Mother's Love (1939)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Motherly love |
| Country of production | German Empire |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1939 |
| length | 106 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Gustav Ucicky |
| script | Gerhard Menzel |
| production | Karl Hartl for Vienna Film |
| music | Willy Schmidt-Gentner |
| camera | Hans Schneeberger |
| cut | Rudolf Schaad |
| occupation | |
and the Vienna Boys' Choir | |
Mutterliebe is a film melodrama from 1939 by Gustav Ucicky with Käthe Dorsch in the leading role. At her side, Paul Hörbiger played the main male role.
action
Marthe Pirlinger is the epitome of a self-sacrificing and caring mother. She gave birth to four children with her husband Josef, a rather carefree and cheerful husband. These are the three sons Walter, Felix and Paul and the daughter Franzi. During a family outing, a thunderstorm suddenly approaches and father Josef is suddenly struck by lightning. Now Marthe is completely alone. From now on she has to toil as a laundress in Vienna in order to somehow support herself and the children. From now on, all of her aspirations apply to enable the children to have a reasonably carefree life. The youngsters should be able to attend good schools, Franzi should receive ballet training and Walter should go to the music conservatory. For these lofty goals, Marthe undertakes all kinds of privations. Sometimes she works all night until she drops. The only support during this time is the friendly notary Dr. Koblmüller, who becomes a good friend to her. The elderly looking man has serious intentions towards Marthe, but she focuses entirely on her family and is not very open to the lawyer’s plans to marry.
Your children sometimes prove to be of little help at that time. Paul is blind as a result of a childish test of courage, and so Marthe even sacrifices the cornea of one of her two eyes in order to restore the young man's sight in at least one eye. After all, Walter has become a musician, and Franzi is successful as a ballet dancer. Marthe has also been able to expand her laundry over the years, and it even makes some profit. When her employee Rosl was expecting a child from her son Felix, she asked him to marry the girl. In this matter, mother and son clash violently. Felix finally complies with the mother's wish. Not everything is going smoothly with Franzi either, and she cries out with her mother after a failed love affair. Another dispute is not so easy to resolve. Walter lied to his mother and even took money out of the till without asking. After this row, Marthe cracks down and throws her boy out of the house. After many years all waves have smoothed out and motherly love has made it through all trials and tribulations intact. Grandma Marthe looks with satisfaction at her children, who all in all have developed well.
Production notes
Mutterliebe emerged between June 14th and the beginning of August 1939 in the Rosenhügel studios in Vienna and from the beginning of August to the beginning of September 1939 (outdoor shots) in Vienna and the surrounding area (including at the Old University and the Vienna Prater) as well as on Tegernsee and Upper Austria's Attersee . The premiere took place on December 19, 1939 in the Apollo Theater in Vienna, the Berlin premiere took place on December 29, 1939 in the Ufa-Palast am Zoo .
The film cost 1.077 million Reichsmarks and was therefore expensive on average. However, by February 1941 , Mutterliebe had grossed 4.754 million RM and was therefore an extremely big box office success.
Erich von Neusser took over the production management. Werner Schlichting designed the film structures in cooperation with Kurt Herlth , the costumes are from Bert Hoppmann. Alfred Norkus took care of the sound. Production manager was Fritz Fuhrmann. The music composed by Willy Schmidt-Gentner, which was also recorded under his direction, was performed by the Vienna Philharmonic . Winnie Markus and Susi Nicoletti made their film debut here.
reception
In the Third Reich, the film received rave reviews from the press, which was switched to the same level, as the picture of the mother shown here corresponded exactly to that of Nazi ideology. Above all, Käthe Dorsch praised her mature acting performance in the portrayal of an ideal mother: “Undeterred, she pursued her life's goal, which always presented her with new obstacles, but she wouldn't be an exemplary mother if she didn't solve every task. (…) The cinema audience experienced the shaping of the fate of a mother who breathed real heroism ”. Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels ensured that the film received the highest state award at the time (“State and artistically particularly valuable”), and “personally orchestrated the journalistic campaign”.
Accordingly, even the comments and evaluations in National Socialist battle papers were:
"It's the most beautiful film we've ever seen."
The post-war criticism came to a more objective assessment:
"Skilfully prepared, maudlinly staged and presented, the film reflects the family ideology of the Nazis."
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ulrich J. Klaus: German sound films, 10th year 1939. P. 137 f. (073.39), Berlin 1999
- ^ A b Boguslaw Drewniak: The German Film 1938-1945 . A complete overview. Düsseldorf 1987, p. 254
- ↑ Mother's Love in the Lexicon of International Films , accessed on December 24, 2018
Web links
- Mother Love in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Mother's love at filmportal.de