Heinrich George Movies
German actor Heinrich George, born Heinze Georg Schulz, began appearing on stage and in films as an adolescent and by the mid 1920s had become a noted character actor. In 1933, he joined the Nazi party and beginning with Hitlerjunge Quex became an actor in many propaganda films including Jew Suess an anti-Semitic film of 1940. Later, George was rewarded for his devotion by becoming the new director of the Schiller Theater, Berlin. George was captured by the Soviets and died in a POW camp. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1931
This film was also released as Die Letzten Tag von dem Welt-brand (The Last Days Before the War). Director Richard Oswald and screenwriters Heinz Goldberg and Frtiz Wendhausen tackle the near-impossible task of establishing who exactly was responsible for the outbreak of WWI. The answer seems to be "everyone and no one," though the Russians are taken to task for their war-mongering instincts. The huge and stellar cast (including Albert Basserman, Reinhold Schunzel, Alfred Abel and Oskar Homolka) seem awe-struck by the famous characters they're called upon to play; as a result, they come off more as wax effigies than human beings. The American release version of 1914 was outfitted with a prologue and epilogue spoken in English by a renowned military historian. Coincidentally, the incredibly prolific Richard Oswald began his directorial career in 1914. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Albert Basserman
- 1928
Released in America in 1928 as Armored Vault, this Lupu Pick production was originally distributed in 1926 under the title Das Panzergewolbe. A typical Pick exercise in minimalist expressionism, the entire story is played out in "real time." Heinrich George plays Stuart Webbs, a brilliant detective who is so feared by the underworld that he is approached with bribes and threats even before they commit their crimes. On this occasion, Webbs must figure out when a gang of particularly clever robbers are going to knock over the armored vault of the title. The villains' "motivation" is sublimely silly: they hope to steal all the real money in the bank so that they can flood the city with counterfeit bills. Former MGM leading lady Mary Nolan plays the heroine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Heinrich George
- 1931
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
- Starring:
- Heinrich George, Bernhard Minetti, (more)
- 1930
Der Anders (The Other) was adapted from the stage play of the same name by Paul Lindau. Fritz Kortner dominates the proceedings as a brilliant and highly feared prosecuting attorney. What no one suspects is that Kortner moonlights as a vicious criminal, who isn't above using violence to get what he wants. Heroine Kaethe von Nagy discovers his secret, but such is her unsavory past that she is in no position to blow the whistle. Ultimately, Kortner is done in by his own ego. Der Anders was previously filmed in 1913, with Albert Basserman as the duplicitous "hero." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fritz Kortner, Hermine Sterler, (more)
- 1931
Released in English-speaking countries as The Man Who Murdered, this German melodrama was based on a play by Pierre Frondale (itself inspired by a novel by Claude Farere). Set in pre-WWI Constantinople, the story concerns French diplomatic attache Conrad Veidt, who seduces Trude von Molo, the wife of British aristocrat Heinrich George. Confronted by George, Veidt kills the man, then turns himself into the authorities. But because George was known to be a sadist and a wife-beater, a compassionate Turkish official allows Veidt to return to Paris -- and the arms of Molo -- without fear of arrest or repercussions. Director Kurt Bernhardt regarded Der Mann der den Mord Beging as one of his best films, not so much because of what happens in the film, but because of the omnipresent atmosphere of tension over what might happen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Conrad Veidt, Heinrich George, (more)
- 1935
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
- Starring:
- Heinrich George, Karin Hardt, (more)
- 1933
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
- Starring:
- Heinrich George, Berta Drews, (more)
- 1940
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
- Starring:
- Ferdinand Marian, Werner Krauss, (more)
- 1921
This epic German production was said to have had a cast of 100,000. Whether there was any truth to this claim is extremely questionable, and there were but three really important roles in the film: Conrad Veidt as Lord Nelson, Werner Kraus as Sir William Hamilton, and Liane Haid in the role of a lifetime as Lady Hamilton. The film covers Lady Hamilton's life, including her beginnings as Emma Lyon, a blacksmith's daughter. Young Emma learns how to fend for herself by becoming the mistress to many men before marrying Sir William Hamilton, the uncle of her lover, Charles Greville. Then she meets and falls for Lord Nelson, the famed English Admiral. She helps Nelson achieve his first great naval victory, along with becoming his lover and bearing his child out of wedlock. Although both Hamilton and Nelson's wife appear to accept the scandalous relationship, when Hamilton dies, Emma is virtually cut out of his will. Emma lives a poverty-stricken life that is only brightened by the knowledge that Nelson will return -- but he doesn't. Nelson dies in the Battle of Trafalgar. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
