The Ancient Law (1923) | Directed by E. A. Dupont - Full Movie

Baruch Mayr, son of an orthodox rabbi from a poor shtetl in Galizia, decides to break with the family tradition and leave the shtetl to become an actor. Due to this behaviour his father bans him from his family. Baruch, who joined a small burlesque troupe is discovered by an Austrian Erzherzogin (archdutchess) who introduces him to the director of the most important Theater in Vienna, the Burgtheater. Baruch receives a contract there and becomes more and more an assimilated jew. But his relation with the Erzherzogin isn't approved by the Austrian court, so they have to end it. When an old friend of his father, who is always traveling from one Jewish community to the next (and has told him first about the theatres in the world), Baruch becomes a little bit homesick and returns for a holiday to his old shtetl to see his folks and to pick up his childhood sweetheart. But his father wants him not to enter his house, so he returns to Vienna, with his bride. But his old friend does not stop trying to convince his father of his errors.

The Ancient Law (German: Das alte Gesetz) is a 1923 German silent drama film directed by E.A. Dupont and starring Henny Porten, Ruth Weyher and Hermann Vallentin. The son of an Orthodox Rabbi faces hostility from his father when he decides to become an actor.

Directed by: E.A. Dupont
Written by: Heinrich Laube, Paul Reno
Starring: Henny Porten, Ruth Weyher, Hermann Vallentin, Avrom Morewski
Cinematography: Theodor Sparkuhl
Production company: Comedia-Film
Release date: 29 October 1923
Running time: 128 minutes
Country: Germany
Languages: Silent, German intertitles