Movie
SHEPHERDESS'S LOVER (THE)
It is the third film in a row of the genre that much later on was called “fustanella (Greek kilt)”, following "Gkolfo" by Bachatoris (1914) and "Astero" by Gaziadis (1929). It is based on the successful theatrical play (rhyming pastoral romance) by Dimitrios Koromilas, who draws his inspiration from a poem by Giannis Zalokostas “I fell in love with a shepherdess”. The setting is Greece, a rural country in the middle of the 19th century. A landlord, Mitros, gives Kroustallo a golden cross as a gift to show her his tender feelings. He doesn’t know, however, that she is already in love with Liakos, a destitute young shepherd to whom Mitros owes his life – in the past he had saved him from drowning in the river. The cross around the neck of the shepherdess causes fights between the two men, while Mitros asks Kroustallo’s hand from her mother, Mrs. Stathaina, who had been his childhood love. After more tragic complications, gradually, however, they are cleared up, since prudence and sound judgment prevail, and love fills all hearts. It is the first motion picture with sound that was filmed in Greece. The dubbing was performed in Berlin, and the music was composed by the learned composer Dionysis Lavragkas from Eptanisa, who also set to music the poem by Giannis Zalokostas “I fell in love with a shepherdess” for the film.
- Production Year 1932
- First Greek Screening 11/10/1936
- Color B/W
- Audio SILENT & SOUND
- Genre FEATURE FILM, BUKOLIC
- Directors TSAKIRIS DIMITRIS, PARASKEVAS ILIAS
- Production OLYMPIA FILM
- Producer DADIRAS PANAGIOTIS
- Script Adaptation TSAKIRIS DIMITRIS, PARASKEVAS ILIAS
- Directors of Cinematography TZANETIS EMMANOUIL, KONSTANTA TETA
- NTORIVAL SOFIA (DAMOGLOU SOFIA)
- TSAKIRIS DIMITRIS
- AFENTAKI NINA
- MARIKOU AIMILIA
- VLACHOPOULOS MICHALIS
- KATRAKIS MANOS
- SVORONOS PANAGIOTIS
- BATIS GIORGOS
- ROZAN MEROPI
- KOTZIAS DIMITRIS
11 themes about this movie
OPENING TITLES
Direction: D. Tsakiris, Stage Manager: I. Paraskevas, Cinematography: Ch. Koerner, Music: D. Lauragkas, Stathena: Sofia D. Damoglou, Mitros: D. Tsakiris, Kroustallo : Nina Afentaki, Gianaina: Emily Marikou, Uncle Chronis : M. Vlachopoulos, Liakos: Manos Katrakis, Gerlas: Svoronos Bistikos, Mitros: D. Battis
WEDDING PREPARATIONS, THE CONFLICT BETWEEN STATHENA AND GIANAINA
The following morning, the villagers gather outside Stathena's house for the wedding preparations. They ask of Uncle Chronis to sing the good-old-Dimos song and he grants their request: "Haven't I grown old, a bandit like me for fifty years". Fearing for her son's life, Gianaina calls on Stathena and throws herself at her feet, begging her to let Kroustallo marry Liakos. Stathena refuses and the old woman, in a shower of curses and with cries for hellfire and damnation, throws one of the two wedding wreaths down on the ground. "Neither of us has children any more". In a fit of rage, Gianaina made her way through the crowd who has gathered to escort the bride to the church. As Kroustallo is about to get on a festively decorated horse, the old woman pushes her past amid the cheering crowd. All alone up in the mountain, Liakos, leaning against a tree trunk, sings away to himself about the sorrow in his heart "Poor me, a young shepherd in the mountain, feeling blue day and night, all by myself, without a family of my own, mourning over my life's misfortunes".
Participants: GIANAINA - KROUSTALLO - LIAKOS - STATHENA - CHRONIS
THE SOLUTION: HAVING SECOND THOUGHTS, STATHENA DOES NOT CONSENT TO HER DAUGHTER MARRYING MITROS AND REVEALS HERSELF OVER TO HIM AS MARO, THE WOMAN HE IS TRULY IN LOVE WITH. MITROS AND LIAKOS MAKE FRIENDS AGAIN AND THE TWO COUPLES ARE JOINED IN HOLY MATRIM
Stathena announces to uncle Chronis that she won't let her daughter marry Mitros. "Tell him I've changed my mind about marrying her off. I know he doesn't love her, he's just doing it out of spite". Uncle Chronis tries to make her change her mind, if only for fear of the grave consequences. The crowd gathered outside the house welcomes Mitros, the bridegroom, as he comes riding along and wish him happiness. He enters the house only to find there is just one wedding wreath there. Shaking all over, uncle Chronis lets him know of Stathena's decision. He walks up to her and demands an explanation. In the room next door, Stathena reveals her true identity to him. Mitros does not believe her. "The woman you've been in love with for so many years, has come to claim you her own". Feeling low, Liakos approaches the crowd gathered outside the bride's house for the wedding song. Maro alias Stathena sings to Mitros their song, just like she used to by the river. And then recognition dawned. Tears well up in Mitros' eyes, as he takes her in his arms. "Happiness stays forever young". Liakos steps inside Stathena's. Mitros reaches for his dagger. Liakos begs of him to kill him. Mitros forgives him. Holding each other, they make their way to the gathered crowd. Mitros turns to uncle Chronis and the villagers: "Let the wedding wreaths double, let it be a double wedding". The two couples stand together in a tight embrace. Double joy. "Long live the happy couples". Leading the dance party, uncle Chronis wishes them all happiness, while the crowd roars their approval.
Participants: STATHENA – CHRONIS – MITROS – LIAKOS
MITROS TELLS MARO THAT HE LOVES HER
Panoramic view of the mountainous region in the area of Mornos. Mitros, a teenage shepherd, keeps sheep when he hears a young shepherdess sing. It is Maro with her flock of sheep. The two young people meet up at the bank of a stream and Mitros swears his love to her. She responds tenderly with a kiss and walks off telling him that "you are much too young for love's heart beating".
Participants: MITROS – MARO (STATHENA)
YEARS LATER, MITROS' RETURN TO THE VILLAGE
Several years go by. Mitros, a rich sheep owner by now, takes his flocks to grazing grounds on mountain sides. Leaning against a tree trunk, he sings away to himself "I've fallen in love with a young shepherdess". Mitros runs into shepherd Kostas, leading his flock to the meadows. Kostas invites Mitros to the fair at the village. Village women wash clothes in the river. Loaded with their gear and wash, the women head back for the village. Maro, who now answers the name Stathena, in her yard. She goes up the stairs. Inside the house, her daughter Kroustallo, a beautiful young woman, works on the loom. Weaving thread into cloth, she recalls images of her meetings at the river bank with young shepherd Liakos. The two young people (Katrakis – Afentaki) kiss. Mitros' flocks move across the mountainside and head for the village.
Participants: MITROS – KOSTAS – KROUSTALLO – LIAKOS – STATHENA (MARO)
GIANAINA'S DREAM AND LIAKOS'S ACCIDENT
Gianaina, Liakos's mother, has a bad dream that night. She springs out of bed overwhelmed by fear. As the flocks cross the River Mornos, a wooden bridge collapses. Young shepherd Liakos and thirteen sheep find themselves in the troubled water. Mitros plunges into the river and saves him from drowning.
Participants: GIANAINA – LIAKOS – MITROS
THE SPREAD OF THE NEWS OF MITROS SAVING LIAKOS' LIFE AND KROUSTALLO'S MEETING WITH MITROS
Gianaina is telling the village women, gathered at the village spring, about her dream the night before. Stathena lights a candle at St. Ilia's Church, calling upon the saint to cure her daughter Kroustallo from sadness. When she hears about the old woman's nightmare, she tells her that she will light a candle for Liakos, too. Kroustallo takes a jug to the water spring to have it filled. A fellow villager brings up the news of Liakos's falling with the sheep into the water and she faints overcome with shock. A shepherd and Uncle Chronis, Stathena's uncle, talk at the spring about the incident and marvel at the way Mitros plunged into the water and saved Liakos. In the meantime, Kroustallo regains consciousness and joyfully walks up to the spring. Soon afterwards, Mitros comes along, is struck by the girl's beauty and offers her a silver cross. Carrying the jug on her shoulder, Kroustallo goes back home. She looks at herself in the mirror with the cross on her chest. When Stathena finds out who has given the cross to her, she tells her to take it off because it brings shame on her. Mother and daughter are seated holding each other tight and Stathena tells the daughter she lit two candles: one for Kroustallo and another for Liakos.
Participants: GIANAINA – KROUSTALO – CHRONIS – STATHENA (MARO)
KROUSTALLO GIVES MITROS BACK HIS GIFT AND STATHENA TURNS LIAKOS AWAY WHEN SHE FINDS OUT HER DAUGHTER'S LOVE FOR HIM
In her garden, Kroustallo sings a love song for Liakos. Just then Liakos comes along and tells her all about the incident with Mitros at the river. Kroustallo shows him the cross Mitros has given her. Unable to resist her sweetheart's burning eyes, Kroustallo gives him the cross to take it back to Mitros. Through the window, Stathena watches the two young people kiss at the fence. Uttering unkind words, Stathena turns Liakos away, who leaves the place with dignity.
Participants: KROUSTALLO – LIAKOS – STATHENA (MARO)
KROUSTALLO'S MATCHMAKING WITH MITROS AND MITROS'S MEETING WITH STATHENA
Stathena calls on her Uncle Chronis and tells him what has happened. They must marry Kroustallo off urgently. Having discarded every suitor Chronis brings up for consideration, she asks him to get Mitros, the wealthy sheep owner and bring him home to her. Despite considerable reservations, Chronis finally accedes to her wish. The villagers head for the village square where the fair will be. Uncle Chronis takes Mitros to Stathena's, his niece's house. All three of them sit in the garden. Mitros' reply to Chronis's proposition to marry Kroustallo, "the girl he saw at the spring", is that she reminds him of Maro, the woman of his youth who denied his love. His words overwhelm Stathena and she bursts into tears. Hiding her true identity from him, she tells him that Maro has been dead for ten years.
Participants: CHRONIS – MITROS – STATHENA (MARO)
THE FAIR AND THE CONFLICT BETWEEN LIAKOS AND MITROS
Liakos' mother meets Mitros at the village square. The wealthy sheep owner gives her a knife as a token of his decision to promote her son to the position of his most trusted attendant. The dancing for the festivities begins at the village square. Liakos gives Mitros back the gold cross and explains that Krystallo's heart belongs to someone else. The two men come into conflict. Defying Liakos' warning, Mitros has his future wife, Krystallo, brought before him. Despondently, Liakos walks off. Mitros's messenger takes his cross over to Stathena's house with the message that her daughter is expected to turn up at the fair and dance with him. Sitting in a far corner in the tavern all by himself, Liakos has taken to drinking. It looks as if he has had too much to drink. His mother comes along with Mitros's knife-present to tell him that he will be Mitros's trusted attendant. Liakos hides his face in his hands. Following the merrymakers' (the dance of the villagers) persistent demand for a song, Uncle Chronis picks up a traditional stringed instrument and sings "The River": "Take me in your waters, round each bend, river" Liakos knocks back one glass of wine after the other. A friend makes repeated attempts to restrain his drinking spree, but Liakos ignores his warnings. Realizing his efforts are wasted, his friend gives up on him. His mind is in a haze and the same thought keeps coming up over and over again: Mitros dancing with the woman he loves. He pulls himself up, staggers towards the centre of the square and demands that the music stops. Mitros, who is leading the dance, throws Liakos down on the ground and makes a threat to him. Liakos takes a lurch forward, raising the gift-knife against Mitros, but the men from the village disarm him. Kroustallo faints during the women's dance. Mitros gives orders for the wedding preparations to begin and declares that the wedding will be the following day.
Participants: MITROS – LIAKOS – MITROS' MESSENGER – GIANAINA – CHRONIS – LIAKOS' FRIEND – KROUSTALLO – STATHENA (MARO)
LIAKOS IS FILLED WITH REMORSE AND URGES KROUSTALLO TO MARRY MITROS
It's night and Kroustallo cannot get off to sleep. She seems to be in torment. Suddenly the dog barks and she rushes to the window. Liakos is down at the street below. He leaps into the room through the open window. Kroustallo pledges to follow him wherever he goes. Ashamed for having drawn a knife against his benefactor and saviour, Liakos says that this cannot happen and explains that she must marry Mitros.
Participants: KROUSTALLO - LIAKOS
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