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23 July 2019

Frühlingsstürme im Herbste des Lebens (1918)

Fern Andra (1893-1974) was the star of Frühlingsstürme im Herbste des Lebens/Spring Storms in the Autumn of Life (1918), a silent German drama set in the world of nobility. The film was directed and scripted by Fern Andra herself.

Fern Andra in Frühlingsstürme im Herbste des Lebens
German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 558/1. Photo: Fern Andra Atelier. Fern Andra in Frühlingsstürme im Herbste des Lebens (Fern Andra, 1918).

Fern Andra in Frühlingsstürme im Herbste des Lebens (1918)
German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 558/2. Photo: Fern Andra Atelier. Fern Andra and Josef Peterhans in Frühlingsstürme im Herbste des Lebens (Fern Andra, 1918).

The only befitting alternative for a noblewoman


In Frühlingsstürme im Herbste des Lebens/Spring Storms in the Autumn of Life (Fern Andra, 1918) also translated as Spring Storms, Fern Andra plays the young Countess von Hagen. After the death of her father, she is taken in by his childhood friend Baron Joseph Königswart (Josef Peterhans).

The Baron lives with his cousin (Hella Tornegg) and her son Reinhold (Reinhold Schünzel) under one roof. Soon the young countess has both men falling for her. The advances of the young Reinhold she rejects, while Baron Joseph does not dare to confess his feelings for her because of his advanced age. And that, although the Countess reciprocates these same feelings.

Reinhold's mother is increasingly jealous because she is no longer playing the first fiddle in the house. Therefore, she accuses the young woman of theft. Deeply shaken by this monstrous accusation, the Countess sees only one alternative for her as a noblewoman befitting and proper way out: she wants to shoot herself - fittingly in the hunting lodge on the estate.

But the young lady is not aiming exactly and only wounds herself. Joseph hurries to her, declares his love, and becomes engaged to the Countess.

Frühlingsstürme im Herbste des Lebens/Spring Storms in the Autumn of Life was shot mid-1918 and offered to the German National Censorship Board in August 1918, after which it was forbidden for youngsters. The film had its premiere on 22 August 1918 at the Berlin cinema Marmorhaus.

In his weekly lexicon Paimann’s Filmlisten, Austrian Franz Paimann noted in 1918 about the film: "Story very good. Camera work and sets pretty good. Acting excellent." Kay Weniger added in Das grosse Personenlexikon des Films: "Andra's cinematic tearjerkers, set among the nobility or in the circus milieu, found a grateful audience during the First World War."

Fern Andra in Frühlingsstürme im Herbste des Lebens (1918)
German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 558/3. Photo: Fern Andra Atelier. Fern Andra and Josef Peterhans in Frühlingsstürme im Herbste des Lebens (Fern Andra, 1918).

Fern Andra in Frühlingsstürme im Herbste des Lebens
German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 558/4. Photo: Fern Andra Atelier. Fern Andra in Frühlingsstürme im Herbste des Lebens (Fern Andra, 1918).

Fern Andra in Frühlingssturme im Herbste des Lebens
German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 558/5. Photo: Fern Andra Atelier. Fern Andra in Frühlingsstürme im Herbste des Lebens (Fern Andra, 1918).

Sources: Wikipedia (German and English) and IMDb.

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