Undine
Cast & Crew
Henry Otto
Ida Schnall
Douglas Gerrard
Edna Maison
Carol Stellson
Caroline Fowler
Film Details
Synopsis
In a prologue, a child asks her parents to read a bedtime story to her and her father selects the fairy tale of Undine, the most skillful aquabatic water nymph in the undersea kingdom of Queen Unda. Undine grows up and marries a mortal, Waldo, who shoots a sacred deer with his crossbow. Kuhleborn, the King of the Enchanted Forest, slays Waldo for this transgression. Before Undine dies of grief, she bears a daughter also called Undine, who must atone for her mother's sins by living with a fisherman couple. Their daughter Berthelda, stolen as a baby, is adopted by the duke and duchess. She is betrothed to the Knight Huldbrand. He drinks from a fountain in the Enchanted Forest, and Kuhleborn magically causes Huldbrand to marry Undine. This act fulfills Undine's destiny and she is allowed to return to the undersea kingdom.
Director
Henry Otto
Film Details
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Scenes for this production were shot in the Santa Catalina Islands off the Southern California coast. Ida Schnall was a champion swimmer and diver, famous for her "perfect" figure. According to a news item, Eileen Allen was in charge of twenty-five swimming and diving girls, who were extras in the film. The copyright description lists Elijah Zerr in the part of Father Heilmann and Thomas Delmar as Kuhleborn. In 1920, Wilk and Wilk announced the state rights release of a film called The Answer of the Sea, which they claimed to be "reproduced from the famous motion picture classic Undine." No evidence that the film was actually released in 1920 has been discovered.