A great way to start exploring the silent era – I had put off doing so, seeing silent films as little more than a formation period of cinema, but this film showed me how wrong I was. Don’t be put off by the right-wing accusations (which would turn me off a film as much as any), there are many nobler ways one can read this work, and numerous moments at which one has no choice but to admire it. Get the 140 min Kino version with the wonderful score by Gottfried Huppertz – I can’t imagine the film being played any other way.
