Der Tanz auf dem Vulkan - 1. Sybil Young

"Daughter of the Night" is a very dull German movie that you can find on DVD from Alpha Video...though I would hardly recommend it. I bought the inexpensive DVD simply because I wanted to see one of Bela Lugosi's earliest film appearances.

The story begins with a long-winded and incredibly optimistic prologue about the recent revolution in Russia and how they assume over time cooler heads and freedom will prevail in the country. What follows is a dull tale of spies and Royalists living in France following the 1917 revolution. Andre (Lugosi) is in love with a beautiful Russian singer....and Andre's old fling, the Countess, is determined to hurt them because she hates to let Andre be with anyone but her.

There are many problems with the film, particularly the pacing. It's glacially slow and very, very talky. Talky is bad enough in a sound movie but in a silent it really is awful. Additionally, several times the plot is advanced through letters...letters so sloppily written and damaged due to the decayed print that it's hard to know what some of them say. Overall, a picture you would be best to skip unless you insist on seeing it. Nice costumes and the acting is good for a silent....but the script is hopeless.