A worried father carries his dying boy through a marsh to find a doctor to help him. The boy sees visions of fairies dancing, and the dread Elf King.
It's based on Goethe's ballad, turned into a lieder by Schubert. The dancing fairies are optical printed amidst the rocks and rills. It's an attempt to maintain silent techniques in the sound era to present something silent films never could: dance. Because the fairies cannot appear except briefly and often individually, it doesn't work as a ballet, and its attempt to merge high art with the mass entertainment that is film was not commercially successful. It's a good swipe at the effort, though, and remains an interesting bypath.
It's based on Goethe's ballad, turned into a lieder by Schubert. The dancing fairies are optical printed amidst the rocks and rills. It's an attempt to maintain silent techniques in the sound era to present something silent films never could: dance. Because the fairies cannot appear except briefly and often individually, it doesn't work as a ballet, and its attempt to merge high art with the mass entertainment that is film was not commercially successful. It's a good swipe at the effort, though, and remains an interesting bypath.