The man who drove his conscience
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The man who drove his conscience |
| Original title | Broken Lullaby / The Man I Killed |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1932 |
| length | 76 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Ernst Lubitsch |
| script |
Samson Raphaelson Ernest Vajda based on the play “ L'homme que j'ai tué ” (1930) by Maurice Rostand |
| production | Ernst Lubitsch for Paramount Pictures |
| music | W. Franke Harling |
| camera | Victor Milner |
| occupation | |
| |
The man drove his conscience is an American feature film drama with pacifist and völkerversöhnender message from the year 1931. It was directed by Ernst Lubitsch . The leading roles are cast with Lionel Barrymore , Nancy Carroll and Phillips Holmes .
action
Paris, November 11th, 1919. The “Grande Nation” celebrates the first anniversary of the armistice that ended the First World War in a large military parade . The bells ring and cannons fire in honor of the fallen. Images of a military hospital are cut into this solemn setting, in which war invalids await their recovery. One of them is obviously tormented mentally by his past in the field. It is the young Frenchman Paul Renard who cannot escape the feeling of guilt that haunts him into his dreams. Now the musician is sitting in one of the churches where a memorial service is being held. When the festivities are over and the church has gradually emptied, Renard approaches a priest to whom he wants to confess his guilt.
In the war on the Franco-German front, lying in the trenches, he killed the young German soldier Walter Hölderlin in close combat. Before he died, he briefly exchanged a few words with him. Renard receives absolution from the man of God, but even afterwards his conscience cannot rest. The anguish becomes so intense that he decides to take a dramatic step: he wants to visit the family of the fallen German, whose address he discovered on the dead man's envelope, to ask for their forgiveness. Once there, he has to realize how much the grief and suffering has gripped this family in the face of the bitter loss. The father of the man he killed, Dr. Holderlin, initially refuses to accept him and does not welcome Paul to his home either. The ice only begins to slowly melt at the moment when Elsa, the fiancée of the dead Walter Hölderlin, finds out that it was Paul who deposited flowers on Walter's grave.
Paul believes that he must now deviate from his original plan, fearing that the first steps of reconciliation between him, the French, and his German host family would be destroyed by the truth in seconds. And so he invents a white lie, which is why he went to see the Hölderlins. He says he was once a fellow student of Walter and that they met before 1914 while studying at the conservatory in Paris. The Hölderlin family now welcomes the stranger, whose presence is slowly beginning to resolve the deep-seated mourning for the fallen son, even if the small-town locals deeply disapprove of and distrust the family's contact with the “Welschen”. Elsa is the quickest to trust Paul, because thanks to his alleged "friendship" with Walter, he means the closest connection to her ex-fiancé. In her confidence, she even shows him his bedroom. Then it breaks out of Paul: he confesses that he killed Walter during the war. Elsa implores Paul, for whom she is gradually developing feelings, not to tell the Hölderlin family about it. Paul made her peace with her "hereditary enemy" through Paul's appearance, and even the old, skeptical Dr. Hölderlin begins to adopt Paul Renard like his own son: he even leaves Renard to Walter's violin, which Renard immediately begins to play while Elsa accompanies him on the piano.
Production notes
The US-produced film called Broken Lullaby was made in 1931 and premiered on January 19, 1932. In Germany, the film under the title The man whose conscience drove happened on July 26, 1932 the first and on October 27, 1932 the second film censorship. A youth ban was issued in each case. The German premiere took place on November 15 of the same year. After the National Socialists came to power in Germany just two and a half months later, the pacifist and people-reconciling film quickly got onto the index: On May 17, 1933, The Man Who Driven His Conscience was again banned by the National Socialist film censorship.
The buildings were created by Hans Dreier .
The film was initially shot under the title The Man I Killed . It was then changed to The Fifth Commandment in order, it was said, "to avoid false expectations in the minds of the audience about the content of the story." Eventually the film was released under the title Broken Lullaby . The film, one of Lubitsch's most well-known works, was a commercial failure, as were most of his directorial forays into the dramatic field. Since then, the American by choice should only stage light, comedic material.
Reviews
In the New York Times , star critic Mordaunt Hall dealt with the Lubitsch film. There it said on January 20, 1932: “Ernst Lubitsch, the German master director, has turned his attention from frivolous comedies to an ironic, sentimental post-war film called" The Man I Killed ", an adaptation of a play by Maurice Rostand. This film ... is further evidence of Mr. Lubitsch's genius as his tearful story is laid out in a poetic manner, with an excellent performance by Lionel Barrymore and the fine acting skills of Phillips Holmes and Nancy Carroll. It has a moral - a pacifistic one that touches the audience - and if pathos has been sought there is no reason to deny the human and real qualities of this simple story. Each sequence has been designed with sincerity and great care. The different scenes have been photographed with admirable skill. There are even moments of light humor. An episode that has to do with small-town gossipers reminds you of the way in which the late FW Murnau designed the old silent film classic "The Last Man". "
“With his first sound film drama, THE MAN I KILLED, the German film director Ernst Lubitsch explains the so-called technique that enables him to switch with obvious ease from comedy to drama, from musical to non-musical, regardless of the topic acts without the production suffering. "
“An anti-war film, against hatred of peoples and for reconciliation. A general charge and warning are formed from private fates. "
"The best sound film you've ever seen and heard of."
"Well done, but thematically heavy weight and little action ... hardly tailored to the clientele as a whole."
"I can't remember any film that was made so wonderfully, so fine in its execution through and through."
"Lubitsch cannot completely escape his own talent, and the film is also beautifully made, but he confused monotony and sentimental kitsch with ironic, poetic tragedy."
The lexicon of international films reads: “A sound film, but still staged entirely in the style of the silent film: the movements and gestures are slow and intense, full of nuances and nuances. The film propagates reconciliation, tolerance and love as a remedy for the deepest wounds. It also contains a scene that is particularly typical and famous for Lubitsch: when the Frenchman and the girl walk through the village, the camera stays with them, showing how they fall in love. The soundtrack reveals a different story, that of the gawkers and envious people who curiously open their doors, whose little bells ring treacherously. "
See also
Web links
- The man who drove his conscience at filmportal.de
- The man Lullaby in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Broken Lullaby in the New York Times
- ↑ In the original: "Ernst Lubitsch, the masterful German director, has turned his attention from frivolous comedies to an ironic, sentimental post-war film drama, called" The Man I Killed. " an adaptation of a play by Maurice Rostand. This Picture… is further evidence of Mr. Lubitsch's genius, for, while it is tearful, its story is unfurled in a poetic fashion, with an unexcelled performance by Lionel Barrymore and fine acting by Phillips Holmes and Nancy Carroll. It has its moral — a pacifistic one that affected the audience — and if the pathos is stressed, there is no denying the human and truthful qualities of the simple tale. Each sequence is fashioned with sincerity and great care. The different scenes are all photographed with admirable artistry. It even has its moments of light humor. One episode dealing with small-town gossipers brings to mind something along the same line in the late FW Murnau's old silent classic, 'The Last Laugh'. "
- ↑ In the original: “With his first dramatic talking picture, THE MAN I KILLED, Ernst Lubitsch, German director, explains the so-called technique which enables him with apparent facility from comedy to drama, musical to non-musical, without causing the subject matter, ie, the production, to suffer. "
- ↑ Original: “The best talking picture that has yet been seen and heard”
- ↑ In the original: “Well made, but heavy themes and actionless… hardly attuned to film patronage as a whole”
- ↑ In the original: "I cannot remember a film so beautifully made, so completely fine in its execution."
- ↑ In the original: "Lubitsch can't entirely escape his own talent, and the film is beautifully crafted, but he mistook drab, sentimental hokum for ironic, poetic tragedy."
- ↑ The man who drove his conscience. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .