The House Without Laughter \ Das Haus ohne Lachen aka (1923) Gerhard Lamprecht

An everyday marriage is torn apart by the wife, worn down by the husband’s tormented mood and pathological desire to create other people’s suffering, in the murder of her husband, the housewife, who accuses herself of being a murderer out of love for her son, is seized by the justice system, and her innocence (of course in the film) is revealed to a happy end - This highly exciting plot, which is darkened in a mandrake-like manner by gray-on-gray images, is only a loose cover for a moving chamber play that the imagination of Prcybisczewski could have conceived. Lamprecht and Heilbronn allow the tragedy to end in a soft bed of lyrically captured scenes. (Source: Der Kinematograph No. 842/43, April 8/15, 1923) According to Paimann’s film lists: Chamber play with Edith Posca, Mathilde Sussin, Henrik Gallen and Harry Nestor. Director: Gerhard Lamprecht. An orphan comes into the house of the guardian who constantly abuses his wife and once turned away the son who protected the mother from the threshold, who can now only return home to visit her at night. The young girl endures the brutality of the master of the house, nurturing a deep love for his son in her heart, until the former is killed one day by the tormented woman, who dies that same night. The orphan is suspected of being the perpetrator until she justifies the statement of the dead woman’s confessor and she becomes the wife of her son. - The main strength of the film lies in the well-tempered interaction of the ensemble; the subject takes a bit of a back seat to this advantage due to its initial thickness. The presentation is good, as are the photos regarding the lighting effects. Visually, more sharpness would be desirable.