Die Asta as she was simply known in Germany was the biggest danish silent era movie star. Asta Nielsen was known for her cool but exotic and erotic looks and a tomboyish attitude. She is most famous for the sexy and seductive scene in "The Abyss" from 1910
A few months ago I bought a box of old stuff, primarily because it had some old records I was interested in. But there were other old stuff too. Nothing really interesting, except some old ladies magazines that are quite charming. There were 5 of them and the last one blew me away. It had a full picture, turqoise tinted, photograph of Asta Nielsen on the front. I was astounded by the incredible power of the mood and the composition.
The cover story is about Asta's latest movie that is in production, where she plays Hamlet in a german adaptation. Chosing a female lead for a male character was a bold move indeed and shows a lot about the times of the twenties and the artistic freedom that followed after the war.
The text is sort of the usual tabloid, but this sentence shows the growing "feminization" of the views on the film medium and how this star was used to promote womens "power" vs. men's.
And before the play is over, you believe in hamlet as a woman, feeling convinced that this creature, for whom sadness and anger comes easy, swinging between excitement and timidity, always trusts in others and never takes advantage of a situation, must be a woman and exactly the woman Asta Nielsen here has created
(All pictures are taken by me - use only with permission)