The Hermann Battle

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title The Hermann Battle
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1924
length 54 (DVD version) minutes
Rod
Director Leo King
script Leo King
production Klio-Film (Berlin)
music Fritz Chlodwig Lange
camera Marius Holdt
occupation

The Hermannschlacht is a German silent film, mostly staged in 1922 and premiered in 1924, about the legendary battle between Teutons and Romans in 9 AD.

action

Arminius, the proud son of the Cheruscan prince Segimer, was once captured by the Romans and has been held hostage ever since. During this time, the “barbarian” learned the craft of war with the winged helmet and even made a career in the Roman army. Finally he rose to become the leader of the Germanic auxiliaries. Back in Germania, Arminius now knows a lot about Roman combat tactics - knowledge that he will need very well a little later. Arminius, who was given Roman citizenship when he was released and now also a member of the “equester ordo” (Roman knighthood), wants nothing less than to beat the Romans in his homeland with their own weapons and drive them out of their homeland.

Back in Germania, Arminius (also known as Hermann the Cheruscan) meets his father Segimer and his old love Thusnelda again. It quickly becomes clear to the young warrior that under the Roman rule the Teutons were subjugated and forced to labor. Like slaves, the Teutons must vegetate under foreign rule. With the help of warriors from other Germanic tribes, Arminius then built up a powerful army and in the decisive battle, the eponymous Hermann Battle, in the year 9 AD, the Roman legions under the leadership of Publius Quintilius Varus were decisively destroyed. Varus then commits suicide. Finally, the film shows how Armin and Thusnelda embrace during the victory celebration.

The Hermannsdenkmal in the Teutoburg Forest shows the Cheruscan prince Arminius

Production notes

This first film adaptation of the historical events of antiquity, which brought the Romans a crushing defeat, was considered lost for many decades. In 1990 a copy of The Hermann Battle, stolen by Soviet Red Army soldiers in 1945, was discovered in Moscow.

The five-act film was shot in and near Detmold as well as in the Teutoburg Forest and Kastell Saalburg im Taunus until December 1922 . Some re-shoots took place in 1923 due to bad weather in the previous year. The premiere took place on February 27, 1924 in the Landestheater Detmold near the place where the battle is said to have taken place.

Nearly 1000 extras and around 200 horses were used for the outdoor shots as part of the battle scenes. Fritz Kraencke designed the film structures.

Little is known about Leo König (born 1883), whose only film director was Die Hermannschlacht . Before filming, he had worked as a senior director in Düsseldorf.

The media center of the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe released the film on DVD with new background music.

Contemporary, political reference

A swipe given in the German-national style, which had a timely reference to the occupation of the Ruhr area by the French , was particularly evident in a passage in the program booklet. There was to be read: “The presumptuousness of the occupying troops who were eager to raid was increasingly challenging. Roman military leaders gleefully roll the dice for possession of Germanic women. Gifts haggle over compliance. Everything strange Roman character. An expression of degenerate folk customs, emotionally shallow in their sensual lascivious demands. ”For everything“ Roman ”only“ the French ”had to be used sui generis. This is also proven by the fourth subheading of the first act. It says: "The Roman mercenary armies raged ruthlessly, pillaged and plundered with Gallic zeal."

Reviews

The reviews were very different. The negative criticism mainly criticized the craftsmanship of the film and saw the film as not very artistic. In terms of content, however, the strong patriotic-nationalist component was also emphasized. Here are a few examples:

In the issue of February 28, 1924, the Volksblatt emphasized, without naming the French, the general anger of the people against the recent foreign occupiers in Germany. At one point it says: “Sultry thoughts of hatred and revenge sought and found edification and satisfaction in the film. For people with this attitude, the 'Hermannsschlacht' is a symbol of their feelings, like Hermann up there on the Grotenburg. ”Finally, one could read that at the end of the film screening, the cinema-goers got up and sang the Deutschlandlied.

The Westfälische Zeitung was disappointed that Die Hermannschlacht did not live up to the expectations that had been raised since the Fridericus films or Ernst Lubitsch's Anna Boleyn . There it said: “This hope that this was anticipated in spite of all recognition of a certain national value, was in no way fulfilled. The film does not rise above the mediocre historical average film in anything, absolutely nothing. "The directorial inadequacies, for example in the handling of the crowd scenes, were criticized, where one has completely different possibilities and experiences in Berlin:" A mistake by the director it was without a doubt to use 'natives' from the Teutoburg Forest instead of the Berlin extra series. Well-intentioned enthusiasm for filming cannot replace a lack of practice. "Even the final applause from the audience was relativized in this criticism:" The applause that broke out in places on the open scene probably arose for the most part from local patriotic or national motives rather than artistic feelings. "

Other reviews were more positive. Here are a few examples:

The Lippische Allgemeine Anzeiger praised the “the extremely skillful of Dr. Fritz Chlodwig Lange put together accompanying music adapted to the action processes ”and praised both the highlighted landscape scenes and the individual acting performances.

The Lippische Post even claimed: "It was a great undisputed success across the board" and, in complete contrast to the critic of the Westfälische Zeitung, decided: "The crowd scenes, which take up a large part of the film, are characterized by extremely skillful mass directing."

In March 1924, the Würzburger Generalanzeiger also saw the film work on par with recent Berlin productions. There it was said: “Another positive step has now been taken from the path of the Friedericus film with the historical large-scale film 'The Hermann Battle', which… was cranked in the gorges and forests of the Teutoburg Forest with real actors and an unheard of extras . (...) The great pictorial quality of the scenes, especially the wonderful beauty of the German landscape ... unforgettable, charming shots, brilliant mass direction and excellent representation of the main roles secure the film a first place among the historical major films of recent times. "

After viewing the DVD version of Die Hermannschlacht, modern criticism came to the following conclusion: “From today's perspective, one can understand why there was no greater success. The actors as well as the director all came from theater acting and had no experience with the new medium of 'film'. This is expressed in the facial expressions and gestures of the actors, who are often unable to express the meaning of a scene (...) It seems that Leo Koenig was more interested in the subtexts than the implementation of the heroic material and therefore focused on to focus on what has been read. From a cinematic point of view, the work 'Die Hermannschlacht' is a failed attempt to put the Varus Battle on the big stage. "

Individual proof

  1. ↑ Daniel Dürringer in "Weimar and the Cinema"

Web links