Skeleton on Horseback AKA The White Disease review

[Lokke Heiss]

Last night MoMA screened one of those 'films you're only going to see at MoMA,' the 1937 Czech film, Skeleton on Horseback, from the play, The White Disease by R.U.R. writer Karel Čapek. The film was directed by Hugo Haas, who had a successful mainstream career in Czechoslovakia before immigrating to the U.S. and becoming known for a string of 1950s low-budget B movies.

Skeleton on Horseback is a medical drama about a militaristic country (read Germany), whose plans to go to war with a small, neighboring country (read Czechoslovakia) are hindered when the country is hit by an epidemic of a new kind of virulent bacteria. This 'white plague' is similar to leprosy, but is much faster spreading and is always fatal, with no cure. It has the other odd quality of only infecting people over about 45 - young people seem to be immune to the disease. The country is in a panic over the growing epidemic but the military, led by an fascist dictator with the title of Marshall (Zdenek Stepánek), sees this as one more opportunity to go to war with the countries around it, citing a need for 'Lebensraum' (living space).

With these odd dynamics in place, Galen, an old fashioned country doctor, (played by Haas) arrives at the research hospital, offering to treat the plague, claiming he has a cure. At first the doctors in charge dismiss him as a crank, but desperate, they give him a chance, and his treatment works: the patients get better. But when Galen learns that his cure is going to be used to further enrich the people in charge of the war efforts, he comes up with a threat: If the country goes to war, he will withhold treatment from the rich, instead only treating the poor. He explains that he doesn't want his cure to further the war effort and cause more people to die.

A doctor withholding a cure from from dying people so he can threaten the nation's ruler? Holy Hippocratic Oath, Batman! The Marshall tries to bribe Galen, then to threaten him, but Galen knows he has the trump card - if something happens to the one person who know the cure, and the Marshal gets sick, there will be no one to treat him! The rest of the film revolves around the ethical dilemmas faced by essentially every character in the story as they deal with the struggle of honor and obedience of family vs nation.

This is a lot for ideological baggage for any film to carry, and Skeleton on Horseback loses steam about halfway through the film, becoming at one point a series of lectures about the government, medicine, the military and even industry. Some of these digressions are quite interesting - I'd love to see the play this was adapted from, I suspect it's just as good as Karel Čapek's more famous R.U.R. (where he coined the name 'robot') but all these ideas don't add up to a cohesive whole, at least in this film adaptation.

Haas also has the reputation of being the 'European Ed Wood,' I have always thought that connection was unfair, but after seeing this film there are similarities - the direction of the film can be clunky, causing problems with continuity, and awkward moments of editing and stage direction abound. Still, the parts of this movie on their own can be fantastic and this makes this film well worth watching - the best part of the film for me was near the beginning, where we hear the Marshall explaining his reasoning why they have to fight - Zdenek Stepánek, who plays this pivotal role, is perfectly cast. Handsome and charismatic, when Zdenek as the Marshall gives an impassioned speech why the nation must fight - using gestures and movements that Hitler had already made famous - he is dead ringer for a European version of Clark Gable, a Gable whose charm has been utterly converted to anger and righteous resentment. And even though I knew he was an actor playing a role from a eighty year old film - even though I knew this film was doing all it could to wave a warning flag about the evils of fascism to the world - even with all that, I swear his speech was completely convincing. All they need is a little room. Is that too much to ask?

Such is the success of a demagog: say it simply, say it clearly, and above all else - say it with power!

[wich2]

All they need is a little room. Is that too much to ask?

"All I want is peace...peace...peace...!
A little piece of Poland,
A little piece of France,
A little piece of Austria
And Hungary, perchance!
A little slice of Turkey
And all that that entails,
And then a bit of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales!"