of both film and play. The vocal score by Gustav Schirmer (which also contains the synopsis of the play above the music) was published in Germany by Bote & Bock in 1912 as Humperdinck'sDas Wunder.[31]
According to an article inThe Cinema in July 1912,[27] the screenplay was adapted byKarl Vollmöller from his stage play[32] which Reinhardt had produced as a result of a commission fromC. B. Cochran for a spectacular pageant at Olympia in 1911.[33] Vollmoeller saw and apparently approved of the film, saying that "it responds in every detail with my original work, with the exception of a few scenes introduced with my consent."[34] However, in a January 1913 interview Vollmoeller appears unenthusiastic about the film's use of colour:
"...a system of colouring each film-scene must be devised independent of the film mechanism itself, as is done by the footlights and other stage lights in a theatrical production. I do not believe in the so-called natural colours for the cinema except for topical films. The reproduction of the colours of nature is not necessary, and nature in these circumstances is frequently ugly. It is here that art should enter."[35]
The stage design and costumes at Olympia were byErnst Stern, whose set had turned the London exhibition hall (often associated with horse shows) into a Gothic cathedral in 1911. The actors in Menchen's film wore the sumptuous costumes from the first continental performances of Reinhardt's stage show at the ViennaRotunde; and for performances of Menchen's 'Lyricscope play', the screen was surrounded by stage scenery to make it seem as if the film were being watched through the open doors of a cathedral.
Shooting of the film took place in various locations nearVienna,Austria, immediately after the play's European première there in October 1912.
Reinhardt's original 1911 stage production ofThe Miracle went on tour in Europe in repertory for two and a half years and its first continental production took place in theViennaRotunda, between 15 September–3 October 1912. The timing of the Vienna première was something of a publicity coup for Reinhardt: the Catholic Church's 23rd InternationalEucharistic Congress (whose opening ceremony attended by 15,000 people took place inside the Rotunda) had finished at the end of the previous week,[36] providing a ready-made, international, religiously inclined audience.
.JPG)
Shooting ofThe Miracle began on location in and around the parish church[37] ofPerchtoldsdorf, near Vienna, on 6 October 1912, immediately after the stage production had ended its 3-week run at the Rotunde.[38][39] The small town's population was almost outnumbered by the cast of around 800 actors, who at mealtimes ate at long tables in the street.[3]
For some external shots of the cathedral, the ground was covered with cotton wool to simulate snow, at a cost of 5,000crowns. Filming continued in the recently completed (1874–1906) mock-mediaevalBurg Kreuzenstein, also near Vienna,[39] Menchen having received permission from the owner,Count Wilczek.[3]
It was shot in black-and-white35mm film, and one or more prints were then hand-coloured in Paris.[40][41][2] The film was originally announced with a running time of about 2 hours (7,000 feet),[42] although it played at 5,500 or 5,100 feet in the US and elsewhere.[n 3]
The film was shown around the world. Première performances (with running times, where known) took place in:
Menchen's film was ready for hand-colouring in December 1912,[42] and he attempted to register it in Germany but was refused sinceDas Mirakel, a rival film directed byMime Misu for the GermanContinental-Kunstfilm production company, was adjudged to have prior right.[24] In London, however, the Elite Sales Agency (the UK distributors for Continental-Kunstfilm) was advertising the film with the English title,The Miracle. The advance publicity implied that it was a film of the actual Reinhardt production in Olympia. Menchen, as the sole owner of the film rights, brought a court action (18 December 1912) to prevent Misu's film from being shown. The judge couldn't rule on the copyright, but he suggested that the Continental version be renamedSister Beatrice;[47][48][24] it was shown at theLondon Pavilion that same day with the titleSister Beatrix.[49]
Sister Beatrix only received a few single showings in the provinces and was utterly eclipsed by the success of Menchen's film. The Elite Sales Agency ceased trading in October 1913, citing heavy losses.[50]
The world première of the 'Lyricscope play' ofThe Miracle in full colour took place at theRoyal Opera House,Covent Garden, London, on 21 December 1912, exactly a year afterMax Reinhardt's theatrical spectacle opened at Olympia. The 75-strong orchestra was conducted by Friedrich Schirmer, who had conducted the orchestra atOlympia (London) and later revised Humperdinck's score for the 1924 stage production at theCentury Theatre (New York City). The chorus of 60 was conducted by Edmund van der Straeten, who had also been the chorus-master at Olympia.[42][51][52]
The Miracle ran for several weeks at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden showing three times daily (3, 6.30 and 9pm) with chorus and orchestra of 200 performers, for as little as sixpence (2½p).[53][54][55] Towards the end of its run, the reported number of performers had grown to 200.[56]
The innovative daylight projection screen used throughout the run at the Royal Opera House was sold by the Universal Screen and Equipment Co. of 226,Piccadilly.[57][n 4] Although it was the first time a film had been shown at Covent Garden, theBerlin Royal Opera had already been incorporating films into productions ofWagner operas to show otherwise impossible scenic effects.[58]
The colour film briefly transferred to the brand-newPicture House at no. 165,Oxford Street, London, from Friday 24 January 1913.[59][n 5] Before the public opening, Menchen put on a special benefit performance ofThe Miracle on 22 January 1913, the anniversary of theBattle of Rorke's Drift. He donated the proceeds to the fund for a memorial to a London cabby, PrivateFrederick Hitch, VC, who fought at Rorke's Drift and died on 6 January.[60]
There was only a single hand-coloured coloured print of the film, andA. H. Woods, the owner of the film rights for the USA, was intending to the exhibit the film in New York City. Woods personally took the colour print with him back to New York, departing on theRMS Mauretania on 6 February.[61]The Miracle opened at thePark Theater, 5Columbus Circle, on 17 February 1913.[61]
The Miracle continued to show at the Picture House in a black-and-white version, advertised by Menchen (acting as his own UK distributor), as a 'Synescope Play'.[62] which played in smaller auditoriums with reduced forces.[3][44]
A report of a later performance in July inWindsor describes the general effect in the auditorium:
The Miracle continued to attract large audiences wherever it played, breaking attendance records at Kings's Hall,Leyton (2,000 seats), King's Hall,Lewisham (2,000 seats), Curzon Hall,Birmingham (3,000 seats), Royal Electric Theatre,Coventry and the Popular Picture Palace,Gravesend[63][n 6] As many as 150,000 people went to seeThe Miracle during a three-week run at theLiverpool Olympia (3,750 seats).[64]
The première performance of the MenchenMiracle in full colour took place at thePark Theatre, Columbus Circle, New York, on Monday 17 February 1913.[65]
Menchen's first choice for a US distributor wasHenry B. Harris, the New York theatrical manager andimpresario.[66] Menchen knew Harris well, having designed the lighting for several of his shows, and the first letter of testimony at the front of Menchen's 1906 product catalogue was signed "Harry B. Harris".[67] Harris had just lost many thousands of dollars in a failed re-creation of the ParisianFolies Bergère in New York,[68] and had been buying rights to several London shows and arranging for the London appearance of his starRose Stahl in a production. He may have seen Reinhardt's production during its London run at theOlympia exhibition hall from December 1911 to March 1912: at any rate he bought the rights (supposedly for £10,000) toThe Miracle film, according to an interview in April 1912 with the LondonStandard newspaper: "I have acquired an option on the fine moving pictures of "The Miracle," which I anticipate will make a sensation on the other side.”[69] All looked well for Harris' return to the States, but unfortunately the tickets that he and his wife had booked for their voyage back to the States had the wordsRMS Titanic printed on them.[70]
Three weeks after Harris's death in the maritime disaster (although his wife survived), a news item appeared in the U.S. trade weeklyVariety, claiming that the negatives ofThe Miracle had gone down with theTitanic;[71] but Menchen replied the following week from London saying that no shooting had taken place.[72] Neither film had actually been completed by the date the ship sailed on 13 April 1912.[73][n 7]
Menchen's second choice of distributor was the Hungarian-born archetypal showmanAl Woods, who had been in Berlin in connection with the construction of Germany's first purpose-built cinema, theUfa-Pavillon am Nollendorfplatz. Whereas Harris was in the first rank of theatre producers, Woods (while not averse to spectacle) was someone whose shows tended to invite critical scorn or even prosecution.[n 8] He had just finished building theEltinge Theatre, having had a very successful 1911 season managing the vaudeville female impersonatorJulian Eltinge in musical comedy roles on Broadway. Menchen himself had worked in vaudeville theatres likeTony Pastor's, showing early films with his Kinoptikon from 1896 to 1899.
In May 1912 Woods acquired the sole US, Canadian and all-America rights to the film of Reinhardt's Miracle[74] for which he paid Menchen $25,000[1] and formed the Miracle Film Company, Inc., for the purpose of distributing it.
Woods soon found himself immersed in a series of legal challenges involving a rival German film with the same subject and English name as Menchen's. This film,Das Mirakel, produced byContinental-Kunstfilm of Berlin and directed byMime Misu, was also billed in the UK and USA asThe Miracle. The German film was completed and shown in the US before Menchen had barely finished shooting in Austria.[24] Advertisements implied indirectly that it was a film of Reinhardt's Olympia production. The ensuing name changes for the film have led to considerable confusion about which 'Miracle' is which.
The stage director Edward P. Temple was engaged by A. H. Woods to stage a ballet of 100 dancers to accompany the film in America. Temple sailed to London on 12 December 1912 to watch the London presentation of "The Miracle".[75] He and Menchen had worked together before at Thomson & Dundy'sNew York Hippodrome: e.g. in 1906 the revueA Society Circus, Act III, Scene 3, the 'Court of the Golden Fountains' was stage managed by Temple, with stereopticon machines by Menchen.[76] Temple returned in the New Year to prepare the staging with a B&W copy of the 7,000 feet film, and began rehearsing the chorus (150 adults and 50 children), in the week of 12 January 1913. Al. Woods, who had also watched the Covent Garden production with Temple, had found some business partners to share the financial burden with: Milton and Sargent Aborn.[77] The Aborns were producers of operetta with theirAborn Opera Company.[78] Temple had already stagedBalfe'sThe Bohemian Girl for the Aborns at the Majestic (later Park Theatre) in 1911.[79]
AfterThe Miracle had finished its Covent Garden run and transferred to the newly refurbishedPicture House at 165Oxford Street, London, Woods returned on theRMS Mauretania[80] with the precious colour film on 6 February.[61] An advertisement by Menchen in the UK trade press on 5 February claimed thatThe Miracle would be shown at theLiberty Theatre, owned byKlaw andErlanger,[81] although other venues were still being considered, including the 'old'Metropolitan Opera House[n 9] or theNew Amsterdam Theatre (also built by Klaw and Erlanger); but by 14 February the Park Theatre had been booked – there were all kinds of consultations, all kinds of arguments, and at least one assault.[82][83]
The New York première performance of the MenchenMiracle in full colour took place at the Park Theater, 5 Columbus Circle (formerly theMajestic), on 17 February 1913.[n 10] The presentation was not quite as elaborate as in Covent Garden (a procession of nuns opened the proceedings, but the critics made no mention of the dancers); Humperdinck's music was performed by a chorus of 100 and an augmentedRussian Symphony Orchestra of New York conducted by its founderModest Altschuler.[84][85] Altschuler was a pupil of Gustav Holländer, who had previously conducted the orchestra in thestage performances ofThe Miracle atOlympia in London in 1911–12.[86] Holländer was the director of the BerlinStern Conservatory, where one of the professors wasHumperdinck who composed the score used in the stage and film versions ofThe Miracle. Holländer also composed the music for Reinhardt's 1910 stage production of Vollmoeller's pantomimeSumurûn.[87]
The show apparently ran continuously in New York at the Park Theater until at least 9 March.[88]
The Miracle showed from 24 February 1913 for two weeks of rather light business at theColonial Theatre,Boston,MA.[89][90] The managers at the Colonial wereCharles Frohman and William Harris, father of Henry B. Harris, who had taken over the affairs of his late son. The city censor objected to a number of scenes, and several hundred feet had to be cut; tickets cost up to $1.50 (higher than average), and business was very poor.[91]The Miracle was followed byThe Pink Lady, one of the previous season's greatest musical successes, with the company fresh from a triumphant run in London.[91]
The weather around Easter-time was atrocious, withtornadoes devastating eight states (seeMarch 1913 tornado outbreak sequence) and killing around 240 people; several further days of heavy rains in the central and eastern United States causedextensive flooding in which further countless hundreds were drowned (estimates vary from 650 to 900); inNew York State,Rochester was badly hit,[92] andBuffalo experienced winds of 90 mph (140 km/h).
A film ofThe Miracle which was banned in Chicago at the end of April 1913 on account of its depiction of "murder, drunkenness and immorality"[93] was probably the Misu version (Das Mirakel), since the states' rights were sold to a Chicago exhibitor by the New York Film Company earlier that month.[n 11] The police report refers to the filmSister Beatrix as an adaptation ofMaeterlinck's play – which usually featured in the NYFC's advertisements, whereas Menchen never referred to it in his publicity – and then confusingly calls it "The Miracle".
The New York Film Company was the US distributor for the BerlinContinental-Kunstfilm production company, whoseDas Mirakel had been renamedSister Beatrix in the UK after a court decision in London. (seeabove) On 15 January 1913, internal dissensions within the New York Film Company led to Harry Schultz dissolving his partnership with the other two directors and continuing the business alone.[94][95] However, by 1 February 1913 the situation had been reversed; after differences between the directors had been resolved, Schultz quit the business and Danziger and Levi took control of the New York Film Company.[96]
After the MenchenMiracle had finished showing atCovent Garden (by 31 January 1913 at the latest) the film arrived in the US and received its US première on Monday 17 February 1913, at the Park Theater, New York.[97]
During the week of 3–9 March 1913, Al Woods went to court to prevent the New York Film Co. from continuing to lease their film ofThe Miracle. Justice Lehman imposed a temporary injunction in Woods' favour on the condition that he paid a bond of $20,000.[98]The New York Film Co. thereafter billed the Continental film as "Sister Beatrice, previously advertised asThe Miracle",[99] and re-advertised the 'States Rights'[100] for the film under its new title.[101] Menchen's film showed again inBoston during the week of 5 April 1913, and Woods obtained an injunction to stop the A. A. Kellman Feature Film Co. (Kellman was the proprietor of the Park Theater, Taunton, Mass.) from showing Continental'sThe Miracle film under its illegal name.[102]
However, the bond of $20,000 was not forthcoming from Woods, so Justice Lehman vacated the injunction on 6 May 1913, leaving the New York Film Co. free to sell or leaseThe Miracle without question.[103]
The Miracle opened at the Flora Theatre, 79–81 Wagenstraat,The Hague, on 24 March 1913 and played for 3 consecutive weeks.[104][105][n 12] Timed performances were advertised rather than the usual continuous show, possibly to maximise the number of available seats (800 in 1909)[106] It sold out for the first two weeks and played to very full houses in the third week.[107]
The Flora was originally run by F.A. Nöggerath. His son Anton Nöggerath, Jr., followed in his father' business, learning the film trade in Britain at theWarwick Trading Company from 1897 withCharles Urban and forming his own negative developing business in 1903 inWardour Street, London. When his father died in 1908, Nöggerath returned to the Netherlands and took over the business with his mother.[108][n 13][n 14]
The Miracle played for two weeks from 16 May 1913 at the Bioscope Theatre, 34 Reguliersbreestraat,Amsterdam, another Noggerath establishment;[105] at the Thalia Theatre inthe Hague for a week from 25 October 1918, and at the Prinses Theater,Rotterdam, for the week starting 25 July 1919.[105]
The Australasian rights to "The Miracle" were acquired fromJoseph Menchen byBeaumont Smith during his year-long world tour of South Africa, Europe and Canada with his novelty show "Tiny Town" featuringsmall people.[45][112] Smith went on to own or manage numerous Australian cinemas, and later directed films himself.In Australia and New Zealand (as in Britain)The Miracle was generally advertised not simply as an ordinary film in its own right, but as a 'Lyricscope play', having been designed as part of a unique evening's entertainment complete with film, sets, actors and dancers, chorus & orchestra.[113]
The Australian première ofThe Miracle took place inSydney on 29 December 1913, at T. J. West'sGlaciarium, one of Australia's earliest purpose-built ice skating rinks which doubled as a cinema during the summer months.[43][114][n 15]
The sets forThe Miracle were constructed by the scenic artists George Dixon (who had also worked on the original London production) and Harry Whaite.[115][116][117] Lewis De Groen (d. 1919 aged 54) conducted a chorus of 80 singers[118] and his augmented Vice-Regal Orchestra.[119] De Groen had been the conductor at T. J. West's Cinematograph (i.e. cinema) since around 1900, and continued his position in West's new Glaciarium when it opened in 1907.[120] In 1908 he was managing some 80 musicians in Australia and New Zealand, and conducting nightly at three different venues in Sydney.[121]
The Miracle ran in Sydney for two weeks[122] and later for three weeks at West'sMelbourne cinema during April and May 1914 before transferring to Adelaide, and to Perth in June.[123][124][125] It continued to show in Australia, includingWagga Wagga in July 1915 andWarracknabeal in May 1916.[126][127]
The film, with Burke's orchestra and a chorus, played "with a degree of excellence" at the King's Theatre, Auckland in March 1914.[128] The performances were staged by Maurice Ralph.[129] The relatively large forces available in the city venues were somewhat reduced in the provinces: according to an advertisement in thePoverty Bay Herald in May 1914 forThe Miracle at His Majesty's Theatre,Gisborne, New Zealand: "Humperdinck's glorious music will be rendered by a Grand Augmented Orchestra of 12 instrumentalists."[44]
After the 1912 run of performances in the ViennaRotunde (immediately followed by thefilm shoot), Vollmoeller's stage play continued its European tour until 1914, playing in Berlin for two weeks at theZirkus Busch [de] from 30 April to 13 May.[n 16] Two days later the film ofThe Miracle received its German première (asDas Mirakel) at the Palast am Zoo cinema (laterUfa-Palast am Zoo),Charlottenburg,Berlin on Monday, 15 May 1914.[130][n 17]
The exclusive lease on the Palast am Zoo was owned by the millionaire swindler Frank J. Goldsoll. A few months previously he had bought out the European interests of his business partner,A. H. Woods, along with the German film rights toThe Miracle.[131] Goldsoll and Woods had previously built theUfa-Pavillon am Nollendorfplatz, Berlin's first purpose-built, free-standing cinema, in 1913. They both joinedGoldwyn Pictures Corporation in 1919. Godsoll, as a major investor, oustedSam Goldwyn to become the company's president until its merger to formMGM in 1924.[132]
The 18 year-oldPaul Hindemith went to see Reinhardt's original stage production when it arrived on tour inFrankfurt am Main in December 1913. In a letter he clearly conveys the almost overwhelming effect of the massive, pageant-like show in the Festhalle. It seems (from Hindemith's description of the "real thing") that Menchen had largely succeeded in recreating a similar atmosphere in his full-colour 'Lyricscope' screenings of the film:
28 December 1913
Yesterday I went to a performance of Vollmoeller's "Miracle", which Max Reinhardt is presenting in the Festhalle. If you ever get a chance to see it, do not miss it! You can hardly believe it is possible to keep control of such immense masses of players. I was completely bowled over and would never have believed that it was possible that anything so brilliant and grandiose could be done on a stage, or rather in an arena. The whole gigantic Festhalle has been transformed into a colossal church. All the lamps have become church lanterns and all the windows, church windows. Church bells ring out at the start, and the whole hall becomes black as night. Then the sound of the organ, and nuns singing. Stupendous lighting effects, a procession lasting 3/4 of an hour, wonderful music, and a rich display of people, costumes, and scenery! And how well the actors act! I came out of the hall reeling, and only this morning returned to my senses. It sweeps you right off your feet, and you forget you are in the theatre. I shall go again, come what may, even if I have to pay 20 marks for it.[n 18] On 1 January we are havingParsifal here. I'll see if I can find a sympathetic soul to buy me a ticket.[134][n 19]
TheNew York American voiced the fears of the Royal Opera House's traditional upper-class opera-goers: "The movies have invaded that sedate institution and stronghold of classic music, the Covent Garden Theatre. [...] It is true that the fashionable opera season does not begin until May, but the idea obtains among the conservative patrons of the house that the new departure comes shiveringly near being a desecration."[135]
In London, however, the normally conservativeAthenaeum waxed almost lyrical about the new film:
The producers of 'The Miracle', adapted as a Lyricscope play in colours, at Covent Garden, have furnished us with another instance of the satisfactory use to which the comparatively new invention has recently been put. Those who were unfortunate enough not to see the representation at Olympia may now get an excellent conception of that wonderful production[...] After being afflicted so often by the gesticulations ofanimated bifurcated radishes, it is indeed a pleasure to view the grace of real actors and actresses. The timing of the chorus with the pictorial representation is capable of amendment. Full justice is done by the orchestra to Prof. Humperdinck's music.[2]
Stephen W. Bush, reviewing "Reinhardt's Miracle" inThe Moving Picture World after its US première, had some observant criticisms among the plaudits:
When the Nun danced before the Robber Baron the voices behind the screen sounded more like an animated quarrel in an East Side saloon than the rumblings of a licentious mob. Numerous other defects could be pointed out such as the wearing of high heels by one of the leading and sacred characters of the piece, the persistence with which the knight wore his full armor even while courting the sister, the all-too sudden death of the robber baron; but these defects disappear in the splendor and magnificence of the whole.[136]
Rev. E. A. Horton, chaplain of theMassachusetts Senate, said:"'The Miracle' held my constant attention and gave me great reward in suggestion and pleasure."[137]
In Australia,The Sydney Morning Herald commented: "Max Reinhardt's stupendous production of the 'Miracle' was screened for the last time at West's Glaciarium on Saturday night before an enormous house. The season has marked an era in the history of cinematography in this country and the success of the production will not easily be forgotten."[122]
In Germany,The Miracle received a resoundingly positive review from Lichtbild-Bühne, entitled "Bravo Goldsoll!" (Frank Goldsoll was the owner of the Palast am Zoo cinema where it showed).
We have slept for years! The theater novice Goldsoll, the Variété expert, comes to us and has to show us how it's done... [He] leaves the theatre air pregnant with incense, so that mood is created. He makes great music with bells and orchestrations etc.. He leaves a plastic, wonderful scenery as a dramatic frame for the film show. He applies lighting effects: at the beginning and end, living nuns and choristers, etc. come on stage and are presented the bodily dedicated mother of God center stage. The effect of the film "The Miracle" is thus so colossal that day the theatre the film is sold out through full presentation has increased in value so great that even enthusiasts say that the whole thing looks more like the original.
The business is launched so brilliantly that the whole guild of theater practitioners who now complain about their empty houses, should simply be ashamed.
Go and try to capitalize on the consequences of this "Miracle" demonstration. Rub the sleep from your eyes, and call out with envy: "Bravo, Goldsoll.[130]
| Company | Country | Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joseph Menchen | UK | only | The Miracle | fp 21 December 1912 |
| USA | only | The Miracle | fp 17 February 1913 | |
| Germany | only | Das Mirakel | fp 15 May 1914 | |
| Continental-Kunstfilm | Germany | original | Das Mirakel | Banned (verbot) in Germany 19 October 1912. Registered as a film, (Prüfung) December 1912.[138] |
| later | Das Marienwunder: eine alte legende | Re-classified as Over 18 only (jugendverbot) by the police censor and released with cuts in May 1914 | ||
| UK | pre-release | The Miracle | Never released under this title following Menchen's court injunction | |
| release | Sister Beatrix. A Miracle Play[139] | (after 17 December 1912) | ||
| USA | original | The Miracle: a legend of medieval times | Press screening 18 October 1912, fp 15 December 1912 | |
| temporary | The Miracleof Sister Beatrice, OR The Miracle,or Sister Beatrice | (March–May 1913) |
A double-sided 78 rpm recording of selections fromThe Miracle (C2429, matrix nos. 2B 3406 & 2B 3407) was issued byHis Master's Voice on a plum-coloured label in 1932, featuring theLondon Symphony Orchestra, organ and an unnamed chorus, conducted by Einar Nilson.[140][141]
The recording coincided with the 1932 run of the stage revival ofThe Miracle atLyceum Theatre, London, withLady Diana Cooper &Wendy Toye,[142] choreography byLeonide Massine and produced again by C.B. Cochran. Nilsson had previously conducted the orchestra in Reinhardt's new 1924 stage production (withMorris Gest) ofThe Miracle, set designed byNorman Bel Geddes at theCentury Theatre, in New York.[143]
Side 2 of the above 1932 recording can be heard as the unsynchronised soundtrack to a YouTube clip of the final scene of the film.[144] This is a tinted B&W print, not the original coloured film. The four short selections are as follows, cue numbers taken from the vocal score (seeMusical scores):
Humperdinck also made arrangements of various numbers for military band. These were recorded by the band of theColdstream Guards conducted by Major Mackenzie Rogan and released on single-sided His Master's Voice 78rpm discs in March 1913.
Notes
Citations
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