New Acquisitions: Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm: Part 4

Today the final part of the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm' (From the becoming of German film art, the sound film) by Ross Verlag. The collectors cards treat the German sound film between 1929 and 1935. Today the final part, which illustrates the wave of propaganda films after the rise of the Nazis. The numbers 151-200 include some cards from rarely seen Nazi propaganda from the years 1933 and 1934.


German collectors card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, picture no. 155. Photo: Ufa / Ross Verlag. Hans Albers in Flüchtlinge/Fugitives (Gustav Ucicky, 1933).


German collectors card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, picture no. 156. Photo: Ufa / Ross Verlag. Hans Albers and Käthe von Nagy in Flüchtlinge/Fugitives (Gustav Ucicky, 1933).


German collectors card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, picture no. 162. Photo: Europa / Ross Verlag. Mathias Wieman in Der Schimmelreiter/The Rider of the White Horse (Hans Deppe, Curt Oertel, 1934).


German collectors card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, picture no. 167. Photo: Froelich-Film / Ross Verlag. Wilhelm P. Krüger in Krach um Jolanthe/Noisy Jolanthe (Carl Froelich, 1934).


German collectors card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, image no. 169, Group 44. Photo: Bayerische Filmges. / Ross Verlag. Reva Holsey and Fritz Genschow in Die spork'schen Jäger/The Sporck Battalion (Rolf Randolf, Theodor Loos, 1934)


German collectors card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, picture no. 175. Photo: Bavaria-Tofa / Ross Verlag. Marieluise Claudius and Hans Albers in Peer Gynt (Fritz Wendhausen, 1934).


German collectors card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, picture no. 180. Photo: Volksdeutsche Filmges. / Ross Verlag. Emil Lohkamp in Hans Westmar (Franz Wenzler, 1933).

Hans Westmar (Franz Wenzler, 1933) is a Nazi propaganda film, which purports to show the story of a Nazi Storm Trooper named Horst Wessel - here called 'Hans Westmar'. At age 21, Wessel led the SA unit in Friedrichshain, Berlin's toughest slum and the reddest district in the 'Red City'. He recruited from the Communists, with considerable success. He took part in street brawls and assassinations in Berlin in the 1920s and 1930s against Communists and other opponents of the Nazis. He was killed by Communists not long before this film came out. The film contains period footage of streetscapes, SA marches and very good representations of the street battles (Strassenkämpfe) between Nazi and Communist militias in Berlin in the late 1920s.

Emil Lohkamp plays the title character with freneticism, probably an accurate portrayal as Wessel virtually wore himself out leading his Sturm. Wessel was assassinated by communists in January 1930. This film was made a few months after the takeover, when the victorious SA had served its purpose. Its hard drinking, hard partying henchmen were unruly, undisciplined, and uncontrollable. As history told by the victors, it recounts mostly real events, altered to fit the 'official truth'. Brownshirts picking fights didn't fit the image the Nazi party wanted to project once in power. The film saw only limited release. Any interest lies in how the Nazis recast history and in a few unique scenes.


German collectors card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, picture no. 184. Photo: Ufa / Ross Verlag. Jürgen Ohlsen in Hitlerjunge Quex/Hitler Youth Quex (Hans Steinhoff, 1933).

Hitlerjunge Quex: Ein Film vom Opfergeist der deutschen Jugend/Hitler Youth Quex (1933) is a German film directed by Hans Steinhoff, based on the 1932 novel 'Hitler Youth Quex' (Hitlerjunge Quex). The film was shown in the US under the title Our Flag Leads Us Forward. Hitlerjunge Quex/Hitler Youth Quex (Hans Steinhoff, 1933) was produced in the Universum Film AG (Ufa) studios. The plot was written by Bobby E. Lüthge and Karl Aloys Schenzinger, the author of the novel. Produced by Karl Ritter, it was supported by the Nazi leadership and produced for 320,000 reichsmarks (equivalent to €1,257,146 in 2009) under the aegis of Baldur von Schirach. The latter also wrote the lyrics for the Hitler Youth marching song 'Vorwärts! Vorwärts! schmettern die hellen Fanfaren', better known by its refrain, 'Unsere Fahne flattert uns voran', using an existing melody by Hans-Otto Borgmann, who was also responsible for the music.

The director was Hans Steinhoff. For the film, the subtitle 'Ein Film vom Opfergeist der deutschen Jugend' (A film about the sacrificial spirit of German youth) was added to the novel's title. The film premiered on 11 September 1933 at the Ufa-Phoebus Palace in Munich, and on 19 September at the Ufa-Palast am Zoo in Berlin. It was one of three films about Nazi martyrs in 1933, the other two being SA-Mann Brand and Hans Westmar. The film's producer, Karl Ritter, recalled in his private diaries the famous scene where Vater Völker (Heinrich George) slaps his son (Jürgen Ohlsen) violently after he overhears him singing the HJ song 'Unsere Fahne flattert uns voran. The diary entry: Unforgettable was the George–Jürgen Ohlsen ear–slapping scene. George first paid for Jürgen’s ice cream and took him into the canteen like a godfather would. Jürgen saw nothing to fear in him. So then, when the dreadful ear–slap scene came, the tears shot from his eyes.

The film premiered in the United States at the Yorkville Theatre on the Upper East Side of Manhattan on 6 July 1934 as Our Flag Leads Us Forward and in March 1942 in Paris as Le jeune hitlérien. Adolf Hitler, Rudolf Hess, Joseph Goebbels and other high Nazi functionaries attended the first premiere in Munich. Goebbels reflected on the film as follows: "If Hitler Youth Quex represents the first large-scale attempt to depict the ideas and world of National Socialism with the art of cinema, then one must say that this attempt, given the possibilities of modern technology, is a full-fledged success." By January 1934 it had been viewed by a million people. Hitlerjunge Quex is now classified in Germany as a 'Vorbehaltsfilm' (conditional film), meaning it is illegal to show it outside of closed educational events guided by an expert.


German collectors card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, picture no. 194. Photo: Ufa / Ross Verlag. Austrian actress and singer Dorit Kreysler (1909-1999) appeared in German and Austrian comedies and musicals of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.

Source: IMDb and Wikipedia.