The Miracle (German: Das Mirakel, French: Le Miracle) is a 1912 British* "The International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) defines the country of origin as the country of the principal offices of the production company or individual by whom the moving image work was made." See Choice of Original Release Title in Country of Origin as Main Entry. The film's producer was the American Joseph Menchen who acquired the sole film rights from Max Reinhardt, and from Bote & Bock, the publishers of Karl Vollmoeller and Engelbert Humperdinck. See . Menchen had offices at 20 Frith Street, Soho, at 20 Villiers St., and then at 3–7 Southampton St., Strand, London WC1. See Menchen had been resident in London for some time according to an interview with Al. Woods in the New York Times, 9 May 1912. The "little electrical shop at the Bijou" referred to in the report was opened by Menchen at the 'old' Bijou Theatre, 1237 Broadway, after he was made bankrupt in 1905. The press agent for the Bijou Theatre, A. Curtis Bond, acquired the American rights to the Acres kineopticon projector, which Menchen had used to show films at Tony Pastor's Theatre from 1896. silent full-colour film, using a hand-coloured process similar to Pathéchrome. Produced by Joseph Menchen and directed by Michel Carré, it is among the first full-colour feature films to be made. It stars Maria Carmi, Ernst Matray, Florence Winston and Douglas Payne, and was filmed on location in Austria.
The Miracle was not intended to be shown as an ordinary film in the usual way but was designed by Menchen to be shown as part of a 'Lyricscope play'. This was an unusual (if not unprecedented) spectacular theatrical presentation which – in its most elaborate and complete expression – included: the projected colour film; a full-sized symphony orchestra and chorus performing Engelbert Humperdinck's score; live sound effects such as church bells and crowd noises; stage sets around the projection screen which changed during the performance;The Dubbo Liberal and Macquarie Advocate, Tuesday 21 July 1914, p. 2 and live (non-speaking) actors and dancers in medieval costume.Evening Post (Wellington, NZ), 6 March 1914, p. 3 The various component parts of this ideal production varied somewhat according to local conditions.
This 1912 multi-media production was an adaptation of Max Reinhardt's wordless spectacular stage production of Karl Vollmoeller's play of the same name, which had played to huge audiences at the London Olympia exhibition hall in 1911–1912. As some contemporary critics realised, The Miracle was not a "moving picture drama" in the normal sense of the word, but a "filmed pantomime," a celluloid record of the action of the stage production in a unique presentation.e.g. Bush, Stephen W. "Reinhardt's Miracle" in
The world première of the full-colour 'Lyricscope play' of The Miracle took place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, on 21 December 1912 and it was shown all over the country until Easter 1913, breaking many records for attendance. The colour film with its attendant show subsequently made its way around the world, being shown in the U.S., Australia and Germany.
A rival, unauthorised version (Das Mirakel) directed by Mime Misu for Continental-Kunstfilm in Germany appeared in the same year with the same subject and English title ("The Miracle") and was the subject of various copyright legal actions in the UK and the United States, resulting in seven different titles shared between the two films.
Although various claims have been made that Cherry Kearton and Ernst Lubitsch were somehow involved with this production, such claims are wholly without foundation.
Plot outline The film tells the story of a wayward nun, Megildis, who deserts her convent with a knight, influenced by the music of an evil minstrel. A statue of the Virgin Mary comes to life and takes the place of Megildis, who makes her way through the world and its many vicissitudes. Later, Megildis returns to the convent with her dying infant, and is forgiven as the statue resumes its place.
Act 1 – Temptation Scene 1: The Nun, Sister Megildis is placed in charge of the sacred image. Scene 2: The healing of the lame man. Scene 3: The Minstrel and the music. Scene 4: The arrival of the Knight. Scene 5: The Nun must spend the night kneeling. Scene 6: The flight of the Nun with the Knight. Scene 7: The Miraculous Image comes to life.
Intermezzo Episode 1: The lake of the fairies. Episode 2: The capture of the Robber Count, and dancing for the Nun. Episode 3: The mock marriage ceremony. Episode 4: The Nun is arrested for witchcraft Episode 5: The Nun is shown the ghosts of all who have lost their lives because of her.
Act 2 – Forgiveness Scene 1: Christmas Eve in the Convent. Scene 2: The image of the Virgin returns to its altar. Scene 3: Megildis returns to the convent with her babe and finds it dead. The Miracle occurs. Scene 4: Forgiveness.
Cast
Maria Carmi – The Madonna Florence Winston – The Nun, Megildis – The Minstrel (or the Player) Douglas Payne – The Knight – The Robber CountPhotos of Rocholl, Benzinger, Klein, Winston, and Carmi. – The King – The King's Son Agathe Barcesque – The Abbess Marie von Radgy – The Old Sacristan Alfred König – The Lame Man
A number of normally reliable sources have been inveigled into thinking that Ernst Lubitsch somehow appeared in the cast in a minor role, or even as the Spielmann or Player.eg Das Mirakel, filmportal.de, accessed 14 February 2025, which is also under the impression that it's a German film This is absolutely not the case, any more than Cherry Kearton was the director.
All the actors in the film (except Florence Winston) had just given sixteen stage performances of the play in Vienna during the two weeks immediately preceding shooting and were well rehearsed in their parts.
Although some advertising for the film implied that all the cast had been in the 1911–12 Olympia production, this was only true for Maria Carmi, Douglas Payne, Ernst Benzinger and Joseph Klein. Carmi was married to Karl Vollmoeller, the author of the stage play, and The Miracle was the first of her 26 films. Apart from Payne and Matray, who had made one film each, none of the cast had any experience in film acting; between them Carmi, Matray, Payne, Benzinger and Klein went on to make some 160 motion picturesSource: imdb Carmi, Matray, Klein and Rocholl also starred in the film of Vollmoeller's next pantomime, Eine venezianische Nacht (A night in Venice).Eine venezianische Nacht at imdb.
Literary sources
The miraculous legend of a wayward nun named Beatrice has been retold many timesThe exhaustive comparative study by Guiette lists around 180 versions. since it was first collected in the early 13th century by Caesarius of Heisterbach in his Dialogus miraculorum (1219–1223). (pdf p. 52), Book VII, chapter XXXIV (De Beatrice custode) The tale was revived by Maurice Maeterlinck in 1901 in a minor play named Soeur Beatrice (Sister Beatrice), drawing on versions by Villiers de l'Isle-Adam and on the 14th-century Dutch poem Beatrijs. Bithell also made an English translation for a 1913 London production by Max Reinhardt of Vollmöller's version of Turandot. Maeterlinck described his own work (and Ariane et Barbe-bleue) as "...little scenarios, short poems of the type unfortunately called 'opera-comique', destined to furnish the musicians who asked for them, a theme amenable to lyrical developments. They pretend to nothing further."Maeterlinck, Maurice. Preface au Theatre (1913) (in French), p. XVIII] According to one critic, however, Ariane et Barbe-bleue and Soeur Beatrice "are, in truth, absolutely devoid of serious effort, aesthetic, doctrinal, or moral."
According to Jethro Bithell, "As a reading play Sister Beatrice is ruined by the species of blank verse in which it is said to be written. Typographically it is arranged in prose form; but palpable verses of this kind madden the reader:" "II est prudent et sage; et ses yeux sont plus doux Que les yeux d'un enfant qui se met a genoux." Maeterlinck used the same style in Monna Vanna: "...written, partly, in the same kind of blank verse as Sister Beatrice—very poor stuff considered as poetry, and very troublesome to read as prose."
Sister Beatrice was produced by Vsevolod Meyerhold at the Moscow Arts Theatre in 1906, a production which Reinhardt may possibly have been aware of. Maeterlinck's play was also produced in March 1910 at the New Theatre, New York, with Edith Wynne Matthison in the title part.New York Times, 15 March 1910
While recovering from an illness aged 18 in 1896, Karl Vollmoeller had a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary which had a profound impression on him, and which later became the basis of his wordless play, The Miracle. In a later interview he recounted: "While living in Italy, I had the chance to become absorbed in Latin manuscripts which told the history of the saints of the Catholic Church. (ie Heisterbach). One of these legends inspired me to write my play known as The Miracle... I wrote this piece (play) all at the same time (in one go), before films were made. I wish to state most emphatically that my play contains a spiritual message for the whole world, not only for Christians."
In another interview in 1913, Vollmoeller said of The Miracle: "The Miracle is not a theatre play in the ordinary sense. It is intended as an appeal to religious feeling. To attempt to cater in a play of this sort exclusively to the rich or the snobbish would be a great mistake. Often the people who would appreciate a play are the people who cannot afford the price of admission. For a production like The Miracle to attract the people for whom it was primarily intended, it must have a low price of admission."
Production team
The film seems to have been the brainchild of its producer, Joseph Menchen, a London-based American inventor, film projectionist and owner of a New York theatrical lighting business who later became a literary agent for film scripts. Reports of copyright cases in the English and US courts confirm that Menchen made the film, and a review of the film's US première in New York referred to it as "the Menchen Miracle".
Menchen obtained the sole rights and film rights from Reinhardt and from Bote & Bock (Vollmöller's and Humperdinck's publishers),The copyright of the play and the music remained with Bote & Bock. See and had "gone to very considerable expense" (£20,000 or $50,000) "in preparing a film of the play, which he intended to produce with Mr. Walter Hyman"Walter Hyman was the owner of a theatre chain, Grand Centrals Ltd., which operated cheaper-priced theatres away from London's Theatreland:
Eastern Grand Central Theatre – Commercial Rd, Stepney, E1 Hackney Grand Central Theatre, Bethnal Green, E2 Grand Central Theatre – Blackfriars Rd, Southwark, SE1 The Carlton Theatre – Tottenham Court Rd. W1 The Majestic Picturedrome cinema, also in Tottenham Court Rd. The first three cinemas are now demolished. The last two were notorious gay hangouts: the activities there and elsewhere led the LCC to introduce lighting in theatre gangways. (Source: Carlton Cinema at the LGBT History Project.) at the Covent Garden Opera House on 21 December." Another name (possibly a financial backer) appearing in connection with the production is that of A. D. Rosenthal. The 'Lyricscope play' was designed to be a partial re-creation (on a slightly smaller scale) of Reinhardt's massive theatrical spectacle which had drawn such large crowds to Olympia the previous year.
Reinhardt seems to have been involved in some initial technical discussions about a film of The Miracle (according to a July 1912 article in The Cinema before the film had been made) although he seems to have had little to do with its actual making.The Cinema, July 1912, p. 7 (pdf p. 205)