Der Untertan (film)
Der Untertan | |
---|---|
Directed by | Progress Film (GDR)Europa-Filmverleih (FRG) |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 109 minutes |
Country | East German Marks[2] |
The Kaiser's Lackey[3] (German: der Untertan; also known in English as Man of Straw and The Loyal Subject) is a 1951 East German film directed by Wolfgang Staudte, based on Heinrich Mann's 1918 satirical novel by the same name.
Plot
Diederich Heßling is a typical
When Heßling unveils a monument to
Cast
- Werner Peters as Diederich Heßling
- Paul Esser as von Wulckow
- Renate Fischeras Guste Daimchen
- Ernst Legal as Pastor Zillich
- Raimund Schelcher as Dr. Wolfgang Buck
- Eduard von Winterstein as Buck senior
- Friedrich Maurer as Göppel
- Sabine Thalbach as Agnes Göppel
- Hannsgeorg Laubenthal as Mahlmann
- Paul Mederow as Dr. Heuteuffel
- Friedrich Richter as Fabrikbesitzer Lauer
- Friedrich Gnaß as Napoleon Fischer
- Wolfgang Kühne as Dr. Mennicke
- Fritz Staudte as Kühlemann
- Axel Triebel as Major Kunze
- Hannjo Hasse as man at the duel
Production
Heinrich Mann's satirical novel der Untertan, with its attack on Wilhelmine conservatism, was held in high esteem by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany; it was entered into the schools' curriculum, and the cultural establishment viewed it as vital for re-educating the populace.[4][5]
Director Wolfgang Staudte first suggested adapting the novel to the screen in 1946; while visiting London for the premiere of The Murderers Are Among Us, he was approached by a local critic, Hans H. Wollenberg, who told him he should direct a picture based on the book. After returning to East Berlin, Staudte discussed the idea with officials from the DEFA studio, who approved of it. Yet since such a work would have had to receive the permission of the author, who resided in California, no steps were taken to realize it.[6]
During 1949, as Mann was elected President of the
Staudte was not the first chosen to direct der Untertan: Falk Harnack and even Erich von Stroheim were considered by the studio.[8] He received the nomination after rejecting making The Axe of Wandsbek, which was turned on to Harnack.[9] It was his first full-length adaptation of a literary work.[10] The director declared that in making the film, he sought to "depict the compliance of certain people, which since 1900 had propelled this country through two World Wars until Germany's downfall in 1945. This is a further indictment on my part of such persons, which I expressed already in The Murderers Are Among Us."[11]
Principal photography commenced on 1 March 1951, in the
In spite of budget concerns, the picture's final expenditures resulted in only 2,100,000
Reception
Der Untertan sold 4,524,979 tickets in East Germany.
On 2 September 1951, The reviewer of
In West Germany, the film was regarded by the government as communist sedition, and it was banned - although many closed screenings took place in the FRG.
The film was first screened in the United States on 2 February 1960, by Cinema 16; Amos Vogel described it as "a highly revealing and interesting work", while the British Film Institute noted that "the direction is powerful, biting and sustained; the acting and photography on a very high level indeed!"[24] Antonin and Miera Liehm wrote that Staudte made "sharp satire of German bourgeoisie".[25] Stephen Brockmann commented: "Heßling's tyrannical behavior towards his subordinates... and slavish worship of authority figures... is presented as typical to the German bourgeoisie and a major factor in Germany's descent into barbarism."[26]
Ulrike Wekel concluded that der Untertan also attacked - "intentionally or not" - the "functionaries' methods and blind obedience of the SED state", while that its censure in West Germany made the audience there understand that this mentality was still widespread in their country as well.[23]
In 1995, a team of journalists and academics appointed by Deutsche Kinemathek selected the film as one of the hundred most important pictures in Germany's history.[27]
References
- ^ a b c Lindenberger, p. 32.
- ^ Grisko, pp. 29.
- ^ a b Der Untertan. defa.de.
- ^ Forbrig, Kirsten. pp. 50-52.
- ^ Emmerich, p. 146.
- ^ Poss, p. 81.
- ^ Grisko, pp. 26-27.
- ^ Grisko, p. 28.
- ^ Schmidt-Lenhard, pp. 33.
- ^ Rentschler, p. 146
- ^ Gersch, pp. 139.
- ^ a b Ralf Schenk. Der Film war im Westen verboten. Archived 2013-02-12 at archive.today Superillu, 26 April 2006.
- ^ Schittly, p. 62.
- ^ Grisko, p. 29.
- ^ List of the 50 highest-grossing DEFA films.
- ^ DEFA chronicle for 1951.
- ^ Kannapin, p. 153.
- ^ Berghahn, pp. 109-110.
- ^ Lindenberger, p. 33.
- ^ Des Müllers Lust. Der Spiegel, 12 December 1951.
- ^ a b Behrens, p. 152.
- ^ Berghahn, p. 111.
- ^ a b Lindenberger, p. 34.
- ^ Vogel, Macdonald. p. 380.
- ^ Liehm, p. 92.
- ^ Brockmann, pp. 220-221.
- ^ Der Untertan Archived 2012-02-24 at the Wayback Machine on progress-film.de.
Bibliography
- Michael Grisko. Der Untertan - Revisited. Bertz & Fischer (2007). ISBN 978-3-86505-179-0.
- Karsten Forbrig, Antje Kirsten (editors). Il était une fois en RDA...: Une rétrospective de la DEFA. Peter Lang (2010). ISBN 978-3-0343-0030-8.
- Thomas Lindenberger (editor). Massenmedien im Kalten Krieg: Akteure, Bilder, Resonanzen. Böhlau Verlag (2006). ISBN 978-3-412-23105-7.
- Ulrich Behrens. Geschichte im Film - Film in der Geschichte. BoD (2009). ISBN 978-3-8370-9233-2.
- Ingrid Poss. Spur der Filme: Zeitzeugen über die DEFA. Links (2006). ISBN 978-3-86153-401-3.
- Daniela Berghahn. Hollywood Behind the Wall: the Cinema of East Germany. Manchester University Press (2005). ISBN 978-0-7190-6172-1.
- Uschi and Andreas Schmidt-Lenhard. Courage und Eigensinn. Zum 100. Geburtstag von Wolfgang Staudte. Röhrig Universitätsverlag (2006). ISBN 978-3-86110-415-5.
- Wolfgang Emmerich. Heinrich Mann: Der Untertan. Text und Geschichte. Leske & Budrich (2000). ISBN 978-3-8100-2732-0.
- Eric Rentschler. German Film and Literature. Methuen (1986). ISBN 978-0-416-60331-6.
- Scott MacDonald, Amos Vogel. Cinema 16: Documents Toward History Of Film Society. Wide Angle Books (2002). ISBN 978-1-56639-924-1.
- Stephen Brockmann. A Critical History of German Film. Camden House (2010). ISBN 978-1-57113-468-4.
- Detlef Kannapin. Antifaschismus im Film der DDR. Papyros Verlag (1997). ISBN 978-3-89438-142-4.
- Miera Liehm, Antonin J. Liehm. The Most Important Art: Soviet and Eastern European Film After 1945. University of California Press (1977). ISBN 0-520-04128-3
External links
- Der Untertan at IMDb