Law without mercy
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Law without mercy |
| Country of production | Germany , Austria |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1951 |
| length | 88 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Harald Reinl |
| script | Karl Loven |
| production |
August Weißer Karl Loven |
| music | Giuseppe Becce |
| camera | Josef Plesner |
| cut | Harald Reinl |
| occupation | |
| |
Law without mercy is a German-Austrian drama by Harald Reinl that was made in 1950 in the Tyrolean Alps and the Alpine foothills of Bavaria . The main role is played by the Catholic clergyman Karl Loven , who also wrote the novel The Summit Cross. The then 36-year-old head of the Catholic CI-Film-GmbH, which also loaned the strips produced by a Wiesbaden and a Salzburg company, "describes his experiences as a youth minister between 1933 and 1945 in Germany and Austria ".
action
Somewhere in a fictitious dictatorship ( unspecified by name) in which the power of the state apparatus over the people is all-encompassing, religious activities are strictly forbidden and the institution of the church is massively harassed: Under these extremely difficult circumstances, an idealistic, young Catholic priest tries to To inspire the country's youth for the Christian faith again. In laborious persuasion, the chaplain slowly wins the trust of some young people. But the state remains omnipresent and watches with eagle eyes that its interpretive sovereignty and the power of the regime are not even remotely called into question.
When the young people in the mountains try to erect a summit cross, this opposition act of delaying resistance is interpreted as church propaganda , and some of the young Christians are arrested. The priest takes the blame for their actions in order to protect his disciples from reprisals . He is arrested by the political police . One tries now with all might to get him to turn away from his belief. But the clergyman remains steadfast and withstands all temptations and threats to which he is exposed in the form of the police chief. Before the death sentence ordered long ago can be carried out, he shoots the chaplain.
Production notes and awards
The shooting took place in the summer of 1950 in Berchtesgaden , in the Inntal , in Bad Reichenhall , on the Sellajoch and in Rattenberg. Depending on the source, the premiere took place on February 17 or 23, 1951 in Munich . From February 25 of the same year the film could also be seen in West Berlin . On April 16, 1951, law without mercy finally came into effect in Vienna .
The federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia awarded the film the title “culturally valuable”.
Reviews
The film is said to have been a moderate success at the time and found the official approval of the Catholic Church. The Vatican had announced at the first view of the strip on 18 November 1950: "The film law without grace has been received with great applause. The exciting plot, the wonderful pictures of the mountain landscapes, the direction and the text have generally caused great satisfaction. The film will not fail to have an impact on young people and adults . "
In Reinl's biography in CineGraphs it says: “With LAW WITHOUT GRACE, Reinl staged a dramatic story based on the experiences of the Catholic clergyman Karl Loven, who also wrote the script and took on the lead role. (...) The film, not made in the studio and almost without exception with amateur actors, is a warning against any totalitarian state power. "
Zeughauskino stated: “If Loven had been the chaplain who advocates Christian values against a dictatorship without God and whom he plays here, then he would not have been able to work on this work ... In any case, there is a hint of a real basis for the very allegorical story; and that a man of the church tries to act as an actor - thus represents the spirit of faith and its moral views in flesh and blood. "
In the lexicon of international films it says: “A drama of sentiments staged with amateur actors. One of the earliest and most commercially unsuccessful productions by Harald Reinl, the experienced director of many Heimat, Karl May and Edgar Wallace films. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ "The money is coming back". Report in Der Spiegel on May 30, 1951
- ↑ Der Spiegel 22/1951
- ↑ Criticism on filmempfoice.com
- ↑ Rüdiger Koschnitzki (essay) on Harald Reinl in CineGraph, Delivery 7, E 3
- ↑ Law without mercy on dhm.de.
- ↑ Law without mercy. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed September 27, 2019 .
Web links
- Law without mercy in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Law without mercy at filmportal.de