Her Violet Kiss

“Her Violet Kiss” re-contextualizes a deteriorating scene from a lost silent German title, Liebeshölle (translated as “Love Hell”), which was released as “Pawns of Passion” in the USA in 1929. This revision features a contemporary score by composer Michael Montes.

In the original, a Russian ballerina, played by Olga Tschechowa, is searching for a mysterious stranger who claims that he has information about her missing son. In this updated version, the deteriorating nitrate print has been scanned and slowed down, and re-contextualized for audiences viewing the film for the first time during a global pandemic.

The source film was directed by Wiktor Bieganski and Carmine Gallone. It was believed to be a lost film until Bruce Lawton uncovered an incomplete print in a cache of films that had been stored in a barn in Pennsylvania and donated it to the Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center. Director Bill Morrison scanned the print in 2013, and this copy had remained in his personal archive until now.