Harakiri (1919 film)

1919 film

Harakiri

Niels Prien and Lil Dagover as O. Anderson and O-Take-San

Directed by| Fritz Lang
Written by| Max Jungk
from the play by David Belasco and
John Luther Long
Produced by| Erich Pommer
Starring| Lil Dagover
Paul Biensfeldt
Georg John
Meinhart Maur
Rudolf Lettinger
Erner Huebsch
Niels Prien
Cinematography| Max Fassbender
Distributed by| Decla-Bioscop

Release date

* December 18, 1919 (1919-12-18)

Running time

| 80 minutes
Country| Weimar Republic
Languages| Silent film
German intertitles

Harakiri, or Madame Butterfly, is a 1919 silent film directed in Germany by Fritz Lang. It was one of the first Japanese-themed films depicting Japanese culture. The film was originally released in the United States and other countries as Madame Butterfly because of the source material on which it is based and which also inspired Giacomo Puccini's eponymous 1904 opera. The film starred Lil Dagover as O-Take-san.

## Synopsis[edit]

Nagasaki, Japan at the turn of the 20th century. Daimyō Tokujawa comes back to Japan after being an ambassador in Europe. A Buddhist monk wants Tokujawa's daughter O-Take-San to become a priestess of Buddha. In order to have her at his mercy, the monk sends the mikado a letter accusing the daimyo of conspiring against him. As a result, the mikado sends the daimyo a sword with which he commits suicide. The monk abducts O-Take-San but one of the Temple's servants let her escape and sends her to a tea-house where she becomes a geisha. A Danish naval officer, Olaf Anderson falls in love with her and marries her for 999 days, in accordance with Japanese custom. Shortly afterwards, Olaf Anderson goes back to his country and O-Take-San gives birth to his son. She refuses proposals to be married to Prince Matahari because she considers herself still married to Olaf. After four years, when her marriage with Olaf has expired and her son is going to be taken by the state, Olaf comes back to Nagasaki. He is now married and when his wife learns about O-Take-San's story, she goes to see her to say that she is willing to take care of her son. O-Take-San is desperate to see that Olaf has not even come to see her and answers that she will give her son only to Olaf in person. While Olaf's wife tries to convince him to come to O-Take-San's house, O-Take-San commits harakiri with her father's sword.[1]

## References[edit]

1. ^ Review, synopsis and link to watch the film: "A cinema history". Retrieved 13 August 2014.

## External links[edit]

* Harakiri at IMDb
* Harakiri  is available for free download at the Internet Archive
* Harakiri at AllMovie

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Fritz Lang

* Filmography
* Bibliography

Silent films|

* Halbblut (1919)
* Der Herr der Liebe (1919)
* The Spiders, Part 1 (1919)
* Harakiri (1919)
* The Spiders, Part 2 (1920)
* The Wandering Image (1920)
* Four Around a Woman (1921)
* Destiny (1921)
* Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922)
* Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924)
* Die Nibelungen: Kriemhilds Rache (1924)
* Metropolis (1927)
* Spione (1928)
* Woman in the Moon (1929)

Sound films|

* M (1931)
* The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933)
* Liliom (1934)
* Fury (1936)
* You Only Live Once (1937)
* You and Me (1938)
* The Return of Frank James (1940)
* Western Union (1941)
* Man Hunt (1941)
* Hangmen Also Die! (1943)
* Ministry of Fear (1944)
* The Woman in the Window (1944)
* Scarlet Street (1945)
* Cloak and Dagger (1946)
* Secret Beyond the Door (1947)
* House by the River (1950)
* American Guerrilla in the Philippines (1950)
* Rancho Notorious (1952)
* Clash by Night (1952)
* The Blue Gardenia (1953)
* The Big Heat (1953)
* Human Desire (1954)
* Moonfleet (1955)
* While the City Sleeps (1956)
* Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956)
* The Tiger of Eschnapur (1959)
* The Indian Tomb (1959)
* The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960)

* v
* t
* e

Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly

* Commons
* Audio

Films|

* Madame Butterfly (1915)
* Harakiri (1919 film)
* Le ménage moderne de Madame Butterfly (1920)
* The Toll of the Sea (1922)
* Madame Butterfly (1932)
* Madame Butterfly (1954)
* M. Butterfly (1993)

Source|

* "Madame Butterfly" (1898 short story)
* Madame Butterfly (1900 play)
* Madame Chrysanthème (1887 novel)

Stage|

* M. Butterfly (1988 play)
* Miss Saigon (1989 musical)

Music|

* "Un bel dì vedremo" (aria)
* Madama Butterfly discography

Related|

* Madame Chrysanthème (1901 opera)
* El pecado de Oyuki (1975 comic)
* El pecado de Oyuki (1988 telenovela)
* Pinkerton (1996 album)

This article related to historical films is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

|

* v
* t
* e

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template