Heinrich George Movies

Leon Feuchtwangler's novel Jud Süss was originally about a powerful ghetto businessman who believes himself to be a Jew. Süss' ruthless business practices result in the betrayal of an innocent girl, for which he is arrested and sentenced to be hanged under the anti-Jewish laws of the 18th century. While he waits to be executed, Süss discovers he is not Jewish. Rather than turn his back on the people of the ghetto with whom he'd grown up, Süss courageously refuses to declare his "Aryan" status, even though it means he will die on the gallows. The Feuchtwangler book was designed in roundabout fashion to strike a blow against anti-Semitism. But when Jud Süss was filmed in Germany at the behest of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels in 1940, its original message was twisted and perverted into an argument in favor of "ethnic cleansing." As played by Werner Krauss, Süss is not only genuinely Jewish, but also an amalgam of every vicious caricature ever concocted by the anti-Semitic propagandists of the past two centuries. With hooked nose and greasy beard, Krauss portrays Süss as a whining, wheedling, hand-wringing subhuman rapist; small wonder that Krauss was proclaimed an Actor of the State by the Nazis. The final scene of Jud Süss shows a screaming, protesting Süss being hanged in the public square; the scene is directed to cast Süss' tormenters in an utterly sympathetic light, and perhaps even to invoke cheers from an impressionable audience. Though disgusting beyond belief, Jud Süss should be seen at least once, if only to show what a dangerous weapon film can be in the hands of hate merchants. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this German drama, a French military officer finds himself discriminated against during a trial because he is Jewish. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Also known as Promise Me Nothing, this labyrinthine drama was adapted from a long-running stage play by Thea von Harbou of Metropolis and Dr. Mabuse fame. Viktor de Kowa stars as impoverished artist Martin Pratt, who is so preoccupied by his work that he fails to notice that his wife Monika (Luise Ullrich) is literally starving to death. Making matters worse, Martin cares nothing for money, refusing to sell his paintings because he feels they aren't yet good enough for public consumption. In desperation, Monika pretends that Martin's painting were completed by her, thereby allowing her to peddle them on her own. Soon, of course, Monika is being hailed as the foremost artistic genius of the age -- while Martin, seething with jealousy but too proud to expose his wife as a fraud, retreats further and further into himself. Eventually, Monika's conscience gets the better of her, and she confesses that the paintings were the handiwork of her husband. Rather amazingly, this leads to a happy ending for both hero and heroine, indicating that anything's possible in the movies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Henrik Ibsen's 1877 play Samfundets Stotter (Pillars of Society) was the source for this German drama. The plot centers upon a flagrant case of municipal corruption, carried out by the town's "finest" people. The selfishness of the elite results in widespread tragedy, yet still the perpetrators hypocritically blame everyone but themselves. The director of Stutzen der Gesellschaft was Detlef Sierck, who as "Douglas Sirk" would later expose the peccadilloes of the rich and powerful in such American films as Written on the Wind. The Ibsen original was earlier adapted to the screen in 1915, with H. B. Walthall in the lead. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "7 Aufrechten" ("Seven Righteous Men") of the title are a septet of elderly Swiss gentleman who've taken a vow of eternal friendship. En masse, the seven set out into the world to preach a doctrine of love and peace. Curiously, however, these benevolent oldsters are dead-set against the marriage of Hermine (Karin Hardt), daughter of one of the men, and Karl (Albert Levien), the son of another. Their fears that this union might somehow break up their friendship prove unfounded, however, and all ends happily. The pacifistic sentiments of Hermine und die 7 Aufrechten would soon be forbidden in Nazi Germany, which is one of the many reasons that director Frank Wysbar (later Wisbar) eventually fled to the U.S. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Also known as Unsere Fahne Flattert Uns Voran (Our Flags Lead Us Forward), this aggressively pro-Nazi tract was based on a novel by R. U. Schenzinger. Brought up in a communist household, young Heini Votter (billed in the cast simply as "A Hitler Youth") is shown the light by his youthful National Socialist comrades. The film rather stacks the deck by depicting the Votter home as a den of scrungy, verminlike cretins, while the Nazi kids are raised in an atmosphere of purity and cleanliness. The climax arrives when Heini betrays his parents to the Nazi hierarchy, preventing an anarchist attack and preserving the Hitlerian status quo. Filmed in 1933, Hitlerjugende Quex might be laughable were it not for the Nazi-sponsored horrors to come. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Most modern-day viewers are familiar with German author Alfred Doeblin's naturalistic novel Berlin Alexanderplatz from its epic TV miniseries presentation, directed in 1980 by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. The Doeblin work was previously filmed on the very brink of the Nazi takeover in 1933, with Heinrich George as the ex-convict protagonist. Yearning for respectability, George finds he cannot escape the influence of his old criminal cohorts. When George refuses to pay "hush money" to the mob, his faithful wife Margarete Schlegel is killed. George resignedly returns to a life of crime, ultimately descending into madness. The 1933 adaptation of Berlin Alexanderplatz ran a brisk 90 minutes; Fassbinder's 1980 TV version ran ten times longer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide