# The Burning Soil > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/The_Burning_Soil > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/The_Burning_Soil.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burning_Soil > Source revision: 1341595376 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 1922 film by F. W. Murnau The Burning Soil Poster Directed by F. W. Murnau Written by Willy Haas Thea von Harbou Arthur Rosen Produced by Sascha Goron Erich Pommer Starring Eugen Klöpfer Vladimir Gajdarov Werner Krauss Eduard von Winterstein Georg John Cinematography Fritz Arno Wagner Karl Freund Production company Deulig Film Distributed by Deulig-Verleih Release date 3 March 1922 (1922-03-03) Running time 110 min. restored version Country Germany Languages Silent film German intertitles ***The Burning Soil*** ([German](/source/German_language): *Der brennende Acker*) is a 1922 German [silent film](/source/Silent_film) directed by [F.W. Murnau](/source/F.W._Murnau). It was made the same year as Murnau's *[Nosferatu](/source/Nosferatu)* and released in Germany around the same time. The film follows the struggle over a plot of [petroleum](/source/Petroleum)-rich land. It was shot at the [Babelsberg Studio](/source/Babelsberg_Studio) in [Berlin](/source/Berlin). The film's sets were designed by the [art director](/source/Art_director) [Rochus Gliese](/source/Rochus_Gliese). The film was considered [lost](/source/Lost_film) until 1978, when it was discovered to have been owned by an Italian priest who organized screenings in mental hospitals.[1] A [restoration](/source/Film_restoration) of the film was made with the assistance of French director [Eric Rohmer](/source/Eric_Rohmer). ## Plot “Devil's Field” is a cursed place, that scares the entire population of a small village of [Silesia](/source/Silesia), because an ancestor of the family Rudenburg perished there victim of a mysterious explosion while digging a well in search of a buried treasure. Count von Rudenburg, current title holder, is also searching for the treasure, without result. He lives in his castle with his second wife, Helga, and a daughter from a first marriage, capricious Gerda. Screenshot In the nearby village, an old peasant, Rog, dies leaving two sons, Peter, very attached to the family land, and ambitious Johannes who thinks he is too good to live a peasant's life. He becomes secretary to Count von Rudenburg and starts courting his daughter. One day, he overhears that the Count has found an oilfield under Devil's Field. Shortly after, the Count, who is terminally ill, dictates him his will according to which his daughter Gerda will inherit his entire estate including all properties, manors and castles, while his second wife Helga will only inherit Devil's Field. Johannes then tells Helga she is the one he is in love with. He marries her after the Count's death. Johannes goes to the city to discuss with a large company the exploitation of the oilfield. He refuses the sum of 25 million marks and convinces them to lend him the money so that he can exploit it himself. Meanwhile, his wife, desperate with his obsession with Devil's Field, sells the cursed land to Peter for twelve thousand marks. Johannes, furious, demands that she cancels the sales. Peter agrees, but the young woman, desperate that Johannes has never loved her, drowns herself in the river. Gerda, who spitefully had got engaged to Baron von Lellewel is hoping to regain Johannes' love. But he tells her that he never loved either of the women and acted only by ambition. To avenge herself, Gerda sets fire to the rig that was installed on Devil's Field and dies in the ensuing explosion. Finally aware of the misfortunes he has caused, and of the vanity of his ambitions, Johannes returns to the farm where his brother and Maria, a country girl in love with him, had always been waiting for him.[2] ## Cast - [Eugen Klöpfer](/source/Eugen_Kl%C3%B6pfer) – Peter Rog - [Vladimir Gajdarov](/source/Vladimir_Gajdarov) – Johannes Rog - [Werner Krauss](/source/Werner_Krauss) – Der alte Rog / Old Rog - [Eduard von Winterstein](/source/Eduard_von_Winterstein) – Graf Rudenburg / Count Rudenburg - [Stella Arbenina](/source/Stella_Arbenina) – Helga, Rudenburgs zweite Frau / Helga, Rudenburg's 2nd wife - [Lya De Putti](/source/Lya_De_Putti) – Gerda, Rudenburgs Tochter / Gerda, Rudenburg's daughter - [Alfred Abel](/source/Alfred_Abel) – Ludwig von Lellewel - [Grete Diercks](/source/Grete_Diercks) – Maria - [Elsa Wagner](/source/Elsa_Wagner) – Magda - [Emilia Unda](/source/Emilia_Unda) – Alte Magd / Old maid - [Leonie Taliansky](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leonie_Taliansky&action=edit&redlink=1) – Gerdas Zofe / Gerda's maid - [Albert Patry](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Albert_Patry&action=edit&redlink=1) - [Magnus Stifter](/source/Magnus_Stifter) - [Olga Engl](/source/Olga_Engl) ## See also - [List of German films of 1922](/source/List_of_German_films_of_1922) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [IMDB Trivia](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0012973/trivia) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Review, synopsis and link to watch the film: ["A cinema history"](http://www.acinemahistory.com/2015/07/der-brennende-acker-1922-burning-soil.html). Retrieved 3 July 2015. ## External links - [*The Burning Soil*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0012973/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier)) v t e F. W. Murnau Films directed The Boy in Blue (1919) Satan (1920) The Hunchback and the Dancer (1920) Der Januskopf (1920) Evening – Night – Morning (1920) Journey into the Night (1921) Desire (1921) The Haunted Castle (1921) Marizza (1922) The Burning Soil (1922) Nosferatu (1922) Phantom (1922) The Expulsion (1923) The Grand Duke's Finances (1924) The Last Laugh (1924) Tartuffe (1926) Faust (1926) Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) 4 Devils (1928) City Girl (1930) Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931) Miscellaneous Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation v t e Thea von Harbou List of works Films directed Elisabeth and the Fool (1934) Hanneles Himmelfahrt (1934) Films written The Legend of Holy Simplicity (1920) The Wandering Image (1920) Destiny (1921) Four Around a Woman (1921) The Indian Tomb (1921) The Women of Gnadenstein (1921) The Burning Soil (1922) Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922) Phantom (1922) The Expulsion (1923) The Stone Rider (1923) Princess Suwarin (1923) The Grand Duke's Finances (1924) Die Nibelungen (1924) Michael (1924) Chronicles of the Gray House (1925) Metropolis (1927) Spione (1928) Woman in the Moon (1929) M (1931) The First Right of the Child (1932) The Marathon Runner (1933) The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933) The Old and the Young King (1934) Princess Turandot (1934) What Am I Without You (1934) Turandot, Princess of China (1935) The Old and the Young King (1935) An Ideal Husband (1935) Escapade (1936) The Impossible Woman (1936) A Woman of No Importance (1936) The Broken Jug (1937) Don't Promise Me Anything (1937) Mother Song (1937) The Ruler (1937) Covered Tracks (1938) The Woman at the Crossroads (1938) Hurrah! I'm a Father (1939) Stars of Variety (1939) Clarissa (1941) With the Eyes of a Woman (1942) Maria Malibran (1943) My Summer Companion (1943) A Wife for Three Days (1944) Via Mala (1945) Journey to Happiness (1948) A Day Will Come (1950) Dr. Holl (1951) Your Heart Is My Homeland (1953) Novels written The Indian Tomb (1918) Metropolis (1925) The Rocket to the Moon (1928) Authority control databases GND --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [The Burning Soil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burning_Soil) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burning_Soil?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.