Fridericus Rex (1921/22)
Fridericus Rex is a four-part, German historical film from 1921 and 1922, which tells the most important stages in the life of the Prussian King Friedrich II. (Picture on the right, a painting by Anton Graff from 1781). Directed by Arzen von Cserépy , Otto Fee played the title character who would become the role of his life. The first two parts premiered in 1922, the last two in 1923. Fridericus Rex is considered to be the founder of the so-called Fridericus Rex films .
action
Part 1: Sturm und Drang
In the first part, the young Crown Prince is presented. Friedrich's musical talent is highlighted, which is met with little understanding from his strict father, the Margrave of Brandenburg and Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I. A tough conflict quickly emerges between Frederick's interests and wishes on the one hand and the expectations of the soldier king on the other, who wants to discipline his son for the coming state tasks. There are opposites that cannot be overcome. Soon there is a rift between the rigid father and his free-spirited son, which culminates in his incarceration and the execution of Friedrich's best friend Katte .
Part 2: father and son
Crown Prince Friedrich, who has meanwhile been pardoned by his father in the Katte case, is increasingly interested in music, which leads to an ongoing conflict with the king. The strict monarch tries to draw the attention of the Crown Prince, who is to succeed him as Frederick II on the throne, entirely to military and economic concerns. Finally, Friedrich marries a duke's daughter, Elisabeth-Christine von Braunschweig-Bevern . When his unloved father dies in 1740, Friedrich becomes king.
Part 3: Sanssouci
This part continues the life story of Frederick as a monarch: Fridericus Rex has the Sanssouci Palace built in Potsdam , which after its completion is to become a place of the spirit and the arts. As the new King of Prussia, Friedrich tried to translate the ideals of his youth into high politics. He brings about the abolition of torture and enforces freedom of belief. He promoted art and forged close contact with the French philosopher Voltaire , whom he invited to Sanssouci to exchange ideas.
Part 4: turning point
The last part focuses entirely on Friedrich as a battle leader and warlord. The longstanding conflict with Austria , which eventually allied itself with France and Russia against Prussia, culminated in the Seven Years' War in 1756 , which led to the almost total defeat of Frederick and the smashing of Prussia. The Prussian troops are hopelessly inferior to the superior strength of the enemy, but with a daring trick of the king the enemy can be defeated in the decisive battle of Leuthen . Over the years, Fridericus Rex becomes Friedrich the Great and finally "Old Fritz".
background
The planning of this monumental film, which bears the subtitle Ein Königschicksal , dates back to 1920. Most of the shooting took place in the following two years. The film was shot in the Cserépy studio and in the Jofa film studio in Berlin . The external shoots took place at the historical sites in Berlin-Charlottenburg , Potsdam and Rheinsberg . The first two parts of the film had their premiere on January 30, 1922, parts 3 and 4 on March 19, 1923. The premiere location was Berlin's Ufa-Palast am Zoo .
Thanks to the great public success of this tetralogy - screenwriter Bobby E. Lüthge still raved about the playing time three decades later: "Four and a half months in the UFA-Palast" - "Old Fritz" became the role of his life for Otto Fee. But not here, but a year earlier, he played the Prussian King for the first time when his colleague Paul Wegener gave him this role in the early 1920 film The Dancer Barberina , in which Wegener's then wife Lyda Salmonova played the title role. In view of the considerable resemblance between Fee and Friedrich II, as portrayed in the legendary Menzel portrait, it was decided to also apply Fee for the four-part Friedrich portrait awarded by the UFA .
This complex film project also marked the breakthrough for the Hungarian director Cserépy, for whom the actor Wilhelm Prager served as an assistant director. Although he was well liked by the National Socialists since 1933 because of his Fridericus films, Cserépy left Germany a few years later and returned to his old homeland.
The film was made under the impression of the lost First World War and was not only intended to glorify the image of the most popular monarch in German history, but also to rekindle patriotism in the German people demoralized by the shame of defeat and the subsequent turmoil of the revolution. This intention to reawaken German-national feelings - especially the fourth part of the turn of fate "can be understood as an allegorical alternative to the situation around 1918" - led to this four-part history picture sheet dividing both the audience and the critics deeply: into ardent admirers, who were to be found above all on the side of the political right, and equally despisers on the side of the political left and the pacifists . "The SPD and KPD called for a boycott because they saw it as a right-wing propaganda instrument in favor of the fallen monarchy, and there were often violent clashes before and in the cinemas."
The film structures were designed by Hans Dreier , who emigrated to Hollywood a little later , and Ernő Metzner . The set designers Artur Günther , Willy Hesch and Hans Flemming were also involved . Carl Reiner created the costumes. Hans Neumann was in charge of production for all four films .
Each of the four parts received the rating "popular education" by the censorship. The last part was based on Walter von Molos' Roman Fridericus .
A one-part version of the first two parts of the film was censored on September 21, 1925 and was released a little later.
criticism
All four parts of the work received great attention from contemporary film critics. On the occasion of the completion of the first part, Fridericus Rex production manager Hans Neumann said the following in advance in October 1921 in the Lichtbild-Bühne :
“Until the revolution, it was impossible to truthfully portray an episode from the Hohenzollern's past. Every play in which the great king or some other Hohenzoller appeared was immediately suppressed by the censorship, if it did not represent an absolute disgrace of the person concerned, and if, as we do, the fate of "Old Fritz" was naturalistically imprinted Film would have shown - his tough youth under the thumb of the strict soldier king - the Katte episode - his later life - his fate as a player with the eternal ups and downs in his wars - on the other hand, his genius - his daring and his humanity, the cursed little hid behind the titular "King", but only derived the right to lead a people from the strength of her personality, had put it at the center of the film, we would probably have had time for many years - because of libelous majesty - behind the Swedish curtains come up with new film fabrics. [...] The "Fridericus Rex" films will show the fate of a brilliant person who was ahead of his time in many ways and under whose leadership a small people - albeit with monstrous sacrifices - rose to become a great power. "
After viewing the first two parts, Hans Wollenberg wrote in the Lichtbild-Bühne:
“Ad one: This film is a cultural achievement because history comes alive: because a sunken time in its external character, in its world of thoughts and emotions is completely reawakened so that we can make it our own; that we become aware of the similarities and the strangeness. It took great resources and dedicated studies. Decorative, technical, photographic tasks are brilliantly solved here.
Ad two: This film is an intellectual and moral achievement. Not as if it imposed any tendencies, but because its way of animating history has an inner meaning, therefore creates relationships from the past to the now and preaches knowledge. Human-eternal knowledge, not daily political! (Anyone who applauded in this belief, misunderstanding, did the film injustice; he speaks not for party programs, but for an all-valid idea.)
Ad three: This film is an artistic achievement. Because from one and two he creates a dramatic unity. Not: scenes from the life of young Fritz; not: picture book from Prussia's days of development. But: a drama. A conflict. Old and young. Father and son. Everything that surrounds it, describing the time and milieu, is an explanation, an explanation of this dramatic-psychological nexus that holds everything together and relates it to itself. This strong manuscript created this strong manuscript with Cserépy Hans Behrendt and BE Lüthge. ”In addition, Wollenberg particularly praised the performance of Fee and Albert Steinrück as his film father.
The day after the premiere, the Film-Kurier said:
“This film is in itself a piece of world history, it surpasses the narrower subject by immeasurable dimensions. He is a litter of the greatest style! It is a justification of historical events, a way to communication and understanding, a huge, convincing document with which Germany knocks on the gates of the other peoples, with which Prussia-Germany expresses the following simple, simple thoughts: There was a time when In which Prussia was small, in which a little Prussian king had to cuddle ... And during this time this crouched king kept his ears stiff, created an army for the sake of his small existence. And he believed he had a son who disregarded the work of his mind, who would rather blow the flute than value the tool of self-assertion. This son brought philosophical and literary erudition into his father's sober world of utility, he brought Franconian arts to honor, he carried the encyclopedia of France into the purely functional militarism of his Prussian homeland. And the father misunderstood, as fathers often do, the progress that he did not yet need because his military action was sufficient progress in his time. He misunderstood the new spirituality, but the hostile arose: The institutions of national self-defense remained the safeguard for the scientific upswing that was now beginning, two elements fraternized, went hand in hand, and the spirit emerged from the works of father and son Potsdam-Weimar. [...] The portrayal of the young prince by Otto Fee is above any objection: he gives a performance conducted with unsurpassable skill, and that in a mask that makes the historical figure flesh and blood. He is eminently nestled in in his transition from contradicting youth to young king, from haunted violence in capturing the characteristics of the person. And next to him stands a splendid ensemble to carry out his role: first Albert Steinrück as Friedrich Wilhelm I, coarse and brutal as the soldier king, soft in his fatherly emotions and angry in his well-founded disappointment with the "Querpfeifer". "
The following assessments of parts 3 and 4 were published in March 1923:
"The first two parts of the" Fridericus "film - if I may refer to them - met with unrestrained applause and that because these two parts were both historical and human, the human was not lost in the historical, but the historical neither was it distorted (at most softened), nor dominated the poignant core of the struggle between father and son. [...] The two final parts "Sanssouci" and "Schicksalswende", however, lack the architectural structure that is characteristic of the first two episodes. A large part of this has its cause in material things; Frederick the Great was after all a man to whom amorities like Louis Quinze are not to be attached to, who, although he also wrote verses and blew the flute into his later life, saw his main business in governing. And since the war is only a continuation of politics by other means, Friedrich did not have a suitable existence for the film in the field either. So it happens that the scriptwriters Hans Behrendt and Arzen von Cserépy had to pass a bouquet with the matter against which the Seven Years' War can almost be called child's play. "
“Seldom has a film been so misinterpreted - and also misused, as this film, which has been popularized both as a nationalist and as an anti-militarist film, and which has recently even been made anti-German in some quite amusing announcements by French and Belgian journals tried to evaluate. - In reality, this film, which is now available in its totality, wants to be nothing more than a great historical film work, and if the task of a historical film is to reflect a period of time, one can say that it is one of the best historical ones Films are ever made. […] The fourth part should, externally, bring the climax of the whole piece: the battle of Leuthen; And yet here too, despite the very skilful construction of the battle (probably advised by trained military personnel), despite the masterful control of the crowd scenes by Cserépy and Prager, this very broad representation ultimately had to appear a bit monotonous. The final chord of the whole thing is extraordinarily powerful: the thanksgiving prayer on the evening of the great day. For the presentation, a barely overlooked number of excellent workers had been called in, who almost all solved their task to the fullest satisfaction. Otto Fee had deepened the figure of Fridericus he had created and not only offered an excellent study of the character of the great king in the mask. "
In the USA, the four-part film, which was conceived as an ode to Frederick the Great and his time, was classified as "dangerous" because of its glorification of militarism in old Prussia and ultimately misunderstood, as the intention of the film maker was a sharp criticism to postulate on German militarism since the old Fritz when possibility was considered. On June 25, 1922, the first two parts of this complex could be read:
“It is not the story of the birth of a nation that this film retells, but the story of how a political idea was planted with power in a comparatively small group of people who then, after they had absorbed it completely, accepted that very idea The entirety of the German people. The writers and makers of the film want us to believe that their intentions are the best in the world; that this was their attitude, free from any political tendencies. However it may be, the film is dangerous - only dangerous for Germany's inner peace, to be safe. Only a German audience, fed and grown fat in a tradition of militarism and servitude, can find something admirable in the life and times of Friedrich Wilhelm. (...) German propaganda? you will ask yourself. If so, then it is bad German propaganda and very badly miscalculated. Why should an American look at "Fridericus Rex" without then realizing how senselessly cruel and savage Friedrich Wilhelm's disciplinary measures were? His attitude towards his son inhuman? The treatment of women for his sake, which ... amounts to an insult to all women as a whole? And his passion for seeing men parading before him in a silly attempt to create pomp could be anything other than insignificant and absurd? Possibly “Fridericus Rex” was destined to become the burial chamber of Prussian militarism, snobbery and cruelty. Let us hope that the German viewers will carry this spirit within them, that the makers say they were there when this goal was implemented. "
The film criticism in the National Socialist German Reich tried to emphasize the national moment of Fridericus Rex , to reinterpret and instrumentalize it in the sense of the National Socialist ideology and to denounce the once violent criticism of the film work by politically left-wing circles. In 1935 "Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst" read:
“Arzen von Cserépy edited and staged the historical film“ Fridericus Rex ”(1921/23) with great awe and love, artistic care and masterly technical ability and thus accomplished a patriotic and cultural act in the gloomy times of system Germany that was clear for the first time and has clearly proven the legitimacy of historical film and patriotic propaganda. The press on the left threatened him “will not get beyond Alexanderplatz” because “the monarchy stinks too much from the junk of the costumes, the dusty wigs and the upholstered furniture of the museums.” The guards of the November Revolution were afraid of a dead man King! The “ Berliner Tageblatt ” called for the police station, “ Vorwärts ” and “ Freiheit ” called on the masses to boycott the film and wanted to remove Rauch's equestrian statue of Old Fritz from the “Linden”. One of the co-authors of the film, Hans Behrendt, prophesied: "I am convinced that when the world has long since stopped talking about our struggles, when there is no longer this or that side of Alexanderplatz, then you will still be greeted by this guy, Talk to this demon, this Friedrich, because as a personality he stood above all parties! ”[…] Otto Fee has brought his wonderful King Friedrich II back to life for the German people through an almost ingenious incarnation and he will never forget this achievement will remain, earned an acting merit that will hardly find examples in the history of film and acting. "
Post-war criticism rarely dealt with the film. In the Cserépy biography of Kay Wenigers The Film's Great Lexicon of Persons it says:
“In the individual episodes 'Father and Son', 'Sturm und Drang', 'Sanssouci' and 'Schicksalswende', 'Fridericus Rex' recounted the entire life of the most famous Prussian king in an uncritical picture arc style. The epic was received extremely benevolently by German national and hyper-patriotic circles and set in motion a veritable wave of Prussian films in which the 'Fridericus Rex' actor Otto Fee regularly repeated his part, the prime role of his life. ”In the entry fee in the same work can be read about Fridericus Rex : "The result was a massive, German-national, pathetic historical painting, historically quite imprecise and full of glorifications."
In its issue of October 25, 1950, on page 27, Der Spiegel, on the other hand, recalled that director Cserépy originally did not intend to make a political statement with his four-part series:
“With clever control between patriotism and rejection of monarchist arrogance, the director tried to please everyone. There was a scene that illustrates that well. Albert Steinrück, as the old king, has himself reported by the guard. The three soldiers stand at attention. The king gets sick, the batches bring him into the house. The three soldiers stand at attention. For minutes. Until the king on his couch remembers: "Let the guys stir!" The press commented on this: From the left there was applause for the clear way in which Cserépy denounced the cadaver obedience of the Frederician era: "They would still be there today as skeletons!" From the right one was happy that discipline and order were finally shown again: "Bravo, that's discipline!" "
But, as we read on, the film was quickly instrumentalized by reactionary forces for their own goals. In the same place it is written: “Cserépy had prepared his film extremely carefully. A man had been brought in for the historical archive who studied the history books with particular care: Friedrich Sieburg. He took care of the drill regulations, researched all details of the Prussian uniform and supervised the true-to-style replica of Sanssouci. Ufa took over the Cserépy film in its distribution. The premiere in the Ufa-Palast am Zoo was framed into a state-political event. With Reichswehr uniforms, old warrior faces and flag decorations. With these attributes the Fridericus film was steered in a disastrous direction. After nearly thirty years it is difficult to decide whether Ufa was really responsible for the greater part of the fact that this film was abused as a first-rate anti-democratic pull-in. "
Collective pictures
Constantin Cigaretten, Constantin cigarette factory, around 1926
The cigarette factory Constantin , based in Hanover, published a mostly illustrated double album around 1926 with cigarette pictures for the two UFA films Fridericus Rex and Paths to Strength and Beauty . The library is owned by the German Film Institute based in Frankfurt am Main.
literature
- Philipp Stiasny: The cinema and the war. Germany 1914–1929. edition text + kritik, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-86916-007-8 (cf. especially chapter 4, subsection “The Contrast to Now”. Fridericus Rex (1922/23). pp. 339–369).
Web links
- Fridericus Rex, Part 1: Storm and Drang in theInternet Movie Database(English)
- Fridericus Rex, Part 2: Father and Son in the Internet Movie Database
- Fridericus Rex, Part 3: Sanssouci in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Fridericus Rex, part 4: turning point in the Internet Movie Database
- Fridericus Rex, Part 1: Storm and Stress atfilmportal.de
- Fridericus Rex, 2nd part: Father and son at filmportal.de
- Fridericus Rex, 3rd part: Sanssouci at filmportal.de
- Fridericus Rex, part 4: turning point at filmportal.de
- Movie Unmasking of Fridericus Rex complete review in The New York Times, June 25, 1922
Individual evidence
- ↑ Seeber reported to the cameramen Ernst Lüttgens, Reimar Kuntze and Friedrich Paulmann.
- ^ Edthofer played Prince Wilhelm in Sanssouci .
- ↑ Müthel played Prince Wilhelm in the turn of fate .
- ↑ with this role in the turn of fate .
- ↑ According to IMDB with this role in Sturm und Drang , filmportal.de does not list Straub at all.
- ↑ with this role in the turn of fate .
- ↑ According to filmportal.de, George also played Prince Karl of Lothringen in the turn of fate . Lt. IMDB, however, he only took over the part of Count Neipperg in Sturm und Drang .
- ↑ all cast lists incorrectly call him “J. Gelsendorfer ".
- ^ Military films : Mikosch and Graf Bobby. In: spiegel.de
- ↑ Rediscovered. In: Zeughaus Kino .
- ↑ The cult of the leader with a wig. In: Freitag.de
- ^ Photo stage . No. 43, October 22, 1921.
- ^ Photo stage. No. 6, February 4, 1922.
- ^ Film courier . No. 27, January 31, 1922.
- ^ Film courier. No. 67, March 20, 1923.
- ^ Photo stage. No. 12, March 24, 1923.
- ↑ In the original: “It is not the story of the birth of a nation that this picture tells, but the story of how a political idea was forcibly planted in a comparatively small group of people, who then, in their turn, after they themselves had completely assimilated it, were to enforce this idea on the whole of the German people. The authors and the producers of the picture want us to believe that their intentions were the best in the world; that their attitude was and is free from any political bias. However that may be, the picture remains a dangerous one — dangerous to the internal peace of Germany only, to be sure. For none but a German audience, fed and grown fat on a tradition of militarism and serfdom, could find anything admirable in the life and times of Frederick William. (...) German propaganda? you will ask yourself. If it be that, it is bad German propaganda and very much miscalculated. For what American will be able to look at "Fridericus Rex" without finding Frederick William's discipline uselessly cruel and savage; his attitude toward his son inhuman; his treatment of the women about him ... an insult to womanhood in general? And his passion for seeing a handful of men parade before him, together with the silly attempt at pomp, other than petty and absurd? Perhaps "Fridericus Rex" is destined to be the sepulcher of Prussian militarism, snobbishness and cruelty. Let us hope that to its German spectators it will carry the spirit that its producers say they have been guided by in its making. "
- ↑ cit. after Oskar Kalbus : On the development of German film art. Part 1: The silent movie. Cigarette picture service, Altona-Bahrenfeld 1935, p. 55.
- ↑ 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 2: C - F. John Paddy Carstairs - Peter Fitz. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 221.
- ↑ 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 3: F - H. Barry Fitzgerald - Ernst Hofbauer. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 211.
- ↑ a b At UFA this is how it was done ... Cinema - The great dream business. In: spiegel.de
- ↑ Compare the information in the Karlsruhe Virtual Catalog