The Golden Butterfly (Der goldene Schmetterling)

Austria, 1926. Director Michael Curtiz. 77min.

Golden Butterfly stars French actress Lili Damita, director Michael Curtiz's then-wife. Her film career was launched by a beauty contest, though she already had experience as a revue dancer on Parisian stages, performing under the pseudonym Lily Deslys. The story of Golden Butterfly epitomises the familiar jazz-age conflict between female independence and morality where Damita's dancer is portrayed as a moth driven to the glitter of the stage only to be burnt. Following the successful Red Heels, this was another Curtiz's ambitious European co-productions set in the spectacular music halls and designed to rival the dominance of Hollywood cinema in the mid-1920s (ironically, the director and his star left for Hollywood soon after). Shot in London, Cambridge and Berlin, it showcases the high glamour of metropolitan night life as well as some accomplished dance routines under the art direction of the 'master of atmospheric mysteries' Paul Leni.

With Hermann Leffler, Lili Damita and Nils Asther.

Past screenings

Birds of Paradise – London
Wednesday 5 December 2010, 16:00 | Barbican
With live piano accompaniment from John Sweeney. Screened alongside Red Heels (1925) as part of a Michael Curtiz double bill.

Birds of Paradise – New York
Sunday 17 April 2011, 19:00 | Museum of the Moving Image
With live piano accompaniment from Stephen Horne.

Birds of Paradise – UK Tour
Saturday 10 March 2012, 16:30 | Arnolfini, Bristol