Thomas Muentzer (film)
Thomas Muentzer | |
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Directed by | Progress Film |
Release date | 17 May 1956 |
Running time | 119 minutes |
Country | East Germany |
Language | German |
Thomas Muentzer is a 1956
Plot
In 1519, the teachings of Martin Luther sweep through the German principalities. They are welcomed by the peasants, who hope that the new doctrines will help to liberate them from the oppressive yoke of the nobility and the magistrates. The young pastor Thomas Muentzer embraces Lutheranism, but he is more radical in his support for the peasants.
In 1523, Muentzer arrives in
Selected cast
- Wolfgang Stumpf as Thomas Muentzer.
- Margarete Taudte as Ottilie von Gerson.
- Martin Floerchinger as Heinrich Pfeiffer.
- Wolf Kaiser as Hannes the Swab.
- Ulrich Thein as student.
- Gerd Michael Henneberg as Evangelist priest.
- Horst Giese as miner.
- Fritz Diez as Field Captain Hoffmann.
- Franz Loskarn as Captain Krumpe.
- Gerhard Bienert as Ernst II, Count von Mansfeld.
- Edgar Bennert as Frederick III, Elector of Saxony.
- Friedrich Richter as John, Elector of Saxony.
- Fred Diesko as John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony.
- Guido Goroll as Louis V, Elector Palatine.
- Jan Franz Krueger as Henry V, Duke of Brunswick-Lueneburg.
- Peter Herden as Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse.
- Paul Paulsen as George, Duke of Saxony.
- Ruediger Renn as Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
Production
The communist leadership of East Germany, in its attempts to create a unifying narrative for the citizens of their country, attempted to portray the history of the land as a chain of events which developed according to the rules of
The film was one of 13 'heritage films' created by the
Reception
The film had its premiere on 17 May 1956, on the tenth anniversary to DEFA's founding.[5] It was commercially released on the following day. The Der Spiegel film critic wrote that the picture was "intended to depict the 16th-Century Iconoclast as Walter Ulbricht's ideological predecessor" and that its plot culminated in "a complete confusion."[4] West Germany's Catholic Film Service described it as "an immense production... with a superficial and biased interpretation of history... in spite of the expensive crowd scenes, it is anemic."[6] In 1970, a review of the German Film Studies' Institute noted that for uncertain reasons, Martin Luther was not seen in the film at all.[7]
In 2005, the picture was released on DVD format by the company Icestorm Entertainment. In a special 13-minutes-long supplement to the new edition, historian Susanne Galley noted several inaccuracies in the plot: Muentzer is shown to have held to his beliefs under torture, while in reality he agreed to deny them before his execution; the peasants' defeat in the Battle of Frankenhausen is attributed to betrayal and sabotage, rather than to the weakness of their army. Galley believed that the plot was affected by the government's ideological tendencies.[8]
References
- ^ Robert Walinski-Kiehl. History, Politics, and East German Film: The Thomas Muentzer (1956) Socialist Epic. Central European History (2006), Conference Group for Central European History of the American Historical Association. Volume 39, pages 30-55. See excerpt.
- ISBN 978-3-03911-384-2. Page 79.
- ISBN 978-3-89158-112-4. Page 350.
- ^ a b A review on Der Spiegel, 11 July 1956.
- ^ Thomas Muentzer on DEFA Foundation's website.
- ^ The critic, quoted on film-zeit.de.
- ^ Institut für Filmwissenschaft. Spielfilme der DEFA im Urteil der Kritik. Henschel Verlag (1970). ASIN B0040ZY5FW. Page 124.
- ^ The DVD edition on icestorm.de. The supplement is in the extended package.
External links
Thomas Muentzer on the IMDb.