This film, directed by Benjamin Christensen is regarded by many who have seen it as one of the greatest directorial debuts in cinema history. The Museum of Modern Art in New York houses a print of the film, without subtitles which makes it hard to follow at times, and not even a title or credits sequence, if the film ever had one. Two years ago, MOMA had a wonderful tribute to Christensen in which they screened all of his surviving films. This one is one of his two or three most important and one has to keep reminding his or herself that this is his FIRST film at a time when motion pictures were not even twenty years old!
Christensen is credited with being the first filmmaker to consciously shoot into direct light, creating silhouettes and magnificent compositions. He doesn't waste any time in this film, dazzling the audience with (at the time) very complicated lighting set-ups involving sunsets and characters lighting up a lamp in a rooms of darkness. Indeed this film was made two years before "Birth of a Nation" and artistically is just as good as that film and in some ways better.
It would be hard to assess if Christensen was the first to achieve the great things he accomplished since so much early cinema is lost, but there is no doubt that he had a mastery of lighting and composition, and for such an early filmmaker it is truly astounding. Very few of his films are available to the public, but the few that are findable (Mockery, Seven Footprints to Satan, and Witchcraft Through the Ages) are all cinematically interesting and at times downright fascinating.
6.8Keywords: traitorcruisecruise shiplieutenant
Plot summary
War is in the air. Relations between the two nations are strained to the breaking point. Count Spinelli is the secret agent of the foreign power, and it is his mission to find out what the plans of the government are. To assist in attaining his end, the count organizes a carrier pigeon service between his government's headquarters and an old mill on his own estate. Upon war being declared, Rear-Admiral Van Houven arranges his order of attack, and hands over the sealed orders referring to same, to his son, Lieutenant Van Houven. Through an extremely tragic train of events, these sealed orders are placed in the way of Spinelli, who, of course, is not slow to take advantage of his opportunity. Accordingly he copies the orders and sends them by carrier pigeon to his own chief. The pigeon, however, is shot by a government officer; the message is discovered and Rear-Admiral Van Houven learns of the treachery. Quite naturally he immediately suspects his son, and putting duty before paternal affection orders his arrest. The son is court-martialed, found guilty and ordered to be shot. Lieutenant Van Houven's wife reads the result of the trial and makes an abortive attempt to save her husband. Now we see some of the inner workings of Fate. Count Spinelli is trapped in the old mill; round about the war is raging; deeds of heroism are being performed; Lieutenant Van Houven is taken out to be executed and his wife lies at home prostrated with grief. In the midst of a troubled sleep she has a complicated dream, and we are shown in a very graphic manner how in this dream she tries to piece together all the various tragic details of the story. Her troubled brain eventually connects up the incidents in the proper sequence, and awakening she sees a way out of the maze. Through a series of stirring scenes, the problem is rapidly brought to a satisfactory solution and the story winds up in the happy manner the public taste demands.
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An Astonishing Early Film!
Excellent Debut
"Det Hemmelighedsfulde X" ( The Mysterious X or Sealed Orders ) was the first film from the Danish director Herr Benjamin Christensen, a film director with a very strange inclination toward occult sciences, witchcraft, macabre rituals and other black celebrations, his film "Häxan" (1922) ( wherein Herr Christensen appeared as Herr Satan himself ) being the paradigm of these strange Danish tastes. In every film of his film career ( in Denmark, Germany or the USA ),besides the liking for Herr Devil and Mr. Evil, there is always, more or less, depicted a strange sense of the futility of life, the darkness of men's souls, and no much place for happy endings.
Det Hemmelighedsfulde X" is the story of Lieutenant Van Hauen ( Herr Christensen himself ),a man very concerned to perform his duty, that is to say, make war while his wife makes love with Count Spinelli, a sinister Count with many obscure intentions ( this reminds this Herr Graf of something.
); intrigues about secret sealed war orders given to Herr Van Hauen that are revealed to the enemy will put the lieutenant's honor in question and his physical integrity at stake in a film very well paced and directed, a mixture of spy film ( those wicked people use modern communication systems this German Count is very fond of, such as carrier pigeons and Morse code ),war film ( mysterious landscapes, sinister mills, and battles on land and sea are seen in connection with the plot ),and suspense film ( the efforts of the lieutenant's family to prove his innocence at the end of the film are very well resolved, giving a sense of modernity for a film made in 1914 ).
"Det Hemmelighedsfulde X" is an excellent debut; Christensen's characteristics I've mentioned before are not found in this film; in their stead are conventional human weaknesses such as adultery, treachery and honor, although there are some shots depicting the dark intentions the Danish director was so fond of, as when Count Spinelli is trapped in the mill's cellar threatened by rats .
And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must do the honors of the Schlöss in this Count's honor.
See it!
When you look well into the past of cinema, what you usually get are historically significant films, and that isn't absolutely a synonym for good films. Well here's one you may want to watch simply for the fact that it is good.
Sealed orders is Christiansen's first film (a man I only know for the film "Haxan")and it is war drama at it's best. Tragic twist of fate, clear storyline, good pacing and great lighting work. It's a few years in advance on it's time, but it isn't technical wonders of the cinema of the 20s or of now. It's still theatrical, though it isn't anything like the early films of it's time and before. The film survived to our days in a great condition, nothing like the jerky pictures moving at a wrong speed we like to think of.
To put it simply, you'll watch it and have a great time, as long you like dramas of this kind. But if you actually cared enough to read a IMDb review of a 1914 film, It's surely your kind.