Wehe, wenn sie losgelassen...! (1926)

In the film comedy Wehe, wenn sie losgelassen...!/When She Starts - Look Out! (1926), Henny Porten played once again a double role. The film was a parody on hypermodern women. Carl Froelich was the director and the film was produced by Henny Porten-Froehlich-Produktion.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 55/1. Photo: A. Schmoll, Berlin / Henny Porten Film. Henny Porten in Wehe, wenn sie losgelassen...!/When She Starts - Look Out! (Carl Froehlich, 1926).

A good-looking bourgeois housewife and an ugly countryside girl

Just like she had done before in Kohlhiesels Töchter (Ernst Lubitsch, 1920), Henny Porten again played two parts in Wehe, wenn sie losgelassen...!/When She Starts - Look Out! (Carl Froelich, 1926): that of a good-looking bourgeois housewife, Cecilia Angeropp, and that of an ugly countryside girl, Liesl, the maid of the other.

Porten said herself about this: "I have always had a special preference for double-roles. It was not the masquerades that were particularly appealing to me but the psychological aspects:

I wanted to portray two completely different characters to the point that the spectator would as long as possible keep the illusion of both roles being played by two different actresses." (Quoted in Christiane Schönefeld ed., Processes of Transposition: German Literature and Film, 2007).

The two-shots with both characters within the same shot (see the fifth postcard in this post) were obtained with double exposure.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 55/2. Photo: A. Schmoll, Berlin / Henny Porten Film. Henny Porten and Angelo Ferrari in Wehe, wenn sie losgelassen...!/When She Starts - Look Out! (Carl Froehlich, 1926).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 55/3. Photo: A. Schmoll, Berlin / Henny Porten Film. Henny Porten in Wehe, wenn sie losgelassen...!/When She Starts - Look Out! (Carl Froehlich, 1926).

The world cannot move without her

While the usual online sites don't give a content description, the Dutch historical newspaper site Delpher mentions one, when the film was reprised in 1928 at the Amsterdam cinema Corso, under the title of Vrouwenlist (A Woman's Ruse):

"The film is intended as a parody on hypermodern women. Henny Porten plays the part of Mrs. Cecilia Angeropp, wife of a wealthy merchant. As a modern woman, she thinks the world cannot move without her but is incapable to make things right. Her husband lets her feel how foolish she is." (Voorwaarts, sociaal-democratisch dagblad, 25-02-1928).

When first shown in the Netherlands in 1926 under the title Moderne Vrouwen (Modern Women), the newspaper Het Vaderland thought, the mocking of modern women was a bit unreasonable, but because of the truly good humor there was no real harm in it.

 While the play of the husband by Bruno Kastner was considered a bit flat, Curt Bois's'performance as the third person in this love triangle was considered excellent. (Het Vaderland, 20-11-1926).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 55/4. Photo: A. Schmoll, Berlin / Henny Porten Film. Henny Porten in Wehe, wenn sie losgelassen...!/When She Starts - Look Out! (Carl Froehlich, 1926).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 55/5. Photo: A. Schmoll, Berlin / Henny Porten Film. Henny Porten in Wehe, wenn sie losgelassen...!/When She Starts - Look Out! (Carl Froehlich, 1926).

Sourceas: Voorwaarts (Dutch), Het Vaderland (Dutch), Filmportal.de and IMDb.