Ride to freedom

Movie
Original title	Ride to freedom
Country of production	Germany
original language	German
Publishing year	1937
length	92 minutes
Age rating	FSK none
Rod
Director	Karl Hartl ; Assistant Director: Erich Kobler
script	Edmund Strzygowsky and Walter Supper
production	Alfred Greven ( Universum-Film AG Berlin )
music	Wolfgang Zeller
camera	Günther Rittau ; camera assistant: Otto Baecker
cut	Gertrud Hinz
occupation
	Willy Birgel : Count Julek Staniewski, ; Polish Rittmeister; Ursula Grabley : Katerina Tschernikoff, Russian princess; Viktor Staal : Jan Wolski, ; Polish Rittmeister; Hansi Knoteck : Janka Koslowska, Polish; Edwin Juergensen : Prince Mischa Tschernikoff, Russian governor; Werner Schott : Bobrikoff, Russian colonel; Heinz von Cleve : Saganoff, ; Russian Rittmeister; Hans Reinhard Knitsch : Smirnoff, ; Russian ensign; Berthold Ebbecke : Malinowski, ; Polish first lieutenant; Hermann Braun : Milewski, Polish ensign; Horst Birr : Krupka, Polish Ulan; Lidija Dourdina Katerina's governess; Peter Elsholtz : Adjutant to the Governor; Aribert Grimmer : Polish constable; Clemens Hasse : Drunk ferryman; Charly Kracker : Polish Ulan; Siegmar Schneider : Grand Duke; Rudolf Schündler : Polish student; Werner Bernhardy : Major; Hermann Hardy : Educator of the Prince; Louise von Krogh : Companion of the Governor; Gustav Mahncke : More impartial in the duel; Dagmar Muthardt : Young girl at the ball; Michael von Newlinski : Russian officer; Conrad Cappi : Captain Staniewski's servant; Kurt Daehn;

Ritt in die Freiheit is a German feature film made in 1936 by Karl Hartl . The film is set in Poland during the November uprising in 1830/31. The main roles are played by Willy Birgel as the Polish captain Count Julek Staniewski, who has to choose between his love for the Russian Princess Katerina ( Ursula Grabley ) and his friendship with Captain Wolski ( Viktor Staal ).

It is a reserved film from the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation . It is part of the foundation's portfolio, has not been released for distribution and may only be shown with the consent and under the conditions of the foundation.

action

Congress Poland in 1831 : The Russian tsar ruled Poland . The population has been increasingly oppressed since a failed uprising by Polish troops. The Polish military is placed under the Russian command. Because of a derogatory remark by a drunken Russian officer, the Polish Rittmeister Jan Wolski challenges him to a duel . When the Russian misses, Wolski just shoots him in the hand out of chivalry. Wolski and his friend, Rittmeister Staniewski, hope for the day when the Poles will rise again to revolt.

When Staniewski falls in love with Katerina, the sister of the Russian governor, and wants to marry her, his best friend Wolski is worried because he knows that if Staniewski should go ahead with his plan and ask for Katerina's hand, he would be lost to the Polish cause.

During a big ball to which the Polish officers were invited, a scandal broke out. Wolski received the news that a Polish uprising was imminent and that he should have his men ready to march. Staniewski, who is determined to marry Katerina, chooses his lover and thus against his comrades and against his fatherland . When the attack on the Russian garrison comes, Staniewski is among the defenders. He's losing his life.

production

The film was produced by ( Universum-Film AG Berlin ) under the production and production management of Alfred Greven and copied by Afifa Berlin . The buildings come from Werner Schlichting and Kurt Herlth . The UFA received support from the Polish War Ministry, which made five Uhlan regiments available for the external shots . The shooting took place from May to September 1936 in the area of Ostrolenka ( Poland ) and on the open-air site in Neubabelsberg near Potsdam . The film premiered on January 14, 1937 in the UFA-Palast am Zoo in the presence of the Polish ambassador to Germany, Józef Lipski .

Film music

The soundtrack comes from Wolfgang Zeller . A comparison of the treatment of the epic of death with musical means shows, unlike Zeller often observed, no “defamation” of one side, rather the music also follows the dramatic course of equality of both sides.

reception

Joseph Goebbels described the film as a “German-Polish production” and “well done”.

Today the film receives little attention. Marei Gerken sees the film as a final example of an initially sympathetic attitude towards Poland, before there was a change in the representation of Poland in the German media from 1937/38. The film lacks the enemy image typical of propaganda films. Both sides are presented as fair and guided by sincere patriotic sentiments. The film served more as a national survey film of the Nazi era. Nevertheless, after the end of the Second World War, it was classified as a reserved film because of the Nazi propaganda it contained . Since then, its public performance has only been possible to a limited extent. Today the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation claims the evaluation rights.

Web links

Rode to freedom in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Ride into freedom at filmportal.de
Ride to freedom at Murnau Foundation

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b ^c Klaus Kreimeier: The Ufa Story: A History of Germany's Greatest Film Company, 1918–1945 , University of California Press 1999, p. 282.
^ Christine Raber: The film composer Wolfgang Zeller. Laaber 2005, ISBN 3-89007-597-5 , pp. 178ff.
↑ Elke Fröhlich (ed.): The diaries of Joseph Goebbels . KG Saur, Munich, 15 vols. 1993–1996, ISBN 3-598-21920-2 . Volume 3, January 9, 1937.
^ Marei Gerken: Stylization and Stigma. In: Hendrik Feindt (Ed.): Studies on the cultural history of the German image of Poland: 1848–1939. Wiesbaden 1995, ISBN 3-447-03664-8 , p. 224.

[Kreiner-1] A ^b ^c Klaus Kreimeier: The Ufa Story: A History of Germany's Greatest Film Company, 1918–1945 , University of California Press 1999, p. 282.

[2] Christine Raber: The film composer Wolfgang Zeller. Laaber 2005, ISBN 3-89007-597-5 , pp. 178ff.

[3] Elke Fröhlich (ed.): The diaries of Joseph Goebbels . KG Saur, Munich, 15 vols. 1993–1996, ISBN 3-598-21920-2 . Volume 3, January 9, 1937.

[4] Marei Gerken: Stylization and Stigma. In: Hendrik Feindt (Ed.): Studies on the cultural history of the German image of Poland: 1848–1939. Wiesbaden 1995, ISBN 3-447-03664-8 , p. 224.