... rides for Germany
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | ... rides for Germany |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1941 |
| length | 92 (original version), 79 (abridged version 1952) minutes |
| Age rating | FSK from 6 (1941 as 1952) |
| Rod | |
| Director | Arthur Maria Rabenalt |
| script |
Fritz Reck-Malleczewen Richard Riedel Josef Maria Frank |
| production | Production group Richard Riedel |
| music | Alois Melichar |
| camera | Werner Krien |
| cut | Kurt Hampp |
| occupation | |
| |
… Rides for Germany is a sports drama filmed in 1940/41 with nationalistic , anti-democratic and anti-Semitic undertones. With the main role of Rittmeister von Brenken, Willy Birgel played the most famous role of his entire film career. The film premiered on April 11, 1941 in Hanover . The Berlin premiere took place on May 30, 1941. The film was released for the youth.
action
November 1918, Germany is on the brink of military defeat towards the end of the First World War . In endless long-distance rides, German cavalrymen try to get back to the German border from the east. The excellent horsemen Captain von Brenken receives the order to push through a division in order from there help for those of Polish guerrillas to request included Brigade. A Polish bullet hits him, his horse Harro and he falls while riding over muddy ground. The heavy horse's body lies on top of it for hours, pushing Brenken into the mud. Severely injured, however, he can be rescued from a German post.
Von Brenken had to spend the following months in a clinic and was initially largely paralyzed. He fights his way back to life doggedly. The Rittmeister returns home to his Alt-Mellin estate in a wheelchair and meets an old school friend there, the German-African Olav Kolrep. Brenken soon met Kolrep's sister Tomasia, known by everyone as Toms, who appeared on the estate for the first time to attend Brenken's aunt Ulle. She begins to be interested in von Brenken.
When Sergeant Marten brought Brenken's horse Harro back to the estate one day, von Brenken's will to live was finally awakened. He resolves firmly to overcome the paralysis and to ride in tournaments to the glory of his fatherland . While Brenken trains hour after hour, war profiteers and speculators of the Weimar Republic are trying to snatch his estate under the nail. Kolrep helps his old friend as best he can. Finally he manages to postpone the date for the auction of Alt-Mellin.
In Geneva has European Grand Prix started. When Rittmeister von Brenken started with Harro, he was greeted by an icy silence from the stands. A little later, at a signal, there is terrible hoot and booming. But Brenken is not deterred and puts down a faultless ride with Harro. Finally, only the Italian rider Capitano Vagliasindi is in the race. His horse made eight faults in the last run, then von Brenken rode to Harro for Germany. This time, too, he passed the course without any mistakes, and for the first time he was cheered from the stands. The tears of Toms who traveled secretly run down.
“The first bars of the Deutschland-Lied sound, Brenken takes off his hat. Immobile, like an iron statue of German strength and size, horse and rider stand in front of this international forum. Rittmeister von Brenken rode and won for Germany! "
Production notes
The shooting of this UFA production took place from August 20, 1940; the last scene was completed on April 5, 1941. The shooting locations were Graudenz , Görlsdorf near Angermünde , Schwedt and Meran .
After it passed the censorship on April 4, 1941, immediately before the end of shooting, the film received the Nazi ratings of “valuable for the state” and “youthful”.
The film is Willy Birgel's best-known production and earned him the ironic nickname “Herrenreiter des Deutschen Films” in the Nazi state .
The basis for this film was Clemens Laars biography of the same name about the rider and Olympic champion from 1928 Carl-Friedrich von Langen .
The film structures were designed by Otto Hunte and Karl Vollbrecht , while Herbert Nitzschke carried out the execution .
During the war, in 1941 and 1942, the film was also shown in Sweden and Finland .
With a box-office result of 5 million Reichsmarks , ... is one of the most commercially successful films of the Nazi era for Germany .
Shortly after the end of the war, in June 1945, according to the decision of the Allied military governments, showing the film in Germany was banned. 1952 came … rides for Germany again in the (federal) German cinemas, however shortened by some nationalistic and anti-Semitic passages.
criticism
In their review, the contemporary film world paid tribute to one of the later abridged, anti-Semitic scenes: "Willi Rose, Paul Dahlke, Rudolf Schündler and above all Herbert Hübner as a Turf Jew Walter Lieck as a horse dealer offer small cabinet pieces of comical representation."
The film's large lexicon of people judged the film: “Especially … rides for Germany , a nationalistic, pathetic epic that spread all Nazi prejudices about the Weimar Republic - from the stab in the back legend to alleged Jewish speculators and war profiteers… - brought Rabenalt the reputation one of being a compliant Nazi sympathizer ”.
In Reclam's film guide it is said: “The undoubtedly remarkable sporting performance of Freiherr von Langen is used here in the service of National Socialist propaganda , although the word National Socialism is not even mentioned.” But “The Weimar Republic is portrayed as a playground for shabby speculators ruled by Jews and be directed; And against this gloomy background, the leader figure of the lonely and never despondent rider appears all the more radiant, to whom an inner voice shows the right path, which leads to success against all logic and all expectations.
The lexicon of the international film wrote: "The heroic and nationalistic sports drama celebrates the regained international status of Germany after the lost First World War."
Rabenalt himself kept his film in his book Film in the Twilight. About the apolitical film of the 3rd Reich and the limitation of the totalitarian claim (1958) for apolitical and commented there as follows about the circumstances of the changing evaluation:
“The only sports film based on simple, patriotic sentiments about a tournament rider, which was made without political intention, only became a political issue through its success in neutral and occupied countries as well as at home. The result was that the film [ ‹… rides for Germany› ] was subsequently given the title of “politically valuable”, after the collapse it was counted among the most notorious Nazi films on the blacklist and the director and his main actors were banned from their profession for almost two years - this time by the Americans - helped (while the horse, Harro, who was playing along was deported by the Russians). When the emotional dynamic pressure wave subsided, the film was found to be completely harmless and apolitical, as one of the first to be removed from the Allied prohibited list and successfully shown again for the third time. "
Erwin Leiser , who judges the above-mentioned scene with Huebner that it “leaves nothing to be desired in terms of evil anti-Semitic caricature”, counts … rides for Germany with Karl Ritters … All in the world , Gustav Ucicky's homecoming and Hans H. Zerlett's Venus in court for the films of 1941, in which Jews appear as opponents of the heroes, but only more as harmless marginal characters and not, as in 1940, as dangerous sub-humans (as in Die Rothschilds , Jud Suss and Der Ewige Jude ).
See also
Web links
- ... rides for Germany in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ... rides for Germany at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Original quote from the program booklet on … riding for Germany. Illustrated film courier, No. 3198.
- ↑ Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 1: A - C. Erik Aaes - Jack Carson. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 396.
- ↑ Erwin Leiser : "Germany, awake!" Propaganda in the film of the Third Reich . Rowohlt Verlag, Reinbek near Hamburg 1968, DNB 457400188 , p. 54.
- ↑ film world. No. 23/24 of June 11, 1941, quoted by Erwin Leiser: “Germany, awake!” Propaganda in the film of the Third Reich . Rowohlt Verlag, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1968, p. 16.
- ↑ Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 6: N - R. Mary Nolan - Meg Ryan. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 381.
- ^ Dieter Krusche: Reclam's film guide. Stuttgart 1973, ISBN 3-15-010205-7 , p. 491.
- ↑ Klaus Brüne (Red.): Lexicon of International Films. Volume 6, Reinbek near Hamburg 1987, ISBN 3-499-16322-5 , p. 3097.
- ↑ Quoted from Erwin Leiser: “Germany, awake!” Propaganda in the film of the Third Reich . Rowohlt Verlag, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1968, p. 16.
- ↑ Erwin Leiser: "Germany, awake!" Propaganda in the film of the Third Reich . Rowohlt Verlag, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1968, pp. 16, 68.