A fake Italian lothario, two women, and a train engineer walk into a scandal...
A talentless artist with a greatly inflated ego, Carlo Morton, has enchanted the naïve Helga with tales from Italy. Yearning to see the world, Helga decides to run away from home, following her pompous friend to warmer climes. Morton suddenly has his hands full trying to hide his Italian mistress away. At the same time, the stalwart train engineer Helder, who also has tender feelings for Helga, has followed her to Italy in order to reveal the true nature of the disagreeable artist and bring Helga home. (stumfilm.dk)
Acting
Peter Malberg's restrained longing vs. Malberg's magnificent fraud energy.
Direction
Sandberg's elegant tension between Danish restraint and Italian heat.
Director
A.W. Sandberg
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
1920s Danish cinema had a brief obsession with 'exotic' Mediterranean settings as symbolic escape from Nordic restraint—this film practically winks at the trope.
Karina Bell became one of Denmark's biggest silent stars partly through roles like this—naïve women who audiences loved watching wise up.
DK
