The diary of Dr. Hard

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Movie
Original title The diary of Dr. Hard
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1918
length 71 minutes
Rod
Director Paul Leni
script Hans Brennert
production Paul Davidson for PAGU on behalf of Bufa, Berlin
camera Carl Hoffmann
occupation

The diary of Dr. Hart is a German, propaganda silent film from 1918 with Heinrich Schroth in the title role.

action

Dr. Robert Hart, a middle-aged physician, pays homage to an acquaintance, the young aristocrat Ursula von Hohenau, at her Saxon country estate. You have a cultivated conversation and enjoy this sunny July day with small children. When the doctor leaves again, the old postman Ursula brings the newspaper dated Friday, July 24, 1914: The headline reads: Austria's ultimatum to Serbia . The Polish diplomat Count Bronislaw, who is in the service of the Tsar, also reads about the upcoming war cries and is initially enthusiastic about patriotism. In the days that followed, Hart returned to his practice and treated the old and frail father of the charming Countess Jadwiga Bransky. On the occasion of a big festival with final fireworks in the summer of Bad Oos on August 1, 1914, all protagonists meet for the last time in peacetime. There Bronislaw observes with growing jealousy that the compatriot Jadwiga, whom he adores, enjoys the proximity of the German doctor. Minutes later, he and his French friend, the Viscount Latour, received news that each of the men should return home immediately. “ Mobilization !” Is the catchphrase of the extra sheets hot off the press. The First World War has begun.

Dr. Hart is appointed medical officer and takes the train to his unit. Before that, he visits his former student union, gives a fiery, patriotic speech and raises a glass with the fraternity more than once. The advance of German unity always goes ahead, to the east. And Dr. Hart is always by your side. The Russian Cossacks enslaved the local rural population and poisoned their wells. When Dr. Hardly taking care of an old father beaten up by the Cossacks, he sees the picture of Jadwiga in his poor room. He is told that it is the daughter of the "gracious lord". Jadwiga has a good reputation here as she always gives the poor people enough bread. But when she has gone, the brutal Cossacks will attack the poor have-nots. Meanwhile, the mood among the German soldiers is exceptionally good; there is always something to eat, something to drink and even something to laugh about. As the Germans approach Bransky Castle, Dr. Hart and a soldier to a mill from which a spy is obviously signaling the Russian units. The spy is overwhelmed and the mill is blown up. The Germans overrun the Russian defenders of the castle, their commanding officer, Count Bronislaw summons old Bransky and his daughter to flee. But the old man only says “I'm waiting for the Germans”. The first German soldier to finally enter the castle behaves perfectly.

In the meantime, Dr. Hard to have his hands full at his first aid station. He bandages, cleans wounds, uses injections. The Russians flee, including Count Bronislaw. On a battlefield he falls exhausted and wounded from his horse. There Troll, the German medical dog, finds him and leads Dr. Hard on him. He picks up the casual acquaintance from peacetime in Bad Oos, helps him get back on his feet and gives him something to drink. A little later, two scattered, mounted Russians pass by and beat Dr. Hard down, heave Bronislaw onto one of their horses and ride away. Injured, the field doctor goes to the large field hospital. In the meantime Ursula von Hohenau volunteered to become a nurse and put together a hospital train. In anticipation of Dr. Hart, with whom she also kept in touch by letters during the war, she takes this same train V.12 to the field hospital that the Germans have set up at Bransky Castle. There Jadwiga supports Dr. Hard at taking care of the wounded. She carries a medallion with a portrait of Bronislaw, who has grown very dear to her. Hart sees this with mixed feelings.

The field doctor receives an order from the superior to vaccinate all soldiers against cholera . A little later the hospital train V.12 arrives near Bransky Castle to bring the wounded back home. On this occasion, Ursula and Jadwiga finally get to know each other. In addition, some German ambulances roll to the castle and bring 84 more wounded people, including a Russian officer. It's Bronislaw Krascinsky. Jadwiga begs Dr. Hard to help him. Immediately he sets out to operate the enemy. Soon he will recover, and he and Jadwiga get together as well as Dr. Hart and Ursula. A year in the life of field doctor Dr. Robert Hart has now passed, the field doctor flips through his diary: August 1915. All five leading actors, Germans and Poles, are sitting peacefully together in front of the fireplace of Bransky Castle, and Dr. Hart reads from his diary what has happened in the past twelve months. Closing scene: The last entry in the diary is from November 5, 1916. Hart writes: “Poland is an independent empire. Count Bransky's dream has come true. Bronislaw, too, has returned to his Poles. We have become good friends ”. A handshake between the German and the Pole seals this new friendship.

Production notes, backgrounds, interesting facts

The three-act, around 70-minute film with the working title The Field Doctor was planned in 1916 and probably shot in the first half of 1917, among other places, in the area around German-occupied Brest-Litovsk (war scenes). It was produced by the Projektions-AG »Union« (PAGU) (Berlin) on behalf of Bufa. The Berlin police imposed a youth ban on the film (No. 40947); the post-censorship of December 21, 1917 led to the lifting of the youth ban. The film had its world premiere on January 21, 1918. The few studio scenes were created in the Union studio in Berlin-Tempelhof .

The film architect Paul Leni (1885–1929) made his directorial debut here; he also created the film structures.

This film was a commissioned production by the Image and Film Office (founded on January 30, 1917 for the purposes of war propaganda, see also Propaganda in the First World War ). In doing so, emphasis was placed on letting the propaganda mission shine through as unobtrusively as possible. There were two main messages to convey: 1. The field doctors take care of the German men in the field, and 2. The occupation of what was once Russian Poland is solely for the benefit of the Polish people, which is a new, quasi “fraternal” one “Cooperation with the German people could enter into.

Ernst Lubitsch's in- house author Hanns Kräly , a specialist in comedies and monumental material, assisted Leni as a debut director and was the production manager.

Heinrich Schroth and Käthe Haack were lovers in real life too; they had married in 1916.

reception

As the specialist publication Der Kinematograph reported, the aim of the film is to show "the blessing of medical help and work in the field, but also the courage to make sacrifices, the joyful dedication to the profession and the hardships of the field doctor".

In the Lichtbild stage it says: “It is undoubtedly an interesting film that is presented here and that gives us clear insights into the medical services in the field. The individual images are cleverly interwoven with a plot that is undoubtedly very compelling and dramatic. Paul Leni as the director put consistently good pictures here and offered decorations that deserve recognition. "

At a distance of almost 80 years, the assessment of the film was completely different. Thomas Brandlmeier reveals in detail the propagandistic elements of the work in his essay “The Polish Map: Notes on Paul Leni's Film The Diary of Dr. Hart ":" The same cliché can be found in the male leading actors. Dr. Hart, played by Heinrich Schroth, is a very conscientious German, a figure of light, whereas Count Bronislaw, played by Ernst Hofmann, is the type of the decadent noble, dark, jealous, devious, characterized by his wild Cossack hordes. (...) Bronislaw is later taken into German captivity. This time he is badly injured. Of course it's Dr. Hart rescuing him with an operation. Well, towards the end of the third and last act, the turnaround quickly and bumpily. The negative Russian officer becomes a positive hero: a grateful Polish aristocrat who sits by the fireplace with Hart, Ursula and Jadwiga, two happily united couples, and welcomes Polish independence. "

Availability

The film is available as a stream on the Filmportals.de website.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerhard Lamprechts Deutsche Stummfilme, Volume 1915-16 , p. 367, dates the film to 1916. However, since the commissioning Bufa (Image and Film Office) was not founded until January 30, 1917, this date is probably incorrect and refers to the planning stage of the film
  2. ↑ cf. Martin Baumeister: "L'effet de réel". On the relationship between war and film 1914 to 1918; in: War and the military in 20th century film. Series of publications by the Military History Research Office , Munich 2003. p. 258
  3. ^ The cinematograph of January 23, 1918
  4. ^ Criticism in filmportal.de
  5. ^ The Polish Map: Notes on Paul Leni's film The Diary of Dr. Hard ; in: Studies on the cultural history of the German image of Poland 1848-1939, Wiesbaden 1995, p. 160