Stresemann (film)
Stresemann is a film biography made in 1956 that retells the last stages of life of the German politician and Nobel Peace Prize winner Gustav Stresemann . Directed by Alfred Braun , the title role took over Ernst Schröder .
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The film deals with the last six years of Gustav Stresemann's life (1923 to 1929). During this time, the politician was Germany's foreign minister and, for a short time, also chancellor . The events are told from the perspective of a follower of Stresemann, his later secretary Annette Stein, and that of the journalist Heinz Becker.
The focus of the event is on the long-term efforts of Stresemann and his French counterpart, Aristide Briand , to find a Franco-German compromise just a few years after the end of the First World War in order to secure long-term peace in Europe.
In the autumn of 1923, when Stresemann became Chancellor for a few weeks and took up the post of Foreign Minister, the German Reich found itself in a politically and economically extremely difficult situation: inflation, mass unemployment, the harsh conditions of the Versailles Treaty and the occupation of the Ruhr area by French troops bring the country to the brink of collapse. In Munich , a certain Adolf Hitler tried in November of the same year to overthrow the elected state government.
After the end of his chancellorship, Stresemann remained foreign minister until his death and played a decisive role in the creation and signing of the Dawes Plan , the Locarno Treaties , which led to Germany's admission to the League of Nations , and the 1926 Berlin Treaty . The film shows Stresemann's change from a German nationalist to a staunch European. While his understanding policy in his own country is met with strong rejection, in his French counterpart Briand he finds a comrade who also relies on political reason.
Production notes
Curt Riess wrote about the difficult background behind the production of the Stresemann film in his souvenir tape 'There's only one time': “It was supposed to be filmed some time ago. There was a tremendous tug-of-war behind the scenes, in which the family members of the late Foreign Minister also took part. At least half a dozen scripts were written. "
Stresemann's son Dr. Wolfgang Stresemann served the makers of the film as a historical advisor.
Was shot Stresemann of 27 August to October 1956. The premiere took place on 11 January 1957 in Hannover in Theater am Aegi instead.
The film received the rating “particularly valuable” from the film evaluation office and was awarded the silver film ribbon.
Otto Erdmann , Paul H. Koester and Wilhelm Vorwerg created the film structures.
Stresemann was the last film to be secured with the federal guarantee introduced in 1950. It was also the last cinema activity of the producer Conrad Flockner , the screenwriters Axel Eggebrecht and Ludwig Berger, and the actor Erwin Kalser .
Reviews
Heinrich Fraenkel 's 'Immortal Film' recalled that Stresemann, despite being awarded the title 'particularly valuable', had “found little favor with the general public”, while the recently released jungle film Liane, the girl from the jungle, was rated “ in a press vote”. worst film of the year ”, but was very well received by the audience.
The Lexicon of International Films judged: "The film is a little dry, but offers an acceptable biography and emphatically propagates the European idea."
Kay Weniger 's 'Between Stage and Barracks' is what Stresemann called a “conventionally solemnly staged politician biography”
Curt Riess pointed out in 'There's only one time' the various reasons for Stresemann's commercial failure: “In a certain sense, it is Hitler's fault that this film remains completely unsuccessful. Not only did the speed of his personality erase the memory of all those who carried out German foreign policy in the years before him, but above all he aroused a general distrust of politicians as such. It will be a long time before the Germans do not consider every politician to be a suspect. And then this Stresemann is really not a photogenic figure and his fate is not exactly dramatic. There are hardly any big scenes in his life, let alone breakouts or victories that should be celebrated as such. His work took place behind the scenes, in lengthy conferences. That was precisely the great thing about him, that he did great things without much ado, with the naturalness of a dutiful man. You can't show that in a film, and even if you could, people wouldn't go to the cinema to see it. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ Riess: There's only one available. The book of German film after 1945. Henri Nannen Verlag Hamburg 1958. p. 378
- ↑ See Fraenkel: Immortal Film. The great chronicle. From the first tone to the colored wide screen. Munich 1957, p. 455
- ↑ Fraenkel: Immortal Film, p. 354
- ↑ Klaus Brüne (Red.): Lexikon des Internationale Films, Volume 7, S. 3631. Reinbek near Hamburg 1987
- ↑ Kay Less : Between the stage and the barracks. Lexicon of persecuted theater, film and music artists from 1933 to 1945 . With a foreword by Paul Spiegel . Metropol, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-938690-10-9 , p. 429.
- ↑ Riess: There's only one available. P. 378
Web links
- Stresemann in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Stresemann in filmportal.de