Synopsis:
A biographical film of Otto von Bismarck, the Prime Minister of Prussia, and how he and his policies – including aggressive war – helped to unite Germany.Read More »
Third Reich Cinema
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Wolfgang Liebeneiner – Bismarck (1940)
Drama1931-1940GermanyThird Reich CinemaWolfgang Liebeneiner -
Hans Steinhoff & Karl Anton & Herbert Maisch – Ohm Krüger aka Uncle Kruger (1941)
Hans Steinhoff1941-1950DramaGermanyHerbert MaischKarl AntonPoliticsThird Reich CinemaThe most incendiary of Nazi Germany’s anti-British films, and one of the most audaciously cynical movies ever made. Conceived by Joseph Goebbels’ Propaganda Ministry as a propagandistic blockbuster, this lavish production leaves no stone unturned in its bitter indictment of Great Britain, which at the time (early 1941) stood alone as Germany’s wartime foe. In its historical re-enactment of the Second Boer War, Ohm Krüger depicts Britain as a relentlessly aggressive power, hell-bent on world domination; the film’s remarkable set pieces feature a scotch-swilling Queen Victoria, a cruelly conniving Cecil Rhodes and a Winston Churchill look-alike who presides over a murderous concentration camp. On the Boer side stands saintly “Uncle” Krüger, portrayed as a model of simple dignity and unerring moral right by one of the world cinema’s greatest actors, Emil Jannings. Read More »
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Erich Waschneck – Die Rothschilds AKA The Rothschilds (1940)
1931-1940DramaErich WaschneckGermanyPoliticsThird Reich CinemaSynopsis:
Anti-semitic Nazi propaganda “biography” of the Rothschilds, a German Jewish family whose members rose to the top of the European banking community during the Napoleonic era.Read More » -
Felix Moeller – Im Schatten von Jud Süss aka Harlan – In the Shadow of Jew Süss (2008)
2001-2010DocumentaryFelix MoellerGermanyThird Reich CinemaPerhaps just as integral to Nazi film history as Leni Riefenstahl was largely forgotten “Jew Suss” director Veit Harlan. This documentary explores the life and career of Harlan, the expert film artisan responsible for the controversial 1940 feature still regarded as the most anti-Semitic production ever made. Includes home movies, archival footage, and interviews with family members who grapple with Harlan’s dark legacy.Read More »
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Hermann Pfeiffer – Falschmünzer AKA Counterfeiters (1940)
Hermann Pfeiffer1931-1940CrimeGermanyThird Reich CinemaCounterfeit money is discovered near the Bodensee. The investigators for the “Reichszentrale für Falschmünzerei” get wind of it and open up an investigation. When the band of counterfeiters try to recruit a young graphic artist into their ranks, he quickly rats on them to the police. The investigation soon leads to Switzerland, where the nest of criminals is stormed with the help of the Swiss police. (rarefilmsandmore.com)Read More »
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Max Ophüls – Liebelei (1933)
1931-1940DramaGermanyMax OphülsThird Reich CinemaSynopsis:
A Viennese opera house, early in the century. In attendance are lieutenants Kaiser and Lobheimer. Two young ladies on the balcony, Mizzi and Christine, drop their opera glasses, hitting one of the officers. The Baron von Eggersdorff arrives in his box. Lobheimer leaves early for his tryst with the Baron’s wife. The Baron soon arrives home, in a suspicious mood. Lobheimer rejoins Kaiser in a café with the two girls. Lobheimer soon falls for Christine… The Baroness wonders why her lover has been absent for so long; the two now part for good. But the Baron learns the secret and discovers that a key still in his wife’s possession opens the lieutenant’s door. He challenges Lobheimer to a duel…Read More » -
Douglas Sirk – Zwei Windhunde AKA Zwei Genies (1934)
Comedy1931-1940Douglas SirkGermanyShort FilmThird Reich CinemaAn early short film by Douglas Sirk (Detlef Sierck) which takes a satirical look at dubious business practices during the Weimar Republic. It was banned under the title “Zwei Genies” but released as “Zwei Windhunde” after revisions were madeRead More »
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Douglas Sirk – Schlußakkord AKA The Final Chord (1936)
1931-1940ClassicsDouglas SirkDramaGermanyThird Reich CinemaPlot:
A young, impoverished German woman named Hanna (Maria von Tasnady) gives her infant up for adoption and emigrates to American to live with her husband. When her husband commits suicide, Hanna returns to Germany and works her way into becoming the live-in maid and nurse to her child being raised by an orchestra conductor and his wife.Read More » -
Hans Steinhoff – Hitlerjunge Quex: Ein Film vom Opfergeist der deutschen Jugend AKA Our Flags Lead Us Forward (1933)
1931-1940GermanyHans SteinhoffPoliticsThird Reich CinemaWarYoung Heini Volker has a problem. His unemployed father demands he joins Berlin’s young communists. But his heart belongs to the Hitler Youth. As violence escalates between these camps, Heini’s quandary deepens. How he finds his way to National Socialism is the story of Hitlerjunge Quex. Produced in 1933, just after Hitler’s ascension to power, this movie draws from the real-life story of Herbert Norkus, a Hitler Youth killed by communists in 1932. With its vivid recreations of Depression-era misery, it offers a fascinating portrait of Berlin’s working-class life viewed through the transformative lens of Nazi ideology. An immediate box office success, the film became a Nazi propaganda staple, viewed by 20 million by 1945.Read More »