May 10th

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Movie
German title The fear of violence
Original title May 10th
Country of production Switzerland
original language Swiss German , German
Publishing year 1957
length 95 (original), 91 (German version) minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Franz Schnyder
script Wilhelm Michael Treichlinger
Arnold Kübler
Franz Schnyder
production Lazar Wechsler
Franz Schnyder for Neue Film AG Zurich
music Robert Blum
camera Konstantin Irmen-Tschet
cut Hans Heinrich Egger
occupation

May 10th is a refugee drama by Franz Schnyder that took place on that one day in 1940 in the Swiss border area with the German Reich and in Zurich . The film, running in the Federal Republic of Germany under the title The Fear of Violence , premiered on October 18, 1957 in Zurich.

action

Second World War , May 10, 1940: The troops of the German Wehrmacht open the western campaign and invade the Netherlands , Belgium and Luxembourg on a broad front .

Change of location to the German-Swiss border area: early in the morning, the armed Swiss railroad inspector Emil Tschumi checks the railroad tracks along the border. He surprises the German refugee Werner Kramer, who has just swam across the Rhine. Tschumi, a good-natured, old man, takes the machine technician into his tiny office house and offers him to dry his wet clothes there.

The young German claims that he is being persecuted by the Gestapo for talking to a colleague about foreign radio stations. Tschumi sympathizes with him, but since the border guards are about to expel Kramer, he signals him to flee.

On this May 10th, German divisions also march along the border with Switzerland. For fear of a surprise attack, the Swiss Federal Council orders general mobilization . The Swiss border is now closely guarded. An old German refugee who wants to buy a train ticket to the interior of the country without papers at the Swiss border station and does not have any Swiss francs for it is taken away by the Swiss border police under the eyes of the shocked Werner Kramer. With the help of a truck driver, Kramer can leave the border region; a little later, however, this leaves him suddenly sitting in the middle of nowhere. Eventually Kramer made it to Zurich, where he met a friend from their childhood days, Anna Marti, again. She works as a tailor in the Perrin fashion store.

Anna advises him to seek help from the influential Hefti family, whom Kramer knew from before. But like many other wealthy families in Switzerland, these people have fled to the interior of the country, where one feels safe from a possible German invasion. Werner Kramer, with Anna's approval, hides in an attic, always afraid of being denounced, discovered and, as a result, expelled as illegal. Above all, Anna's brother-in-law Albert Widmer does not seem to be well disposed towards him. Kramer fears him the most, as he clearly shows his displeasure with Kramer's presence. And so the next morning the German decided to put an end to the game of hide and seek and face Sergeant Grimm. The veteran policeman quickly turns out to be an original Swiss, characterized by deep humanity, who wants to help the young man and takes on his difficult case.

production

Director Schnyder was inspired by his own experiences in 1940 for this dramatic film material. He was serving in a mountain regiment at the time. He drafted the script in autumn 1956 during the popular uprising in Hungary . He used these events as an opportunity to draw analogies between 1956 and 1940: there the rebellion against the Soviet occupiers, in 1940 the defensive measures against a possible military threat from Nazi Germany. In order to be able to make this film, Schnyder had to produce it himself. Together with colleagues, he founded Neue Film AG in order to realize the project that was important to him.

For the young German actor Heinz Reincke , this film, which he made at the beginning of his screen career, was unusual in two respects: It was the first time he was shooting abroad, and he received one of his rare leading roles in front of a cinema camera.

An impressive line-up of popular and experienced theater and film artists was signed on the Swiss side, including Emil Hegetschweiler , Max Haufler , Fredy Scheim , Heinrich Gretler , Ellen Widmann , Alfred Rasser , Fred Tanner and the naturalized Therese Giehse , a native of Munich. Gustav Knuth , Hermann Wlach and Louis Rainer participated as German residents of Switzerland . For Wlach and Rainer, May 10th was the only post-war activity in film. From France was Paulette Dubost committed.

For this film the former UFA cameraman Konstantin Irmen-Tschet, who worked in Germany, moved to Switzerland and stayed there for several years (until 1964). The Berne Linda Geiser returned for the May 10 from the Federal Republic, where she worked mostly by then home. The film structures for May 10th were designed by Max Röthlisberger .

The film was the official entry at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1958 , but did not take part in the competition at the request of the Federal Government of Bern - “You don't go abroad with dirty laundry”. The fear of violence opened in German cinemas on July 17, 1958.

criticism

Although it was well received by the critics, the film met with little interest from the Swiss audience.

The lexicon of the international film judged the fear of violence : "A balanced, thoughtfully consistent film with a captivating feature film plot."

Bucher's encyclopedia of the film wrote: "[T] he reconstruction of the Swiss reactions to a possible invasion of Nazi Germany in May 10 (1957) can be described as successful in many ways."

Finally, the film’s large personal dictionary called the film “remarkable”.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Film analysis in artfilm.ch
  2. May 10th in SF
  3. Klaus Brüne (Red.): Lexikon des Internationale Films Volume 1, p. 150. Reinbek near Hamburg 1987.
  4. Bucher's Encyclopedia of Films, hrgg. v. Liz-Anne Bawden, German edition from Wolfram Tichy, Luzern a. Frankfurt / M. 1977, p. 684.
  5. 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 7: R - T. Robert Ryan - Lily Tomlin. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 151.