The House by the Sea

On a quiet stretch of the Italian coast a modest inn becomes an unexpected staging point when a company of conscripts stops on its way to a nearby port. The innkeepers, a married couple, try to keep the household running while the soldiers mill about. One sergeant recognizes Resa as someone who once followed camps, and the gossip sets nerves on edge. Her husband Enrico is consumed by jealousy, and in a sudden, irrational move he signs up with the unit. The film tracks the domestic strain and shifting loyalties that follow, without revealing how the crisis resolves. Fears flare quickly.

Released in 1924, The House by the Sea was directed by Fritz Kaufmann, adapted from work by Bobby E. Lüthge and Stefan Zweig, and features Asta Nielsen and Gregori Chmara in leading roles. It is a notable silent German drama.

Like many films of the silent era, reliable box office records for this title haven't survived. Distribution details and gross receipts are not well documented, so its commercial reach at the time remains uncertain. Some archives note scattered European distribution.

Though it never entered mainstream fame, the picture belongs to Asta Nielsen's important silent-era filmography and offers a literary tie to Stefan Zweig. Film historians note its interest for representing social anxieties about honor and the presence of military life in civilian spaces. Its staging of small-town scrutiny is cited.

Surviving critical commentary is limited, but the film foregrounds jealousy, reputation and the repercussions of labels placed on women. It leans on silent-era expressive acting and imagery to make moral tensions visible, and it may reward viewers who study early adaptations of literary sources. Scholars may analyze its visual shorthand.