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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- This dance sequence is taken from the 1910 Danish film ‘Afgrunden’ (‘The Abyss’), written and directed by Urban Gad.
The plot:
‘Knud, a vicar's son meets Magda, a piano teacher, on a tram. He falls in love with her and introduces her to his parents. She refuses to go with them to the Sunday service and convinces him to go to the Circus with her. She dances with the performers and at night, one of them, Rudolf comes to seduce her. They run away on horseback. Magda is not happy with Rudolf who keeps flirting with other girls, but she cannot leave him, despite Knud's efforts’
In this footage, we see Asta Nielsen as Magda Vang vamping it up with Robert Dinesen as Knud Svane, her fiancé - a bit of light bondage is thrown in for good measure.
Amazing that this was produced in 1910!
Enjoy!
Thanks for the upload! Fabulous! Wonderful to know of performers and what audiences were watching in 1910! Although it is probably amusing to most of us today, I am certain it was considered salacious and jaw-dropping then. Love Asta Nielsen's hip gyrations!!!
hi Karen. such a curiously direct and explicit footage for 1910 - maybe things were more liberal in Denmark at that time. a bit quaint today but it still works to some extent too. glad you love it too!
She is NOT dancing with her fiance, but with the "bad" guy who has seduced her. He is played by Poul Reumert.
The "nice" guy (son of a vicar) wouldn't have lasted five seconds with her dancing!!! 🙂
And yes, incredible that this is from 1910. Thanks to the Swedish censors who cut this out and kept it nice and clear. I'll bet the censors saw this clip many times! 🙂
Thank you very much for this post. A very rare finding.
loved it John!
+Kathleen McGinty me too - i felt compelled to upload it!
Loved it. Appreciate the detailed info as well.
+NobleDesignMedia thanks - i couldn't help giving a background to make more sense of this footage, which was very avante garde for 1910.
I was wondering what the guys were doing on the other side. Didn't realize till the end! Great upload!
The most amazing thing is that we can thank the swedish censors for cutting this scene out, because it´s the only one in existance that is an almost crystal clear copy. All others are totally bad versions. Asta was one of a kind. Typical of Denmark, she was never really appreciated in her home country. Still apply today with all major danish stars.
yes, one of the positives of censorship! it's so clear it seems much later that 1910. yes, not appreciated at the time - happily there are many of her movies on YT now.
Asta Nielsen’s fabulous “Gaucho Dance” scene in ‘Afgrunden’ (1910) 109 years ago!!
Sensual y bella 🌹
Wow. :D
+Sonia A. yes, super wow!
This is too funny!
+Sima Raft yes, i found it strange on many levels - but wondered how it appeared to audiences of 1910 - somewhat liberating? putting into dance terms Freud's connection between aggression and sex.
John Hall Really? Aggression? To me it's just awkward and funny!
+Sima Raft maybe the the awkward and funny may not have been read as such in 1910? LOL and tying your man up and having your way with him seems a long way away from the romantic idyll of 'La Fille Mal Gardee' - but it's all about where you've coming from i guess - LOL :)
Is this a dance-theatre? If it isn't, may l know what it is called? It looks hilarious but at the same time quite "intimate", for that era!! Btw, thank you for uploading this, you seem to have a penchant for all things "old" but charming, very knowledgable for all to see, keep it up!
i think it's a genre all of it's own - one for films - often a movie then would have a dance sequence to express some content of the script. looks quite mad but yes very sensual for the period. i'm interested in film of a number of periods but have restricted myself older film here - just so the channel has a particular character. glad you like what i'm putting up. cheers!
+John Hall Thank you very much for the information. Am looking forward to more old but gold videos from your channel.