Daughter of the Night (1920) User Reviews

A bunch of Russian expatriates hang out in France...and scheme...and talk...and talk.

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 6 March 2019]

"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.

Early Lugosi

[Michael_Elliott · 29 February 2008]

Daughter of the Night (1920)

** (out of 4)

The earliest surviving Bela Lugosi film has him playing a French millionaire who falls in love with a Russian singer and soon joins her in an underground revolution. I'm not sure how compelte this film is but it never really makes a bit of sense and some of this is just due to over-dramatic situations and a real lack of development. The film tries to speak highly of Russian people and to show they're aren't animals yet that's exactly what they're shown as in the unbelievable ending. This was my first time seeing Lugosi in a silent film and I really wasn't too impressed after hearing some stories of him being a "great actor" in his early days. He's way too stiff in the film, stiff like his later performances but at least there you had his voice to carry some weight. That stiffness really doesn't work too well in a silent film but he's far from the worst thing here.

A rare movie, admittedly, but not worth seeing!

[JohnHowardReid · 3/10 · 3 January 2018]

Bela Lugosi's continued cult following has led to the unearthing of some rare material, including Daughter of the Night, the USA cutdown of a two-part German epic, Dancing on the Volcano (1921), directed by Richard Eichberg. Actually there are only a few flashbacks to part one, "Sybil Young". This cutdown consists mostly of part two, "The Death of the Grand Duke". On the evidence of this "film", Herr Eichberg easily surpasses Edward D. Wood, Jr. as the world's worst director. If the movie had been made in 1902, there may have been some excuse for the ridiculous, over-the-top "posing" (one cannot call it "acting"), complete with bug eyes and other woefully heavy-handed mannerisms by a collection of thespic hams who would be booed off the stage at the Lower Podunk Drama Club.

Except for one or two shots when it actually pans, the camera is bolted to the floor, while the actors strike emphatic positions in front of the lens. The pace is super slow, the story totally indigestible, and although he has the main male role (at least in this version), Herr Lugosi displays as much charisma as a waxworks dummy (although he is by no means the worst offender. That honor is easily won by Robert Scholz, although Gustav Birkholz, who plays the Grand Duke whose death is celebrated in the movie's title, runs him close). The film's only saving grace lies in the exotic presence of Violetta Napierska - a charisma that not even her dumb "acting" can totally erase. (The Alpha DVD is watchable, if you are such a sold-out Lugosi fan, you must see this bankrupt-of-interest rarity).

Dull Film

[Rainey-Dawn · 3/10 · 17 November 2019]

I guess I expected more from this film. I watched it only for Bela Lugosi - and it's his earliest surviving film. I wanted to like this movie - I really did but the film really lacked a better story.

3/10

The edited version is a real mess. Of interest for an uneasy looking Lugosi only

[dbborroughs · 29 December 2008]

(This review is of the combined re-cut version)Early film appearance of Bela Lugosi shows none of his on screen power that would make him an international star 10 years later. The plot has something to do with a Lugosi as a French Millionaire in love with a performer who is really a Russian revolutionary, or some such nonsense. Its doesn't make any real sense under the best of circumstances as the film has all sorts of flashbacks as to everyone's back story that only confuse things since the sets all seem to be the same set reused for different stories. This film is a mess. I don't think its just that this was welded together from a two part film, I just think it's a mess, I mean why else would there be the story of the volcano rising up in Russia. As for the real reason anyone looks at this film, Lugosi is clearly ill at ease. His eyes dart around and he seems unsure of what to do in front of the camera. Its an interesting start to a career, but not really a reason to watch this dull mess of a movie.