One hundred days (film)
Hundert Tage is a 1934, German-Italian fictional film by Franz Wenzler . Werner Krauss played Napoleon Bonaparte in his last phase of rule, Gustaf Gründgens was his opponent Joseph Fouché .
action
Napoleon Bonaparte was sent into exile on Elba by the European victorious powers , while the Austrians, Prussians, English and Russians negotiate a post-war order at the Congress of Vienna . Then the illustrious society received bad news on February 26, 1815: Napoleon embarked with 1,000 of his loyal followers, destination: the southern French coast. The " rule of the hundred days " begins . King Louis XVIII sends troops to quickly put an end to Napoleon's interlude. A memorable encounter between the two French armies takes place near Grenoble . Napoleon, unarmed, confronts the royal soldiers who aim their rifle barrels at him and, with his sheer presence and charisma, can convince them to join his men. A few days later, the splendid move into Paris. The fat king, disaffected, turns his back on the capital and goes into exile again.
The triumphant return of the former emperor arouses the worst fears among the victorious powers at the Congress of Vienna. As Napoleon's only opponent of stature in his own country, there is now only the cunning police minister Fouché, a master of skilful peeling. He secretly allied himself with the deposed and fled king in order to overthrow Napoleon. Meanwhile, the Prussians and the British are planning to end the Napoleon problem militarily once and for all. After several skirmishes, a decisive battle breaks out near Waterloo. Initially, Napoleon threatens to gain the upper hand, since the English military leader Duke of Wellington cannot weaken his troops on his own. At the last minute, the "Marshal Forward" Blücher, who was temporarily thrown back at Ligny, joins the team and thus seals the final defeat of the Napoleonic army. The defeated emperor flees back to France, where he loses political support and has to abdicate due to Fouche's work in the background. Finally it goes into the hands of the English. They bring Napoleon onto a ship as their personal prisoner and deport him to the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic . The reign of terror of the hundred days is finally over.
Production notes
Hundred Days was filmed in Italy from mid-October to mid-December 1934. The studio recordings were made in the Pisorno studio in Tirrenia . a. on the island of Elba. The world premiere took place on March 15, 1935 in the Schauburg in Hamburg-St. Pauli. The first Berlin presentation was on March 22, 1935 in the Capitol . At the same time, an Italian version was shot by Giovacchino Forzano under the title Campo di maggio . With the exception of Rose Stradner , completely different actors played there.
The artistic supervision and advice had Ernst Hanfstaengl , at that time Adolf Hitler's foreign press chief. He also participated in the composition of this film. Italy's Duce Benito Mussolini provided the literary model and is said to have given the main actor Krauss instructions on how to play Napoleon. Krauss, who had played the French Emperor in the silent film drama Napoleon auf St. Helena five years earlier , had already played this role alongside Gründgens as Fouché in the stage version in Berlin (Staatliches Schauspielhaus 1934).
This was the last movie production for director Wenzler.
Reviews
The Österreichische Film-Zeitung wrote about the film: “Werner Krauss plays with captivating art Napoleon, who lights up his star, which is already about to set, one last time. (...) Franz Wenzler, who succeeded particularly in the battle scenes, was responsible for the direction. "
Paimann's film lists summed up: “… last, perhaps most dramatically eventful phase in the life of the Corsican. Nevertheless, contrary to the allegation, only a picture sheet of large-scale mass and the hero humanising game scenes, with concise dialogue. Not always absolutely cinematic and staged with the necessary urgency. Krauss not free from pose, his opponent Gründgens (Fouché) more believable; around them a figure-rich, less prominent ensemble. (...) Not as a dramatic work, but as a historical reconstruction at least above average. "
"An ideological historical film that portrays Napoleon as an upright man in the fight against the deceit of the debaters and diplomats around Fouché."
“A HUNDRED DAYS and the Italian version CAMPO DI MAGGIO realized by Forzano at the same time are an interesting example of a collaboration between Fascist Italy and National Socialist Germany. In both films, the parallels between staged history and current events are obvious: from the march on Paris, which was set near Mussolini's march on Rome in October 1922, to the contempt for the Congress of Vienna and the ignoring of the League of Nations by Italy Attack on Ethiopia in the same year up to Napoleon, who appears in the German and Italian versions as the leading figure. The embodiment of Napoleon by Werner Krauss draws a link with Prussian films from the Weimar Republic such as NAPOLEON ON ST. HELENA (1929) by Lupu Pick or YORCK (1931) by Gustav Ucicky. ONE HUNDRED DAYS is in line with earlier and later films about heroic loners, which mirror the cult of the leader back into the past in order to give a current policy legitimacy. "
See also
Web links
- Hundred Days in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- A hundred days at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ulrich J. Klaus Deutsche Tonfilme, 6th year 1935. 048.35, p. 86. Berlin 1995
- ↑ Boguslaw Drewniak: The German Film 1938-1945 , A Complete Overview. Düsseldorf 1987, p. 567.
- ^ Stage design with Krauss and Gründgens
- ↑ "One Hundred Days". In: Österreichische Film-Zeitung , April 19, 1935, p. 2 (online at ANNO ).
- ↑ One hundred days in Paimann's film lists ( memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ One hundred days on filmportal.de
- ↑ One hundred days on filmblatt.de
