The trip to Tilsit
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The trip to Tilsit |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1939 |
| length | 93 (1939) 88 (1952) minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Veit Harlan |
| script | Veit Harlan |
| production |
Franz Tapper Helmut Eweler |
| music | Hans-Otto Borgmann |
| camera | Bruno Mondi |
| cut | Marianne Behr |
| occupation | |
| |
Die Reise nach Tilsit is a German feature film from 1939 by Veit Harlan based on the original of the same name (1917) by Hermann Sudermann .
action
Endrik Settegast has achieved some prosperity with his fishing business on the Curonian Spit in East Prussia . He and his wife Elske live a happy life together with their son Jons. Both marital happiness and harmony only begin to shake when the beautiful and seductive Polish Madlyn Sapierska appears one day. She tries to win Endrik over and threatens her actions to destroy Endrik's marriage. The elegant Madlyn, so completely different in appearance from the simple Elske, has stayed with them as a summer guest. Elske is deeply unhappy and the affair is soon on everyone's lips in the village. Elske Settegast wants to save her marriage at all costs, even if Madlyn makes it clear to her that she will not let Endrik under any circumstances. Touched by Elskes commitment, Endrik temporarily ends this adventure and returns to his wife and son on New Year's Eve.
But Madlyn doesn't give up. In the following spring she is there again, and again the big fisherman falls for the Polish woman. Elskes father, who doesn't want to watch his daughter suffer in silence, takes the initiative and confronts Madlyn. When she doesn't want to end the affair, he takes the whip and hits the woman in the face with it. Madlyn is badly injured. When Endrik finds out about this, he blames his wife for her father's freak. From now on the fisherman falls more and more under the spell of his lover. He wants to part with Elske, but keep the son. And so he comes up with the plan to get rid of his wife in order to start a new life with Madlyn. Although Elske knows of his dark intentions, she goes with him on the fishing boat and drives to Tilsit. Endrik wants to sell the horse Lise, once her wedding present, at the town's market. Endrik lets Elske take the helm in the hope that she will maneuver the ship into a dangerous vortex. Elske suspects what Endrik is up to and is ready to go down with the ship. Only at the last moment does her husband realize what a devilish plan he has come up with and takes over the wheel again.
When they arrive in Tilsit, there is a very depressed mood between the couple. They speak little to each other. Endrik feels very guilty. Completely against her will, he buys Elske an expensive fur that he actually cannot afford. They cannot sell the horse, but the couple drank plenty of alcohol. You start your return journey, and during the crossing a heavy storm hits, which throws all three passengers overboard. Endrik can save himself. Now he is sitting in despair on his son's bed when Elske returns home, completely surprising. She holds the reins of the horse in her hand. Lise had saved her in the storm and pulled her ashore. There Elske was picked up by Madlyn of all people and brought home. In a moment of deep insight, the Polish woman decides not to torpedo this marriage any further.
Production notes
Filming began on February 6, 1939 and ended in early June 1939. The external locations were all in East Prussia : the fishing village of Karkeln on the Curonian Lagoon , the Curonian Spit , the fishing village of Pillkoppen , the Memel estuary and the town of Tilsit . The studio recordings were made in the Efa studio in Berlin-Halensee and in the Tobis studios in Berlin-Johannisthal .
The trip to Tilsit is the second major film adaptation of the Sudermann original. In 1927 FW Murnau achieved a worldwide success with his Hollywood version Sunrise , which was released in Germany under the title Sunrise - Song of Two People . Unlike the novel, Harlan's film adaptation has a happy ending.
The film passed the censorship on October 25, 1939, received a youth ban and was premiered on November 2, 1939 in Tilsit. The Berlin premiere took place on November 15, 1939. The following year Die Reise nach Tilsit was also shown in the Netherlands (January 19, 1940) and the USA (February 9, 1940). In Hamburg, Harlan's production was combined with a rerun of Murnau's Sunrise as part of the Hamburg Film Working Group in March 1940 .
The original length of The Journey to Tilsit was 93 minutes. When the film was shown again in 1952, the film was cleared of incriminating (= anti-Polish and racist) passages and was now only 88 minutes long.
The production costs amounted to around 1,012,000 RM . By February 1941 Die Reise nach Tilsit had already grossed 2,537,000 RM and was therefore considered a great commercial success.
For the Dutchman Frits van Dongen , who played the male lead here, Die Reise nach Tilsit was his last German film before he left for Hollywood . Even before the premiere and before the outbreak of the Second World War , on August 9, 1939, he had emigrated to the USA via Southampton , where he called himself Philip Dorn from 1940 and participated in some anti-Nazi films. Lead actress Kristina Söderbaum married director Harlan while filming. For Anna Dammann , the part of Madlyn Sapierska was the first leading role.
Bruno Lopinski took over production management , whose last film by 1945 was to be Die Reise nach Tilsit . Because of his Polish roots, he was largely sidelined after September 1, 1939. The film structures were designed by Fritz Maurischat and carried out by Paul Markwitz . Wolfgang Schleif assisted director Harlan.
The film did not receive any awards. Statements circulated by Harlan say that Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels hated the film. He is said to have been angry that the film about a man between two women would have too great parallels to his own case. The year before, Goebbels had to part with the Czech actress Lída Baarová at Hitler's behest . However, Goebbels' diary entry insinuates that the Propaganda Minister again insinuated that the director was trying to come to terms with Die Reise nach Tilsit, his own marriage to actress Hilde Körber, which had failed the previous year (1938) . Regarding this, read the following: “A well-made, artistic film. But a marriage tragedy to be tormented. Harlan describes his own experience, and not even with taste. ”As is the case with author Nicola Valeska Weber and Marei Gerken in her essay“ Stylization and stigma: from patriotic hero to subhuman. Images of Poland in German Feature Films of the Thirties and Early Forties ”reported in the volume“ Studies on the Cultural History of the German Image of Poland 1848–1939 ”, Magda Goebbels is said to have escaped from the cinema during a screening of Die Reise nach Tilsit .
criticism
In the comparison of Murnau's Sunrise and Harlan's Die Reise nach Tilsit , the critic of “The Film Today and Tomorrow”, episode 43, in the edition of March 10, 1940, summed up: “If you now compare the two films, you come to this Conviction that progress in technology does not mean progress in artistic form to the same extent. On the contrary: The silent film of yesteryear still leaves a more lasting and cohesive impression than the sound film of today. ”For example, with Harlan,“ the reconciliation suddenly appeared without being seen coming. You just have to believe them. You can experience them at Murnau. "
The lexicon of international films writes: "Based on Hermann Sudermann's naturalistic-mystical story, Harlan made a film that has formal qualities, but tried to please the Nazi rulers through racist tendencies and a (deviating from the original)" constructive "ending . "
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ with Wolfgang Schleif as book assistant
- ↑ See Ulrich J. Klaus: Deutsche Tonfilme, year 1939, volume 10, p. 151 f., Berlin-Berchtesgaden 1999
- ↑ Kay Less : "In life, more is taken from you than given ...". Lexicon of filmmakers who emigrated from Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1945. A general overview. ACABUS Verlag, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86282-049-8 , p. 58.
- ↑ German sound films, p. 152
- ↑ 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 5: L - N. Rudolf Lettinger - Lloyd Nolan. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 97.
- ↑ Nicola Valeska Weber: In the network of feelings. Veit Harlan's melodramas
- ^ Marei Gerken: Stylization and Stigma
- ↑ cit. based on Bogusław Drewniak's 'Der deutsche Film 1938–1945', p. 503.
- ^ Klaus Brüne (Red.): Lexikon des internationale Films, Volume 6, S. 3093. Reinbek bei Hamburg 1987; see also The trip to Tilsit. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed July 9, 2017 .
Web links
- The trip to Tilsit at filmportal.de
- The Trip to Tilsit in the Internet Movie Database (English)