Style over Substance? The Case of Die wunderbare Lüge der Nina Petrowna (1929)

For their help accessing archival material, my thanks to Luciano Palumbo and Carmen Prokopiak of the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung (Germany), and to Phil Wickham and the staff of the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum (UK).Notes1 I cannot find any evidence in the film (or in contemporary press material) to confirm Bergfelder et al.’s claim that the musical clock plays this waltz melody (2007, 153). Schmidt-Gentner’s score is lost, but in Maurice Jaubert’s score—written for performances of the film in Paris in 1929 and recorded for broadcast in 2000—the melody is different from Nina’s waltz theme.Additional informationNotes on contributorsPaul CuffPaul Cuff is a film historian from the UK whose work focuses mainly on silent cinema. He has written widely on aspects of film history, literature and film, and sound cultures; he also has a special interest in the films of Abel Gance, about whom he has written two monographs. He is currently writing a monograph on Brigitte Helm. https://therealmofsilence.com/my-work

Art · Art history · Literature · Movie theater · Musical · Performance art · Visual arts · Waltz · Cinema and Media Studies · European history and politics · German History and Society · History

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