Die Wunderbare Lüge der Nina Petrowna (1929)
Directed by Hanns Schwarz

Film Review

One of the better films from Austrian filmmaker Hanns Schwarz is this masterfully crafted melodrama. Die Wunderbare Lüge der Nina Petrowna (a.k.a. The Wonderful Lies of Nina Petrovna) is a fine example of late 1920s German cinema - in fact it was the last prestigious silent film to be made by UFA before the studio switched over to sound with its next film Melody of the Heart, a musical also directed by Schwarz. It is not hard to see why the film, adapted from a popular novel by Hans Szekely, was a massive commercial success. The film is all the more powerful for its stunning central performance from its actress, Brigitte Helm, one of the most iconic stars of German silent cinema, perhaps best known for her appearance in Fritz's Lang's legendary Metropolis (1927).

Largely overlooked until its restoration more than seventy years after its original release, this is a film which richly deserves to be more widely known.  It shows how sophisticated and expressive an artform silent cinema had become, just before sound came along and consigned it to history. The film was remade in France by Viktor Tourjansky as Le Mensonge de Nina Petrovna (1937), starring Isa Miranda and Fernand Gravey.

Film Synopsis

Nina, the beautiful wife of the wealthy Colonel Beranoff, is surrounded by luxury in her St Petersburg apartments, but the one thing she lacks is love.  At a restaurant a dashing young soldier, Michael Rostof, catches her eye.  To excuse herself, she tells her husband that the soldier was a childhood friend, but, aware of Nina's tendency to lie, the Colonel calls her bluff and invites the soldier to their table.  One night, whilst the Colonel is away, Rostof visits Nina, but, despite his obvious attraction to her, he chivalrously resists her attempts to seduce him.  The next day, the Colonel discovers the soldier and Nina having breakfast together and sends the soldier away with a mild threat.  Nina however is too far in love to forget Rostof.  She abandons her husband and moves into poor lodgings, hoping to start a new life with Rostof.  When he learns what has become of Nina, the young lieutenant willingly returns her love.  However, the Colonel is determined to do anything to win back his wife…