Mikael (1924)
Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer
Starring: Walter Slezak, Benjamin Christensen, Max Auzinger, Nora Gregor
Length: 86 min
Genre: Drama / German
Based On: Mikael by Herman Bang (1902 Novel)
Mikael (Walter Slezak) is a male model for the artist Zoret (Benjamin Christensen). Zoret is in love with his model and Mikael allows the relationship to continue as long as he is getting paid. However, when Zoret agrees to paint a portrait of Princess Lucia Zamikoff (Nora Gregor), Mikael falls in love with her and she falls for him.
Mikael sells the gifts Zoret had given him to help pay for the expensive gifts he gets for the princess, and when he runs out of those, he starts stealing from him. Zoret, still in love with his male model, ignores and lies about the thefts to others.
The thing that stood out most in the film, aside from Benjamin Christensen looking exactly like Craig T. Nelson, were the constant editing goofs. You have to get used to them when viewing films from before the 1920s, but by 1924, most filmmakers had gotten quite good at editing. Had this movie been released in say, 1919 or 1920, the editing would have been almost to the standard, but for 1924, it was bad. At several times in the movie, a character would be standing, a change in camera angle and they are sitting, another cut and they are standing again. While this happens from time to time in movies from '24, it happened just a bit too much in this one. It really was a distraction.
Aside for that, the movie was ok. Nothing special, the story was ok, the acting was ok. Gets a bit of help in the Historical rating since it's considered a landmark for gay cinema.
Entertainment Rating: 4/10
Historical Rating: 6/10