The Isle of the Dead

In 1911 the German poet Hugo von Hofmansthal wrote a new version of the medieval morality play Everyman, and this was staged in Danish translation at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen in 1915. At the time, it was radical example of symbolist abstraction. Its success inspired a film version, Enhver [Everyman], directed by Vilhelm Glückstadt for Filmfabrikken Danmark. The film, however, was set in a modern-day environment. It depict the moral choice confronting its protagonist at struggle because two attendant spirits, one good and one bad. The protagonist is tempted by dark figure of evil and succumbs, rejecting God and leading a life of iniquity, but he is then haunted by guilty visions until he finally dies, asking God for forgiveness at the last moment.

The young clerk Poul Wang is squandering his fortune on festive pleasures while being shadowed by a mysterious unknown figure. The following day, payment is due and Poul has to clandestinely visit a local loan shark. The growing interest rates tempt Poul to steal from his workplace, but he is discovered by a watchful colleague. In desperation, he robs his own family’s savings, narrowly avoiding being fatally shot by his own wife, who mistakes him for a common burglar. Just as everything looks impossibly bleak, the mysterious stranger comes to the rescue. (Stumfilm.dk)