The Puppeteer (unfinished)

Movie
Original title	The puppeteer
Country of production	Germany
original language	German
Publishing year	not published; 1944 / 1945 (filming)
Rod
Director	Alfred Braun
script	Veit Harlan , Alfred Braun
production	Ufa-Filmkunst (production group Veit Harlan and Fritz Thiery )
music	Wolfgang Zeller
camera	Constantine Cheet
cut	Alice Decarli
occupation
Max Eckard : Paul Paulsen, "Pole Poppenspäler" Elfie Mayerhofer : Lisei Eugen Klöpfer : Mr. Tendler Maria Koppenhöfer : Mrs. Tendler Paul Bildt : Father Paulsen Albert Florath : Teacher Steenbock Alfred Schieske : Jochen Henkel Franz Weber : Jesper Robert Forsch : Gabriel Hannsgeorg Laubenthal : Engineer Hedwig Wangel : Master Fritz Hoopts : Hinrich Hilde Eberth : mother Paulsen Karl Etlinger Clemens Hasse Carl Günther Eduard Bornträger Hans Sternberg Knut Hartwig Else Ehser Maria Zidek-Meck Elisabeth Wendt Hans Schwarz Peter Clausen Siegfried Hoffmann Eduard von Winterstein Max Gülstorff Peter Widmann Karl Hannemann

The Puppeteer is a German, unfinished fictional film based on the novella Pole Poppenspäler by Theodor Storm . The shooting of the film directed by Alfred Braun began on November 5, 1944 and was canceled in April 1945. The UFA film, produced by Veit Harlan and Fritz Thiery , was shot about halfway through. It is considered to be one of the last film projects in Agfacolor during the National Socialist era .

action

Paul Paulsen, an old weaving mill owner, remembers his youth. As a child, he loved a puppeteer performing in town. He was especially taken with Lisei, the daughter of the puppeteer. Years later he meets her again in a small Swabian town. He helps her father, who is wrongly suspected of theft. Paul marries Lisei and takes her and her father with him to take over his father's workshop in his home country.

There he is mocked, however, because as a citizen he got involved with the traveling people . When Lisei's father wants to perform in the town hall with his dolls, he is the victim of an evil prank. When the puppeteer dies of despair, the tide turns. At the old man's grave, citizens ask forgiveness for their shameful behavior.

History of origin

prehistory

In 1942, Veit Harlan's first color film The Golden City was extremely successful in the cinemas. The director then had the idea of ​​shooting his next three films in parallel. In addition to Immensee based on Theodor Storm and sacrificial course based on Rudolf G. Binding , both of which were actually produced in this way, he also wanted to film Storm's novella Pole Poppenspäler at the same time . Accordingly, the main actors Kristina Söderbaum as well as Carl Raddatz or Paul Klinger were also planned for the third film . Many supporting roles in all three projects should also be embodied by the same actors. It was calculated that Harlan's production group at UFA could have made three films for the price of two in this way. In his autobiography, the director later stated that Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels initially insisted that only one of the three films should be cast with Harlan's wife Kristina Söderbaum. The Puppeteer Project was finally postponed so that Söderbaum could at least take part in Immensee and Sacrifice . After the two films were shot in early 1943, Harlan was commissioned to make the Kolberg film , which continued to be shot until August 1944.

In addition to his own films, Veit Harlan's production group has also been responsible for the production of the black and white film Eyes of Love since 1942 . Its director Alfred Braun had worked several times as assistant director and screenwriter for Harlan since the 1940 propaganda film Jud Suss . Propaganda Minister Goebbels described Braun's directorial debut Augen der Liebe , which was not to be released until 1951, as "hideous". Nevertheless, Harlan entrusted his colleague Alfred Braun in 1944 with the color film project The Puppeteer , which had been postponed for two years .

Filming

The shooting took place from November 4, 1944 in Meldorf , Friedrichstadt and Lübeck . Cinematographer Konstantin Tschet had already been able to gain experience with the Agfacolor process for the films Women Are Better Diplomats , Münchhausen and The Woman of My Dreams . For the Design the film architects Erich Zander and Paul Koester responsible. Alfred Vohrer was the assistant director .

Despite the effects of the Second World War , the shooting was only stopped in April 1945, a few weeks before the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht . At this point the film was about halfway over and remained unfinished. According to the Theodor Storm Society, the unpublished film fragments are considered lost.

Further films

• Pole Poppenspäler (Germany 1935) - Director: Curt Oertel (with Gerhard Hesselbach, Ines Campi)
• Pole Poppenspäler (GDR 1954) - Director: Arthur Pohl (with Heinz Höpner, Heliane Bei)
• Pole Poppenspäler (TV movie, Federal Republic of Germany 1968) - Director: Günther Anders (with Walter Richter , Doris Masjos)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Frank Noack: Veit Harlan. "The devil's director" . Belleville Verlag Michael Farin, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-923646-85-2 .
2. ↑ Veit Harlan: In the shadow of my films . Ed .: HC Opfermann. Sigbert Mohn Verlag, Gütersloh 1966, LCCN  66-025801 .
3. ^ Bogusław Drewniak: The German Film 1938–1945. A complete overview . Droste Verlag, Düsseldorf 1987, ISBN 3-7700-0731-X , p. 91 .
4. ↑ Gerd Eversberg and Karl-Ernst Laage (eds.): Theodor Storm and the Meiden. On the media history of a poetic realist . Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-503-04933-9 .

Web links

• The puppeteer in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• The puppeteer at filmportal.de