Warning Shadows A Nocturnal Hallucination
1923
Director: Arthur Robeson
I had only known of this film from reading the entry in the Overlook Film Encyclopedia- Horror Edition until recently when I decided to watch it the other night. In spite of no intertitles and a slow introduction of the characters before the story begins, I quickly found myself mesmerized by the images flashing before me. Interestingly this happens to the characters in the story when a travelling showman arrives and puts on a shadowplay for the observers.
Prior to the showman's arrival we witness a man and his wife hosting a dinner party. The woman's vanity is on display as she primps in front of mirrors and flirts with the guests. In one particular scene, she stands in front of a room divider posing for three of her male guests. The men approach her shadow imposed on the wall and begin to fondle the shadow pervertedly. From another room, the woman's husband watches the shadows of the men interacting with her shadow . The trick of the lighting creating the illusion of the men actually groping his wife.
The woman obviously likes the attention she is receiving by all of the men who have come to the party. During dinner one particular young man begins to make subtle advances and the husband begins to show some signs of jealousy and irritation. The entertainer arrives and begins to present a shadowplay. During the play, something comes over the audience (the characters' shadows blend into their bodies, which are transported to the other side of the table. A collective vision ensues which begins the second half of the film as the mass hallucination reveals what the outcome of the woman's flirting and her husband's resultant jealousy will reap.
Shadows and reflections abound in this film, creating a hallucinatory atmosphere for the viewer. It is highly stylized and is another good example of German Expressionism.
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