THE LIVING CORPSE (1929) Vsevolod Pudovkin, Maria Jacobini & Viola Garden | Drama | B&W |Cinema Gem

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he Living Corpse (German: Der lebende Leichnam, Russian: Живой труп, romanized: Zhivoy trup) is a 1929 German-Soviet silent drama film directed by Fyodor Otsep and starring Vsevolod Pudovkin, Maria Jacobini and Viola Garden. It is based on the 1911 posthumously debuted play The Living Corpse by Leo Tolstoy. It was made as a co-production between the Russian-based Mezhrabpomfilm and the Communist-backed German company Prometheus Film.

Synopsis:

At the center of the action is Fyodor Protassov whose marriage with his wife Liza is largely finished. As the Russian Orthodox Church does not tolerate divorce, he one day fakes his suicide so that his wife can be with her lover Viktor Karenin. While he begins to lead a life of illegality and subterfuge which despite his new companion does not make him content, this decisive step to the fake death which has made him a "living corpse" is no real happiness.

One day it is found out that Fyodor is still alive and that Liza is guilty of bigamy. She is accused and a sentence for her "offense" waits for her, which is in actuality Fyodor's. Protassov, who never wanted to take this so far, decides therefore to one last sacrifice: he now completes the deceived act and actually commits suicide by shooting himself.

Cast & Crew:

Vsevolod Pudovkin as Fyodor Protasov
Maria Jacobini as Yelizaveta Andreyevna Protasova (Liza)
Viola Garden as Sasha (Liza's sister)
Julia Serda as Anna Pavlovna
Nato Vachnadze as Masha, a gypsy
Gustav Diessl as Viktor Mikhajlovich Karenin
Vera Maretskaya as Prostitute
Daniil Vvedenskiy as Artem'ev (The Good Spirit)
Vladimir Uralsky as Petushkov
Boris Barnet as Sailor in tavern
Carola Höhn
Karl Junge-Swinburne
Porfiri Podobed
Pyotr Repnin
Sylvia Torf

Directed by: Fyodor Otsep
Written by: Leo Tolstoy (play), Boris Gusman, Anatoli Marienhof, Fyodor Otsep
Cinematography: Anatoli Golovnya, Phil Jutzi
Music by: Werner Schmidt-Boelcke
Production Companies: Mezhrabpomfilm, Prometheus-Film
Distributed by: Prometheus-Film
Release Date: 26 March 1929
Running Time: 82 minutes
Countries: Germany, Soviet Union
Languages: Silent, German intertitles