Affaire Blum (film)

Movie
Original title	Affair Blum
Country of production	Germany
original language	German
Publishing year	1948
length	106 minutes
Rod
Director	Erich Engel
script	Robert Adolf Stemmle
production	DEFA
music	Herbert Trantow
camera	Friedl Behn-Grund , Karl Plintzner
cut	Lilian Seng
occupation
Hans Christian Blech : Karlheinz Gabler Gisela Trowe : Christina Burman Arno Paulsen : Wilhelm Platzer Maly Delschaft : Anna Platzer Paul Bildt : Konrad, examining magistrate Ernst Waldow : Schwerdtfeger, detective inspector Werner Peters : Egon Konrad Kurt Ehrhardt : Dr. Jakob Blum Karin Evans : Sabine Blum, his wife Herbert Hübner : Hecht, District Court Director Alfred Schieske : Otto Bonte, detective inspector Helmuth Rudolph : Wilschinsky Hugo Kalthoff : Lorenz Friedrich Maurer : Dr. Gerhard Wormser, lawyer Blandine Ebinger : Lucie Schmerschneider Gerhard Bienert : Karl Bremer Renée Stobrawa : Mrs. Bremer Klaus Becker : Hans Fischer Hilde Adolphi : Alma Albert Venohr : Arms dealer Emmy Burg : Therese Jean Brahn : Merkel Arthur Schröder : Hinkeldey Richard Drosten : Dentist Reinhard Kolldehoff : Tischbein Margarete Salbach : Ruth Tischbein Herbert Malsbender : Editor Otto Matthies : Reporter Gertrude Boll : Maid at Blum Anita Hinzmann : Konrad's maid Eva Bodden : Secretary at Wilschinsky Lilli Schoenborn : patient

Affaire Blum is a DEFA - feature film by Erich Engel from the year 1948 . The story is based on the novel of the same name by Robert Adolf Stemmle , who also wrote the screenplay for the film. The film reproduces the events of a Magdeburg judicial scandal of 1925/26 largely authentically. The manufacturer Rudolf Haas was accused of murdering the traveler Hellmuth Helling and was held in custody for almost two months, which later turned out to be a miscarriage of justice. The main roles are occupied by Hans Christian Blech , Gisela Trowe , Arno Paulsen and Maly Delschaft as well as Paul Bildt , Ernst Waldow and Werner Peters .

Queue in front of the cinema at Affaire Blum , 1949

action

The action takes place in a central German city in the twenties. A Jewish manufacturer is accused of murdering his accountant. The German national investigating judge, who absolutely wants a Jewish perpetrator, sees Blum as the perpetrator even when there are indications of the actual murderer, a former volunteer corps fighter. The Social Democratic court president from Berlin sends a detective (in the real case Otto Busdorf ) to tear apart the judge's chain of evidence.

Production notes

The film was made in the Althoff studio of Studio Babelsberg with exterior shots from Babelsberg and Potsdam . The premiere took place on December 3, 1948 in East Berlin, in West Berlin it was the first showing on December 19, 1948. As an exchange film Central Germany / West Germany, its West German premiere took place on April 8, 1949 in Hamburg .

Awards

• The FBL recorded Affaire Blum with the predicate particularly valuable from.
• Director Erich Engel received the National Prize, 2nd class of the GDR .

Reviews

“Formerly a DEFA film, which describes the growing racist hatred before the Third Reich in an authentic case (judicial scandal in Magdeburg 1926). Sensitively staged and carried by excellent actors. "

- Lexicon of international film

"Erich Engel (born 1891) found a satirically pointed, realistic picture style for the depiction of a judicial crime of the Weimar period in Affaire Blum ..."

- Ulrich Gregor, Enno Patalas

literature

• Robert Adolf Stemmle : Affair Blum. Herbig Verlag, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-7766-0968-0 .
• F.-B. Habel : The great lexicon of DEFA feature films . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-349-7 , pp. 20-21 .

Web links

• Affaire Blum in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Affaire Blum at filmportal.de (with photo gallery)
• Affaire Blum at the DEFA Foundation

Individual evidence

1. ^ The inspector from Köpenick - Otto Busdorf. A career as a police officer from the German Empire to the GDR , February 8, 2015, transcription as pdf, accessed on January 9, 2019
2. ^ Alfred Bauer: German feature film Almanach. Volume 2: 1946-1955 , p. 15
3. ↑ Blum affair. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed December 13, 2016 .  
4. ↑ Ulrich Gregor, Enno Patalas: History of the film 2 . Bertelsmann, Munich 1973, ISBN 3-499-16194-X .