Queen Luise (1927)

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Movie
Original title Queen Luise
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1927 , 1928
Rod
Director Karl Grune
script Ludwig Berger
Max Glass
production Max Glass for Terra Film, Berlin
music Walter Ulfig
camera Arpad Viragh
occupation

Queen Luise is a two-part German historical silent film from 1927 by Karl Grune with Mady Christians in the title role.

action

First part: The youth of Queen Luise

The young Crown Princess Luise von Mecklenburg-Strelitz grew up in the late 18th century, sheltered in the north German province and developed into a little rebel. She doesn't really want to come to terms with the rules of behavior at court, her actions are often spontaneous and emotional. So she refuses to accept her father's lover and future wife. During a ball she snubs her future stepmother and eventually even has the impertinence to ask the band to play a dance, a waltz, which was considered to be deeply improper at the time.

The court is piqued, the father's mistress is snubbed and her father is only annoyed about the constant complaints that he receives about Luise's behavior. A husband is needed! Friedrich Wilhelm, Crown Prince of Prussia comes into question. But even he soon seems overwhelmed by the temperament and obstinacy of his future. Luise, on the other hand, feels misunderstood by everyone. Her marriage to the future Prussian king turns out to be difficult. When a child is announced, hope grows, but the baby dies in birth. Luise doesn't know anymore, she fears losing her royal husband.

Second part

The marriage problems between Luise and Friedrich Wilhelm, now King of Prussia, have smoothed out, as other, political clouds are on the horizon: A little, crazy Frenchman sets out to conquer Europe. This Napoleon wins one battle after the other, annexing territories and transforming states just as he pleases. Austria is defeated, Prussia is militarily far too weak and Russia is the next war target. This leads to an alliance between Prussia and Russia, but Prussia cannot really prevent the Corsican from advancing eastwards. Now Queen Luise's big hour begins. When Napoleon made a peace offer, Luise's husband Friedrich Wilhelm III. to accept this. Luise, however, wants to prevent a defeat, as she sees Napoleon's offer, at all costs.

However, the Russians seem to have secretly reached an agreement with the French, and so Prussia has no choice but to bet on the “French card” as well. One negotiates with Napoleon and is forced to accept his "offer", which is more like a threat and surrender of Prussia. In Tilsit , Queen Luise and Emperor Napoleon meet for the first time. He is full of respect for her courage and charmed by her grace. The efforts of the past few years, the flight from the French, the hardships of the war and the exhausting peace and support negotiations with the Corsican emperor have seriously damaged Luise's health. On the outside, she continues to be strong and lively, but her body is deteriorating day by day. Eventually she dies at the age of only 34.

Production notes

In the mid-1920s, a short but intense wave of Prussian films began in German film. Starting with the film Die Mühle von Sanssouci , made in the second half of 1925, a number of other films were made to the glory of Prussia's glory and glory until the end of the silent film era, including Die elf Schill'schen Officers; Potsdam, the fate of a residence; Prince Louis Ferdinand , the two-parter Queen Luise, The old Fritz and finally Waterloo .

Was filmed Queen Louise in large parts of the year 1927. The first part of Queen Louise ran on 22 December 1927 at Beba-Palast Atrium in Berlin, the second part of the film had its premiere ibid on 16 January 1928. The first part had a length of 3,031 meters, divided into seven acts, the second part a length of 3,180 meters, divided into eight acts. This gave the two-part game a total playing time of around three and a half hours. The film was released for young people, the second part was given the title “educational film”.

The 21-year-old young mime Fred Döderlein made his film debut in Queen Luise . The extensive film structures were designed by Hans Jacoby , the optical special effects were created by Erich Kunstmann . The later production manager Otto Lehmann ( Jew Suss ) worked here as a manager .

Reviews

The film received very different ratings, depending on the time and political position.

In the early phase of the Third Reich, Oskar Kalbus ' Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst wrote, comparing Christa Tordy's Queen portrait in Prince Louis Ferdinand , with Karl Grune for a much better film about Queen Luise (1927/28): Mady Christians is a royal Luise, artistically mature, full of human charm, deeply moving in times of need. Mierendorff was not uninteresting as King Friedrich Wilhelm. "

From the point of view of the Polish nationalist Jerzy Toeplitz , the assessment of Queen Luise was, as expected, completely different. In his story of the film it says in communist-ideological terminology: “For example, Karl Grune, who created the interesting expressionist film Die Strasse in 1923, took over had directed two historical films with revanchist tendencies: Queen Luise (1927) and Waterloo (1929), whose hero is Marshal Blücher. "

In Karl Grune's CineGraph biography, both his Queen Luise two-part series and his Waterloo production were described as two "luxuriously furnished historical films ".

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Oskar Kalbus: On the becoming of German film art. 1st part: The silent film. Berlin 1935. p. 56
  2. ↑ Jerzy Toeplitz: History of the film, Volume 1 1895-1928. East Berlin 1972. p. 423.
  3. ^ CineGraph: Karl Grune, Delivery 1, March 1984

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