The Spider's Prey

Rovedderkoppen

Denmark

1916

Black and White

1.33:1

Silent

Currently 3.0/5 Stars.
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DIR August Blom

SCR Carl Theodor Dreyer, Sven Elvestad

CAST Rita Sacchetto, Hans Richter, Thorleif Lund, Peter Nielsen, Anton De Verdier, Alma Hinding, Rasmus Christiansen, Zanny Petersen, Axel Mattsson

Synopsis

A notorious international lady criminal, Mrs. Valentine Kempel, has taken an apartment in the centre of the city, decorating it with mad luxury. From her nest she spreads her web of intrigue over the city and woe the poor victims caught in it. She got her nickname, “The Predator Spider,” for a reason. Her latest victim is a young artist, Charlie Falkenberg, who is as naïve and romantic as a child. Using her feminine wiles, she turns the young man’s head around so completely that he is prepared to die for her.

To trick him into committing a crime, she pressures Charlie to forge his wealthy merchant brother’s signature on a bill of exchange, but Charlie refuses and chooses death by his own hand rather than the shame of facing the Predator Spider again. Vowing to avenge his brother’s death, the merchant Falkenberg hires a detective, Asbjørn Krag. Hearing about this from her network of spies, the Predator Spider plans to smear the merchant Falkenberg as a card sharp, but her plot is foiled thanks to the nimble wits of detective Krag.

Unfazed, the Predator Spider ups the stakes, luring Falkenberg’s fiancée into her clutches. Meanwhile, detective Krag manages to set up a meeting with the Predator Spider at the Grand. Getting Falkenberg’s fiancée back proves to be a tough job, but he gets help from a man trying to escape from the Predator Spider’s web. Krag gains access to the lady criminal’s home, where he throws off his disguise and forces the abductress to reveal where she is hiding Falkenberg’s fiancée. Krag stumbles when the Predator Spider presses a secret button, alerting her henchmen, but soon the web she has used to trap her victims collapses on her. –carlthdreyer.dk

Director

August Blom

August Blom (1869 – 1947) was a Danish film director, production leader and pioneer of silent films during the “golden age” of Danish filmmaking from 1910 to 1914.

Blom began his acting career in 1893 in Kolding, and was employed as a company actor for the Folketeatret from 1907 to 1910. During that period, Blom also began performing in films for the Nordisk Film Kompangni. He debuted there as a director in 1910 with his film Livets Storme (Storms of Life). That same year he was made the Head of Production for Nordisk Film and given the title of Director. Blom was a prolific filmmmaker and during the golden age of Danish silent films, 1910 to 1914, he directed 78 movies. Before he retired from Nordisk Film and filmmaking in 1925, Blom directed more than 100 titles. Blom’s volume of work is the largest of any Danish film director.

Blom is credited as a pioneer in silent filmmaking. In 1911, Blom was instrumental in the development of the erotic melodrama with his film Ved… read more

August Blom (1869 – 1947) was a Danish film director, production leader and pioneer of silent films during the “golden age” of Danish filmmaking from 1910 to 1914.

Blom began his acting career in 1893 in Kolding, and was employed as a company actor for the Folketeatret from 1907 to 1910. During that period, Blom also began performing in films for the Nordisk Film Kompangni. He debuted there as a director in 1910 with his film Livets Storme (Storms of Life). That same year he was made the Head of Production for Nordisk Film and given the title of Director. Blom was a prolific filmmmaker and during the golden age of Danish silent films, 1910 to 1914, he directed 78 movies. Before he retired from Nordisk Film and filmmaking in 1925, Blom directed more than 100 titles. Blom’s volume of work is the largest of any Danish film director.

Blom is credited as a pioneer in silent filmmaking. In 1911, Blom was instrumental in the development of the erotic melodrama with his film Ved Faengslets Port, the story of a young man in debt to a moneylender while in love with the moneylender’s daughter. Blom refined this genre during the following years, and this became the most profitable trademark for Nordisk company films. Blom also is credited with developing the use of cross-cutting as well as using mirrors to expand the drama. In 1913, Blom made his most ambitious effort: the film Atlantis based on the 1912 novel by Gerhart Hauptmann. The film, which depicted the sinking of an ocean liner only one year after the sinking the RMS Titanic, drew an enormous public response. With a complicated plot and several main characters, Atlantis became the first multi-reel feature film from Denmark. Harald Engberg of the Politiken newspaper later wrote in an obituary that Blom “knew that he wasn’t some directorial genius, but he proved that he was the cleverest and most tasteful scene creator of his day.”

Blom retired from filmmaking in 1924. He opened the Kinografen movie theater (later renamed the Bristol Theater) and managed the theater from 1934 to 1947. —Wikipedia

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