Kaiser Wilhelm's happiness and end

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title Kaiser Wilhelm's happiness and end
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1919
Rod
Director Willy armpit
script Ferdinand Bonn
Alfred von Funke
production Film company League of Nations
occupation

and Eugen Burg , Viktor Janson , Richard Georg , Paul Conradi , Ernst Pittschau , Peter Breuer , Edgar Sandrock , Martin Wolff , Walter Strom , Erich Stollhoff , Georg Steinhäuser , Lotte Schorling

Kaiser Wilhelms Glück und Ende is a German silent film drama from 1919 with Ferdinand Bonn in a double role as Kaiser Wilhelm II and the captain of Köpenick, the shoemaker Wilhelm Voigt .

action

As stated in the announcer, the film wants to give a cinematic testimony to the three decades of Wilhelm II's reign without being propagandistic or distorting. It begins with the assumption of office of the newly appointed monarch in 1888. Wilhelm II gives his speech from the throne surrounded by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and Field Marshal Moltke . Two years later, the new ruler dismissed his grandfather's old companion, Bismarck, who bade farewell at the sarcophagus of the old Emperor Wilhelm I in the mausoleum of Berlin-Charlottenburg (1890). Later there is an attempt at reconciliation between Wilhelm II and Bismarck. Further passages of the film show the emperor on his yacht Hohenzollern and during his travels. An attempt to assassinate Wilhelm fails.

Insights into the Liebenberger Kreis followed, and the first socialist ideas, propagated by Karl Liebknecht , spread throughout the Reich. The emperor's carelessly dismissed Kruger telegram (1896) worsens relations with royal relatives in Great Britain, but Wilhelm and the English Crown Prince Edward meet on Queen Victoria's deathbed (1901) with the aim of reconciliation. But these attempts at relaxation are short-lived. A little later, the policy of encirclement of the new British King Edward VII and the French led to uncontrolled counter-reactions from Wilhelm ( Moroccan crises 1905 and 1911). A cheerful episode in 1906 shows the farce about Captain von Köpenick , who makes use of the subjects' obedience to the authorities and even makes Kaiser Wilhelm smile. A momentous encounter with General Paul von Hindenburg in a maneuver leads to his retirement, and the 25th anniversary of the throne with all its splendor in 1913 rounds off the picture of the prewar period.

The “glorious times” of the emperor are drawing to a close, and the First World War picks up speed in August 1914 with the invasion of Belgium and France by German troops . Initial successes in the west (advance to the Marne) and in the east (Hindenburg and Ludendorff's victory over the Russian invaders) cause great euphoria in the German people, but the first setbacks soon come. Unrestricted submarine warfare and the sinking of the RMS Lusitania (1915) heightened political tensions with the officially neutral United States. After the USA entered the war and the effects of the Anglo-American hunger blockade (both in 1917), the German civilian population was gradually worn down; Need, misery and dissatisfaction with the political leadership are spreading more and more. The call for change made itself more and more heard in the last year of the war. When the army was no longer behind him and politicians were pushing for a peace treaty, Wilhelm II withdrew into exile in the Netherlands at the end of 1918. In a mental vision he sees himself on the battlefields with his ancestors: the Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm near Fehrbellin (1675), Frederick the Great near Leuthen (1757) and with his grandfather Wilhelm I in Sedan (1870).

Production notes

Kaiser Wilhelms Glück und Ende was filmed under the title The Last Kaiser and premiered on October 10, 1919 at the Lichtspiele Sportpalast in Berlin's Potsdamer Strasse. In view of the topicality of the film material, numerous specialist publications reported on the project, including the Rheinische Filmkunst-Bühne , Das Lebende Bild , Die Filmwelt , the Film-Kurier , the Film-Handel , Die Lichtbild-Bühne and the First International Cinematographers Magazine .

There must have been some problems with this film in the production stage, the original director Richard Oswald withdrew from this project and the novice director Willy Achsel took over.

useful information

For Ferdinand Bonn, his critical portrayal of the monarch also had a personal meaning. In the large Personenlexikon the film states: "It was a late revenge on Germany's rulers, who once torpedoed Bonn career after it with a harsh letter to the ban of his patriotic stage drama, The Young Fritz responded 'by Wilhelm II and the. Kaiser had verbally attacked. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 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 1: A - C. Erik Aaes - Jack Carson. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 466.
  2. ↑ see also: Peter W. Marx: Ein theatralisches Zeitalter. Bourgeois self-portrayals around 1900. Tübingen and Basel 2008, p. 338.