The Merry Jail

The Merry Jail or Das fidele Gefängnis (1917) is one of the early films of Ernst Lubitsch. A light comedy, based on Strauss's operetta 'Die Fledermaus', about a rich couple and their maid in a gay Berlin of endless parties and ceremonies. It is also one of early films of Emil Jannings in the role of a nutty prison guard. The 25 year old Lubitsch portrays one his first and most original conceptions of marriage and women in a manner that is certainly years ahead of its time. And that's why I get disappointed when I didn't find this film among Kristin Thompson's selected titles to examine Lubitsc…