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Some permanently snowed in Tyrolean Alpine village: Tonio (Luis
Trenker) is the best mountaineer, skier, woodcutter, and whatnot, and he's
practically engaged to Barbl (Maria Andergast), the girl everybody in town
has the hots for (though it's unclear why). But Tonio doesn't enjoy the
life in the mountains any longer. Enter rich American tourist Williams
(F.W. Schröder-Schrom) and his daughter Lilian (Marian Marsh), who open
his eyes to the world beyond the mountains, and New York in particular.
Then, during a mountain tour, Tonio saves Lilian's life, and as a thank
you, Williams invites him to New York - an empty promise of course, but
Tonio takes him seriously ... but when he appears on Williams Manhattan
doorstep, Williams and daughter aren't even home - or their servant is
merely denying their presence. Tonio's luck soon runs out, and so does
his money, and before long he finds himself homeless and jobless in
Depression-struck New York, just one of many, and his life seems to have
entered a downward spiral. Taking odd jobs, he feels more and more
homesick - while back at home, Barbl waits for his return against all
reason and even her better knowledge. Eventually, Tonio finds work at
Madison Square Garden, and during a boxing event, he, a mere waterboy,
manages to knock out the champ - and becomes an instant celebrity. What's
better even, Williams and daughter were present at the event, and
immediately elevate him from homeless drifter to high society sensation.
But while even Lilian confesses her love to him, Tonio dreams of home ...
and now he has the money, he just travelsb back ... and during the annual
Rauhnacht festivities - a pagan masque of sorts that has been turned into
a Christian ritual - he returns home and finally gets together with Barbl
for good. A weirdly uneven Heimat-film: The scenes of
Depression-struck New York are really well-made and have a realist touch
to them, and even if the film tries to hammer its point home a bit too
desperately, there is something compelling about the whole New
York-sequence. On the other hand, the Alpine scenes are mainly pure kitsch
(even if at times impressively filmed), are ridiculously unsubtle, and
don't really allow any second-guessing (even if the lead character's
second-guessing is one of the main themes of the film). Furthermore, the
acting in these scenes is stilted - which is no wonder, given the
cringe-worthy dialogue. And even the Rauhnacht festivities at the end,
that could have given the film some mystical undercurrents, seem to serve
only one thing, to celebrate the ideal, idyllic world that is a Tylrolean
Alpine village. That all said, the film is certainly interesting to
watch for many reasons, ranging from aesthetic to historical - taken on
its own merits and as a whole though, it's just not a very good film.
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find The Prodigal Son at adultvideouniverse.com
