We barbarians
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | We barbarians |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1915 |
| length | approx. 58 (Vienna 1916) minutes |
| Rod | |
| production | National-Film GmbH |
| occupation | |
| |
Wir Barbaren is a German silent propaganda film with humorous inserts from 1915. Paul Heidemann plays the leading role .
action
France at the time of the German advance in 1914/15.
The young Marquise St. Yves lives a well-protected life in her castle in the eastern part of France. She has not yet felt the effects of the war. This calm is suddenly disturbed when she receives a letter from her friend in which horror stories are spread about the Germans. Allegedly, German soldiers would attack French motorists as they marched in order to rob them. The young aristocrat then decided to flee to Paris, especially since the German military was getting closer and closer to her castle. Of necessity, she has to leave all her precious belongings behind in the castle, including her valuable jewelry, which she hides in a secret compartment of a cupboard in the great hall. During her absence, servant Benoit is supposed to guard the property. When he reads in a French newspaper that one is not sure “whether Bayern are cannibals”, panic seizes him. Benoit buries his mistress' jewelry in the basement of the castle tower, then he and the other servants of the Marquise flee from the approaching Germans.
The German military moves in under the leadership of Oberleutnant von Pavel. Concerned that the treasures in the castle might fall victim to a French bombardment, von Pavel orders that the most important works of art be brought to the safer cellar. He requisitioned simple furniture from the mayor of the nearest town in order to set up a multi-stage office in the knight's hall. When the mayor stops by, he sees the empty knight's hall and assumes that the Germans have already cleared the castle and brought the looted goods east, to Germany. The mayor quickly reported his suspicions to his friend, who is the editor-in-chief of a newspaper. This is how the story of the plundering “barbarians” comes into being. Of course, the Marquise, who persevered in Paris, also reads about it, who now dares to venture through the German lines to look at her castle and the treasures. Initially horrified at how empty her knight's hall is, her mood changes when Pavel the nobleman shows the valuables that have been stowed away in the cellar.
The Marquise St. Yves is even ready to sign a document that denounces the French newspapers with deliberate lying propaganda, when suddenly she cannot find her family jewelry again. Immediately the old prejudice of the looting Germans is back, and Madame refuses to sign. Angry, the marquise wants to return to Paris, but reports to the mayor beforehand that the jewelry has disappeared. Pavel, on the other hand, does not want to let the lady go before the theft of jewelry has been resolved, because he does not want to let this suspicion sit on himself and his subordinates: The German soldier's honor is at stake. And so suddenly another myth arises in the French press: the Germans are holding the Marquise St. Yves hostage! Benoit, who fled to his sister in a village, secretly returns to the castle after new atrocity reports about the Germans, but is watched by Pavel and his men. Benoit brings the jewelry back from the cellar, loses a diamond necklace in the process, and gives the jewelry to his mistress who is locked in her room.
She is now very ashamed that she has accused the Germans in general and Lieutenant von Pavel of this theft. She hides the jewels in her dress near the waist, but does not want to admit to Pavel, who enters her room, that she was wrong. After all, she is now ready to sign the document about the lies in the French press. Pavel renounces such “generosity” and shames Madame even more by giving her back the collar that Benoit had fallen out of his pocket while digging up the jewelry from the cellar. The marquise signs the document and writes Pavel in a letter, how much she is ashamed and that she would like to see him again after the war. The next morning the Germans are ready to march, the front moves further forward. The marquise's parrot, trained by Pavel, touts the words he has learned from his beak, and so Pavel turns once more to the noblewoman waiting on the balcony to say goodbye to her.
Immediately afterwards, the Marquise wrote an informative letter to her friend, who had warned her so urgently about the “barbarians”, with the concluding remark that she had concluded a separate peace with the Germans and that she hoped to become “Madame Barbare” soon .
Production notes
Wir Barbarians - the title was meant ironically, of course - is one of the most unknown and at the same time curious German silent films. During the First World War it served as a cinematic reaction to the Entente propaganda regarding alleged or actual atrocities committed by the German army during the invasion of France in 1914 and 1915. In French and British newspapers, but also in film productions in these two countries, there had been a flood of relevant articles and alleged factual reports on alleged looting and pillage by the German invaders since August 1914.
The film consisted of three acts, was censored in 1915 and approved for young people. An exact premiere date for Germany cannot be determined at the moment, in Austria-Hungary Wir Barbaren was shown on May 5, 1916 in a version around 1200 meters long.
Reception and classification
In Paimann's film lists you can read: "Topical material, but not very humorous, game and photos very good".
The cinematograph reports in a long article about the film: “The processes that are portrayed in this film are only invented insofar as they concern minor issues. The facts, as the reports of the looting of the castle, of the robbery of the jewelry, of the arrest of the marquise, were able to get into the French papers, are based on three real occurrences, which have now been brought together to form a whole. In addition to the purpose of amusing and exhilarating, the purpose of this film, the much larger one, is to make clear how those horror tales are created in the anti-German papers. "
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ French propaganda on dhm.de.
- ^ War propaganda in the First World War on spiegel.de
- ^ World war propaganda on dhm.de.
- ↑ We barbarians ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in Paimann's film lists
- ↑ Der Kinematograph, year 1915, Düsseldorf No. 439
