Company Michael (film)

Movie
Original title	Company Michael
Country of production	Germany
original language	German
Publishing year	1937
length	81 minutes
Age rating	FSK none
Rod
Director	Karl Ritter
script	Karl Ritter Mathias Wieman Fred Hildenbrandt
production	Karl Ritter ( Universum-Film AG Berlin )
music	Herbert Windt
camera	Günther Anders
cut	Gottfried Ritter
occupation
Heinrich George : Commanding General Mathias Wieman : Major zur Linden, Ia Willy Birgel : Major Count Schellenberg Hannes Stelzer : Lieutenant Prince Erxburg Paul Otto : Lieutenant Colonel Hegenau Ernst Karchow : Captain Noack, Ib Otto Graf : Captain von Groth, Ic Christian Kayßler : Rittmeister von Wengern Kurt Waitzmann : First Lieutenant Weber Paul Schwed : NCO of the staff guard Arthur Wiesner : pigeon keeper Otto Wernicke : Colonel Berg Heinz Welzel : Lieutenant von Treskow Josef Renner : Captain Hill Jim Simmons : Lieutenant Mertens Karl John : Lieutenant Hassenkamp Otto Krone : 1st company commander Malte Jäger : 2nd company commander Friedrich Berger : Sergeant Henke Beppo Brem : Private Kollermann Lutz Götz : Musketeer Raspe Josef Dahmen : complainers Adolf Fischer : Order of battle Hans Bergmann : Storm man Franz Ernst Bochum : Old French Elsa Wagner : Old French woman Otz Tollen : Infantry battalion leader Max W. Hiller : English prisoner Ludwig Baschang, Fritz Busch, Ullrich Klein, Kai Möller , Erwin Mosblech, Walter Schuller, Richard Westemeyer: German soldiers Heinz Federle and Hans Schwenke: Officers Hardy Vogdt: Artillery Lieutenant Friedrich Teitge : NCO

Company Michael is a 1937 German war film with a propaganda tendency by Karl Ritter based on the play of the same name by Hans Fritz von Zwehl . The film is set in the time of the German spring offensives in 1918 on the Western Front in the First World War . Heinrich George and Willy Birgel play the leading roles alongside Mathias Wieman as Major zur Linden . Mathias Wiemann also worked on the script.

The film, made during the time of National Socialism, is a so-called reserved film of 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

The German army started the so-called spring offensives in the last months of the First World War. The first is Operation Michael , with which the German General Staff wants to try to win the almost lost war. To achieve this, the strategically important city of Beaurevoir must be held. But here the German troops are encircled by the English. When the battalion commander is badly wounded, Major zur Linden takes over his post in a hopeless situation. After all, he saw only one way to push the English back: he asked for a carrier pigeon to direct heavy fire of destruction to his own position.

production

The film was produced by ( Universum-Film AG Berlin ) under the line-up of Karl Ritter and copied by Afifa Berlin . The production manager was Ludwig Kühr . The buildings come from Walter Röhrig . Enterprise Michael premiered on September 7, 1937. The film was shown in Japan from 1941 onwards with German subtitles due to an agreement between UFA and the Japanese film trading company "Towa".

Reception - Award

Karl Ritter wrote in a production report: "A male film without false magic". The film courier praised the "real atmosphere" and the "absolute truthfulness". The film received the rating of "politically valuable" from the film inspection agency .

Today the film receives little attention. The media scientist Rainer Rother considers the concept of the film and its execution to be “confused” and “controversial”. After the end of the Second World War, Company Michael was classified as a reserved film because of the National Socialist 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.

See also

• List of German feature films premiered in the German Reich during the Nazi era

Web links

• Michael company in theInternet Movie Database(English)
• Company Michael at filmportal.de
• Company Michael bei Murnau Foundation

Individual evidence

1. ^ Company Michael at the online film database. Retrieved August 30, 2013.
2. ↑ Illustrierter Film-Kurier - from November 20, 1937, No. 270, program booklet for company Michael , ed. from the United Publishing Companies Franke & Co., Berlin 1937.
3. ^ Rainer Rother in: War and the military in the film of the 20th century, Bernhard Chiari, Matthias Rogg , Wolfgang Schmidt (eds.), Oldenbourg Verlag, 2003, page 353f.