Das Mädchen vom Moorhof (1935) - film review

When Helga, a young housemaid, is made pregnant by her employer, a prosperous landowner, she becomes a virtual pariah in the rural community where she lives.   Hearing of her plight, another farmer named Karsten takes pity on her and hires her as his housemaid.  For a while, Helga’s fortunes appear to improve.  But Karsten is soon to be married and his future wife, Gertrud, is adamant that she will not have Helga in her house.  Karsten has no choice but to dismiss Helga, not knowing that she has fallen in love with him...

Mädchen vom Moorhof is an early work by the highly regarded auteur filmmaker Douglas Sirk.  It was made for UFA during the early phase of Sirk’s career in Germany, two years before his flight from the country.  The film is based on a popular Swedish romantic novel by Selma Lagerlof and has the austere realist style that was typical of Scandinavian cinema at the time.  There are also some of the distinctive stylistic and thematic elements that would distinguish Sirk’s films during his time in Hollywood.  Whilst far from being the director’s best work, it is an engaging film that brings a stark sense of realism to what is otherwise a fairly anodyne piece of melodrama.

© filmsdefrance.com 2008

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