The green devils of Monte Cassino

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Movie
Original title The green devils of Monte Cassino
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1958
length 96 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Harald Reinl
script Michael Graf Soltikow
J. Joachim Bartsch
production Franz Seitz Filmproduktion, Munich
music Rolf A. Wilhelm
camera Ernst W. Kalinke
cut Ingeborg Taschner
occupation

The Green Devils of Monte Cassino is a German war film by director Harald Reinl from 1958 .

action

The 1st Paratrooper Division is deployed over Avignon . Some soldiers injured themselves when jumping, including the head hunter Karl Christiansen. He used to be an ensign and was demoted when he refused to execute an enemy soldier. Sister Inge treats him in the hospital and they both fall in love. Lieutenant Reiter also had an eye on Inge. Inge and the soldiers split up when the division is unexpectedly transferred to Cassino . Here it is supposed to help repel the Allied attack. In addition, the position should be held as long as possible. The Montecassino monastery should, however, be spared any fighting. The Italian residents of the city seek refuge in the monastery, and Inge, who has since been transferred to Cassino, takes care of the people with medical care. She is insulted as German by the Italian Gina. Father Emmanuel calms the minds and a little later shows Inge the art treasures that were brought from museums to the monastery for safety. Inge reports to Lieutenant Colonel Schlegel about the works of art, and he is appalled because he doesn't think the works of art are safe in the monastery. Schlegel should actually go home for health reasons, but he decides to stay at the front. He wants to have the art treasures brought to the Vatican and thus save them.

He succeeds in convincing the archabbot of the necessity of removing the works of art. He secretly branches off trucks to transport the treasures that are actually needed in the war. He also withdraws soldiers from defending the position so that they can assist with the transport of art. The Allies soon learned of the goings-on and announced on the radio that the Germans were plundering the Montecassino monastery. The partisans now take position, and Schlegel's superior, General Heidenreich, lets Schlegel come to him. The death penalty is actually on his actions, but Schlegel can convince Heidenreich of the necessity of his actions. More men and trucks are parked to save the works of art. Reiter saw Inge again in the hospital, but realized that she only loves Karl. He therefore classifies Karl as one of five men who are supposed to accompany the dangerous transport of the art treasures. Inge also takes part in the transport because she is supposed to get supplies for the hospital from the Vatican. Inge and Karl meet again in the truck.

That night, Reiter surprised young Gina in his bedroom. The house confiscated from the Germans used to be hers. On behalf of the partisans, she is supposed to get a rifle from her bedroom. When Reiter surprises her as she enters the room, she reaches for a coffee grinder, but Reiter remains suspicious. Gina seduces him. In the morning, however, Reiter searches the cupboard from which Gina had taken the coffee grinder and finds the rifle in it. He immediately alerts his men and they arrive just in time to thwart the partisan attack on the art transport. Nevertheless, two of Reiter's men die. The Italian Fausto, a friend of Gina's, is captured and Karl is supposed to shoot him. However, he only fakes the shooting and lets him go instead. Only then will the train with the last of the art treasures finally reach the Vatican unscathed.

A little later, on February 15, 1944, the Montecassino monastery was destroyed in a bomb attack. A short time later, Inge and Karl come to the monastery with Reiter and his men to take care of the wounded and to hold the position. When Reiter is appointed commander of a distant battalion and wants to get to it, he is shot by American soldiers. The battle for the monastery continues. A burial ground shows the losses on both sides at the end. Inge and Karl survived the war and are walking through the rows of graves. However, the Monte Cassino monastery was rebuilt.

production

The Monte Cassino Monastery

The green devils of Monte Cassino were initially to be created in a German-Italian co-production under the direction of Fernando Cerchio . The Italian film production company Transmonde withdrew from the project, among other things, for reasons of film content. The project was initially offered to the director Veit Harlan , who was unfamiliar with the topic and declined. Harald Reinl was finally chosen as the new director, who had made his first war film in 1955 with Solange du lebst . Instead of Felix Lützkendorf , Michael Graf Soltikow wrote the screenplay with the assistance of J. Joachim Bartsch, which was based on an idea from cinema operator Albert Armin Lerche .

Julius Schlegel and Archabbot Gregorio Vito Diamare loading the art treasures

Lerche took part in the battle of Monte Cassino as a paratrooper. The story on which the film is based, in which the art treasures of the Montecassino monastery are saved by a soldier of the Wehrmacht, is based on a true incident: On Julius Schlegel's initiative, the monastery’s art treasures were evacuated by army truck to the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome during World War II and so on rescued. Schlegel is portrayed in the film by Ewald Balser , the event itself is only partially reproduced historically correct.

Filming for the film began on November 25, 1957 in Avignon and continued in other original locations. Julius Schlegel accompanied some of the filming on site. Since shooting on the Montecassino was not possible, the interior scenes were filmed in the Regensburg monasteries of St. Jakob and St. Emmeram . Further exterior shots were taken in the Fröttmaninger Heide . Filming was finished in early February 1958. In addition to contemporary recordings, the film also contains numerous original recordings from the Second World War , including pictures of the bombing of the monastery. The film had its premiere on April 23, 1958 in the Stuttgart universe .

criticism

The contemporary criticism stated that the idea of ​​the film was worthy of recognition, but like many war films of the time it was "under a very dubious star", the script turned the story into a "cleverly constructed love and war rumor" - “A very superficial undertaking that avoids any real argument”.

The figure of Lieutenant Schlegel is degenerating "into a sterile figure" and, as the "light figure" in the film, serves primarily to rehabilitate German soldiers. Also Cinema criticized this approach: "The fact that the Vienna officer Julius Schlegel rescued Italian cultural heritage, is true. It's annoying that 'Winnetou' director Harald Reinl turns it into shallow action. Conclusion: Historically inaccurate Wehrmacht riot ”.

For film-dienst , The Green Devils of Monte Cassino was “a war film that tries to be serious, but has a trivializing effect through its embarrassing superficiality and historical inaccuracies; a questionable mixture of adventure and heroic epic, primarily aimed at attracting the public. "

Trivia

  • A still photo or an illustration from a film magazine from the production with Fuchsberger and Wahl was used as the cover picture for special volume No. 16 of the soldiers' stories from around the world : Ferdinand Ludwig (di Claus Katschinski ): Monte Cassino. Hell of the "Green Devils" (1959).

literature

  • The green devils of Monte Cassino . In: Kristina Pöschl, Miriam Trescher, Reinhard Weber: Harald Reinl. The director who brought Winnetou, Edgar Wallace and the Nibelungen to the cinema. A bio and filmography . Reinhard Weber specialist publisher for film literature, Landshut 2011, ISBN 978-3-9809390-9-6 , pp. 68–71.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Frank Noack: Veit Harlan. "The devil's director" . Belleville Verlag Michael Farin, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-923646-85-2 , p. 373 .
  2. ↑ The green devils of Monte Cassino . In: Kristina Pöschl, Miriam Trescher, Reinhard Weber: Harald Reinl. The director who brought Winnetou, Edgar Wallace and the Nibelungen to the cinema. A bio and filmography . Reinhard Weber specialist publisher for film literature, Landshut 2011, p. 68.
  3. ↑ Filmecho, No. 48, 1958. Quoted from: The green devils of Monte Cassino . In: Kristina Pöschl, Miriam Trescher, Reinhard Weber: Harald Reinl. The director who brought Winnetou, Edgar Wallace and the Nibelungen to the cinema. A bio and filmography . Reinhard Weber specialist publisher for film literature, Landshut 2011, p. 70.
  4. ↑ The green devils of Monte Cassino . In: Kristina Pöschl, Miriam Trescher, Reinhard Weber: Harald Reinl. The director who brought Winnetou, Edgar Wallace and the Nibelungen to the cinema. A bio and filmography . Reinhard Weber specialist publisher for film literature, Landshut 2011, p. 69.
  5. ↑ film review on cinema.de
  6. ↑ The green devils of Monte Cassino. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used