In the name of the people (1939)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title In the name of the people
Country of production German Empire
original language German
Publishing year 1939
length 85 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Erich Engels
script Erich Engels
Walter Maisch
production Walter Tost
music Carl G. von Bazant
camera Walter Riml
cut Anna Höllering
occupation

In the Name of the People is a German crime film with Nazi propaganda elements that was made at the end of 1938. Directed by Erich Engels , Rudolf Fernau plays the leading role as an unscrupulous criminal. Rolf Weih embodies his opponent on the part of the police .

action

Somewhere in Bavaria: Two crimes happened in quick succession near a village. A car is robbed and a stranger burns down the innkeeper's barn Buggisch. While the fire is being put out, a guest at Buggisch's bar steals cash. The man who introduced himself as Alfred Wenzel is actually called Alfred Huebner and is a proven habitual criminal. In the choice of his means, the gaunt crook, who had just been released from a London prison, shows himself to be completely unscrupulous. In this case, for example, he first set the fire and immediately hurried back to the inn to steal from landlord Buggisch. The attack on the motorist is also on his account. He had then left the wrong track to deceive the police and, with the help of a night of love, obtained an alibi from the waitress Barbara. As payment, the woman received a signet ring, once stolen by Hübner.

Hübner's approach to robberies on motorists mostly follows one and the same principle: He sets so-called car traps by blocking the lane with tree trunks so that the vehicle drivers are forced to stop. Then he robbed those affected at gunpoint. But the felon does not stop at ordinary pedestrians either. Since Hübner cannot carry out some of his plans on his own, he puts his former accomplice Bruno Mielke, who has built up a middle-class existence as a car mechanic in recent years, under pressure with blackmail. One of Hübner's next victims is the wealthy and married Leipzig businessman Fritz Hartmann. From his lover Lola Larsen, who hopes Hartmann will provide financial support for the purchase of a nightspot, Hübner learns details that enable him to rob the businessman.

When Huebner asked the waitress Barbara to return the seal ring she was given and ordered her to Berlin, things began to move. Hübner behaves coldly and dismissively towards the young woman. At least she finds consolation in Hübner's buddy Bruno, who seems to her to be decent at heart. At the same time, under the direction of Detective Inspector Werner, a whole armada of police officers is on the trail of the versatile Huebner. The National Socialist government also wants to impose the heaviest possible punishments on types like Huebner and for this reason enacted a retrospective law according to which "car traps" set with the intent of robbery must result in the death penalty. Bruno Mielke is therefore afraid and wants to get out of the dirty business. Huebner then massively threatened him. When Hübner commits another crime, the police are quickly on the spot. The gangster is arrested, Mielke shot by the police. While Alfred Hübner is waiting for his execution with the guillotine, Inspector Werner makes sure that Barbara gets out of the whole affair unscathed.

Production notes

In the name of the people , the film was shot in the Ufast town of Babelsberg from October 31, 1938, and filming was completed at the beginning of December. The creation costs amounted to a modest 410,000 Reichsmarks. The premiere took place on January 27, 1939 in Berlin's Tauentzienpalast . Despite its strongly tendentious orientation, the film was released again after 1945, this time under the title "Autobanditen".

Alf Teichs was chief dramaturge. Production group leader Walter Tost also took over production management. Hans Sohnle designed the film buildings, with Wilhelm Vorwerg at his side . Supporting actor Reinhold Bernt also served as an assistant director. The 37-year-old Christian Gollong made his film debut here.

The strip received the Nazi rating “valuable in terms of state politics”.

Another film was made in 1955 that dealt with criminals who committed their crimes on the highways. His name was Bandits of the Autobahn .

useful information

The film was a de facto reference to a law recently passed by the National Socialists: This special law ( Lex Götze ) came into force on June 22, 1938 and retrospectively issued the death penalty for street robberies using so-called car traps.

Leading actor Fernau played an unscrupulous master criminal in In the Name of the People, not the only time. In 1942 he returned to this role when, again under Engels' direction, he defended the noble villain Dr. Crippen in the real-life crime case Dr. Crippen embodied on board . Here Fernau refined his portrayal of an unscrupulous villain: The effective game shown there was profoundly dangerous, so that Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels felt compelled to describe Fernau as a "destructive type" in the opinion of the 'Crippen' film.

Reviews

Filmportal.de saw in In the Name of the People a "Nazi propaganda film to justify the death penalty".

In the lexicon of the international film it says: "The Nazi propaganda film, praised as 'politically valuable', depicts a repulsive, 'hereditary' type of perpetrator as justification for its killing."

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Ulrich J. Klaus: Deutsche Tonfilme 10th year 1939. p. 100 (051.39), Berlin 1999
  2. 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 Fritz. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 652.
  3. ^ In the name of the people on filmportal.de
  4. In the name of the people. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed April 1, 2019 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used