G.W. Pabst Movies
Born in Bohemia to Viennese parents, director G. W. Pabst made only one American film in his career, yet became the darling of U.S. critics and movie historians for a handful of brilliant silent works. Pabst studied at Vienna's Academy of Decorate Arts, then embarked on a theatrical career in 1906. He worked as a stage director in Europe and briefly in New York with a German-language company until World War I. In France, when hostilities broke out, he was required to be a "guest of the state" until the Armistice. During this period, he continued as a director of French-language plays. Back in Vienna in the early 1920s, Pabst was one of the vanguards of the experimental theatre movement. This led to an interest in the less-confining vistas of film. Establishing himself as a movie director in 1923, Pabst made his mark by turning out productions of pessimistic realism, intermixed with unstressed impressionism. He directed Garbo in A Joyless Street (1925), then helmed the pioneering Freudian drama Secrets of a Soul (1926). Pabst helped create the "Louise Brooks mystique" by casting the expatriate American actress in two of his most elaborate (and most heavily censored) sociological sex dramas, Pandora's Box (1928) and Diary of a Lost Girl (1929). Whenever speaking of Pabst in later years, Brooks was quick to note that the effectiveness of her highly-disciplined performances was almost entirely due to Pabst's ability to precisely envision the film's final cut -- camera angles, titles, closeups -- before he even started shooting. Despite his meticulous pre-planning, Pabst's results invariably seemed fresh and spontaneous, adding to the underlying realism of his work. The director launched his talkie career with three of his finest films: Westfront 1918, an antiwar picture; The Threepenny Opera, the definitive version of that Brecht/Weill musical (filmed in two languages, both versions starring legendary Brechtian actress Lotte Lenya); and Kameradschaft, a German/French co-production that preached a doctrine of solidarity between nations. With this last film in particular, Pabst was out of step with the edicts of the burgeoning Nazi party. Summing up his animosity towards Der Fuhrer nearly a quarter-century later with the fevered "bunker" drama The Last Ten Days (1956). In Hollywood in 1934, after two French-made projects, including Don Quixote (1933), with opera star Feodor Chaliapin, Pabst directed A Modern Hero (1934), an indifferent soap opera starring Richard Barthelmess. Back in France at the outbreak of World War II, Pabst moved to Germany, where he made two films for the government. Pabst's feelings concerning Nazism could be seen in his postwar The Trial (1948), a prize-winning attack against anti-Semitism. Pabst continued making films in Germany, Austria, and Italy until his retirement in 1956. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1955
Two films concerning the July 20, 1944 plot to kill Adolph Hitler were released in Germany within the same week. The second to arrive on the scene was G. W. Pabst's Es Gescham am 20 Juli. Actor/director Bernhard Wicki heads the cast as Oberst Graf Von Staufenberg, the prime mover of the assassination conspiracy. The reasons for Von Staufenberg's actions are never fully articulated; the film is more concerned with the mechanics of the plot and the placing of the bomb. Though Hitler never appears in Es Gescham am 20 Juli, Joseph Goebbels does, by way of newsreel footage; cleverly, director Pabst allows Goebbels to betray himself as the jabbering lunatic and craven coward that he really was. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1955
Originally Der Letzte Akt, The Last Ten Days has also been released to English speaking countries as Hitler: The Last Ten Days and The Last Ten Days of Adolf Hitler. This should establish for good and all the subject matter of this film. Albin Skoda plays Hitler, who wanders in and out of delirium as his Third Reich crumbles. He is surrounded by reams of existential dialogue from his generals and associates, courtesy of screenwriter Erich Maria Remarque, who based his script on Judge Michael A. Musmanno's book Ten Days to Die. Oscar Werner costars as a fictional "good" Nazi officer who acts as the film's voice of reason. Filmed in Austria, The Last Ten Days was inadequately remade in 1972, with Alec Guinness as Der Fuehrer. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Albin Skoda, Lotte Tobisch, (more)
- 1953
La Voca del Silenzio (Voice of Silence) was the only Italian production of fabled German director G. W. Pabst. Based on a concept by neorealism specialist Cesar Zavattini (fleshed out by a team of =12= prominent writers, including Pabst himself and Jean Cocteau), the film follows a small group of very troubled men during a three-day spiritual sojourn. One is a politician, laden with guilt over his comportment during WW II. The second is a war veteran whose wife has "grown away" from him. The third is a writer of detective novels whose works might have inspired a real-life killing. The fourth is a thief who has come to the spiritual retreat to avoid capture. And the fifth is a candle merchant whose livelihood is threatened by modern technology. One of the few concessions to popular taste is a striptease sequence involving Rosanna Podesta. In keeping with the film's title, few words are spoken in La Voca del Silenzio; in this respect, the film is an intriguing throwback to Pabst's classic silent films. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1948
Though the title of this German historical drama translates as The Trial, it bears no relation to the Franz Kafka novel of the same name. Instead, the film is based on a true story which took place in 19th century Hungary. When a young peasant girl commits suicide, the superstitious villagers, stirred up by the odiously anti-Semitic Baron Onody (Heinz Moog), immediately assume that she was the victim of a Jewish sacrificial ritual. Despite an utter lack of evidence (or common sense), all the Jews in town are rounded up and subjected to a mass trial. Risking his reputation and possibly his life, idealistic lawyer Dr. Eövötes (Ewald Balser) defends the Jews, forcing all of Hungary to come face to face with its blind and stupid prejudices. The first postwar effort by director G.W. Pabst, Der Prozess has been interpreted by some as Pabst's act of attrition after his reluctant professional association with the Nazis during WWII. Whatever the case, the film, which earned Pabst a Best Director award at the 1948 Venice Film Festival, remains one of the director's finest works. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ewald Balser, Ernst Deutsch, (more)
- 1943
This German only video tells the story of Paracelsus nefarious activities after quarantining the city of Basel from the plague and using unusual means of healing, saves a man. ~ Rovi
- 1941
Although she is known as a patron of the arts, a graceful duchess nevertheless refuses her nephew to marry an enterprising actress in this German melodrama starring Kathe Dorsch and silent screen legend Henny Porten. When Philine (Hilde Krahl), the troupe's ingénue, is rejected as proper marital material by the Duchess of Weissenfels (Porten), Karoline Neuber (Dorsch) creates such a furor that she is banished from the country. A performance at the court at St. Petersburg also ends in disaster for the unhappy actress and abandoned by all, Karoline dies a suicide. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- 1939
Jeune Filles en Detresse (Young Girls in Distress) was director G. W. Pabst's last French production before his (ill-timed) return to Nazi-occupied Austria in 1941. Somewhat reminiscent of Maedchen in Uniform, the story is set in a private girl's school, populated almost exclusively by children from broken homes. Among the few students who can claim family stability is Micheline Presle, but even her happiness is threatened when her lawyer father Andre Luguet inaugurates an affair with stage actress Jacqueline Debulac. With the help of Debulac's daughter Louisa Carletti, Presle is able to break up her father's romance and deliver him into the open arms of her mother Marcelle Chantal. On the whole, the performance by the younger cast members are more convincing than those rendered by the film's so-called adults. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Marcelle Chantal, Micheline Presle, (more)
- 1938
Shanghai Drama was originally released in France in 1938 under the title Le Drame de Shanghai. Director G. W. Pabst, best known for the erotic classics Diary of a Lost Girl and Pandora's Box, seems artistically subdued in this standard tale of pre-WW2 intrigue. The villains are the Japanese, who inveigle a group of exiled White Russians to aid in the subjugation of China. Trapped in the web of deceit is nightclub chanteuse Kay (Christine Mardayne), whose efforts to break away from a sinister Black Dragon-like society are doomed to failure. The film's only ray of hope is manifested in the character of Kay's daughter Vera (Suzanne Dempers), who is afforded the opportunity to start life anew with journalist Franchon (Raymond Rouleau). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Christiane Mardayne, Elina Labourdette, (more)
- 1934
Produced by Warner Bros. in 1934, A Modern Hero was the only American talkie directed by the great German filmmaker G. W. Pabst. Richard Barthelmess plays Pierre, the bastard son of blowzy, besotted circus performer Mme. Azais (Marjorie Rambeau). Fiercely ambitious, Pierre enters the world of automobile manufacturing, rising to the heights of success by callously using wealthy women to get ahead. After breaking one heart after another, Pierre is finally beaten at his own game by a disgruntled young lady who walks out on him, forcing him to admit that he's an utter flop as a human being. Jean Muir co-stars as Joanna, seduced and abandoned early in the proceedings, while other women crucial to Pierre's ascension are played by Veree Teasdale and Florence Eldredge. Based on a novel by Louis Bromfield, A Modern Hero has been correctly assessed by one of the director's devotees as having "little of Pabst in it." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Barthelmess, Jean Muir, (more)
- 1933
This comedy of manners, set within a Viennese community, centers upon an uneducated soccer player who ends up being tutored by an unemployed teacher. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Janine Crispin, Milly Mathis, (more)
The French/British Don Quixote is a faithful rendition of the Cervantes novel, with a poignant ending added by director G.W. Pabst. Opera star Feodor Chaliapin stars as Cervantes' "Knight of the Woeful Countenance," an aged, addled Spanish gentleman so devoted to stories of long-ago chivalry that he decides to relive those bygone days. With his faithful squire, Sancho Panza (George Robey), Don Quixote rides off to tilt at windmills and to worship chubby milkmaid Dulcinea (Renée Valliers) as his lady fair. Sancho manages to save Quixote from killing himself, but cannot prevent the old gent from returning home utterly disillusioned. Director Pabst alters Cervantes' original ending by having the dispirited Quixote pass away as he watches his precious books on chivalry going up in flames. There are actually two versions of Don Quixote, one in English and one in French; the French-language version has a different supporting cast, but Pabst draws the same deep emotions and brilliant bits of business from both. Though the film unfailingly comes to life in front of an audience, Don Quixote is generally out of favor with devotees of G.W. Pabst, who consider the film a step down from his brilliant silent work. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Feodor Chaliapin, Sr., George Robey, (more)
- 1932
In this mythical fantasy, the evil queen of Atlantis lives in a magnificent palace, the halls of which are filled with the mummified remains of former lovers. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Brigitte Helm
- 1932
Also known as Die Herrin von Atlantis, this expansive G. W. Pabst production is a remake of the 1921 Jacques Feyder film of the same name. Like the earlier film, the remake was largely shot in the Sahara Desert and cost a fortune to put together. Based on the best-selling novel by Pierre Benoit, the original story of adventure, sacrifice, fantasy and mysticism is largely dispensed with as Pabst focuses on the pivotal character of Anitnea, played by the always fascinating Brigitte Helm. Still, plenty of time is afforded the narrative of a group of French soldiers literally stumbling upon the underground city of Atlantis, their efforts to escape, and the ultimate destruction of the lost metropolis. Though Feyder's film is still the superior of the two versions, there is still much to recommend Pabst's L'Atlantide. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Brigitte Helm, Pierre Blanchar, (more)
Filmmaker G.W. Pabst's adaptation of Bertoldt Brecht and Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera (Die Dreisgoschenoper) is every bit as good as the stage original, and sometimes even better. Filmed in both German and French versions with different casts (a planned English-language version was abandoned), Threepenny is most readily available today in its German incarnation. Rudolf Forster stars as robber captain MacHeath -- aka Mackie Messer, or Mack the Knife -- who falls in love with Polly (Carola Neher), daughter of beggar king Peachum (Fritz Rasp). Despising MacHeath, Peachum plots the thief's downfall with his best friend, corrupt police official Tiger Brown (Reinhold Schunzel). The satirical "happy ending" of the original -- MacHeath, en route to the gallows, suddenly and without motivation promoted to knighthood! -- is altered somewhat by Pabst and his scenarists to accommodate a swipe against Depression-era bankers. Lotte Lenya, Weill's wife, brilliantly repeats her stage role as Pirate Jenny. Stylistically, Threepenny Opera is a Georg Grosz drawing come to life; despite its 1890s London setting, the film's calculatedly tawdry veneer is clearly meant to represent the wide-open Berlin of the 1930s. For the record: the French version of Threepenny Opera starred Albert Prejean as MacHeath. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rudolf Forster, Carola Neher, (more)
- 1931
Kameradschaft is set in a mining community on the French/German frontier, where several French miners are trapped in a cave-in. Their only hope for rescue lies in a long-abandoned underground tunnel, buried since the First World War. Ignoring the ethnic and political differences that have long separated the two countries, a group of German miners pick their way through the old tunnel to save the entombed Frenchmen. They do this despite the reluctance of the mine owners, who'd rather keep the nationalistic lines drawn, no matter how many lives it costs. When asked why they're willing to rescue the same people who'd forced their country into bankruptcy after the war, the German workmen reply "Miners are miners." Once the Frenchmen are brought to surface, however, the owners see to it that the borders knocked down by the Germans are quickly replaced; everything has changed, yet nothing has changed. Ironically, the German public, whose decency and humanity is celebrated in Kameradschaft, tended to avoid the film. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Andrée Ducret, Ernst Busch, (more)
- 1930
After completing his searing antiwar drama Westfront 1918, director G. W. Pabst shifted gears with the romantic seriocomedy Skandal um Eva (Scandalous Eva). Upon learning that her fiancee, the Minister of Finance, has fathered a child, schoolteacher Eva (Adele Sandrock) brings the kid to her home village, there to secretly care for the tot so as to avert scandal. Alas, before long Eve is falsely accused of being the unwed mother who brought the child into the world. Not only does she lose her teaching job, but she innocently sparks an investigation of the entire teaching staff. Only when several closeted skeletons have been revealed is Eva rescued from disgrace by her contrite fiance. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Adele Sandrock, Paul Henckels, (more)
- 1930
Westfront 1918 (aka Comrades of 1918) was the first talkie effort from German filmmaker G. W. Pabst, which he made for Nero Films, a production company headed up by Seymour Nebenzahl. Like the contemporary Hollywood production All Quiet on the Western Front, Pabst's film is a bitter, melancholy antiwar statement. The story concentrates on four German soldiers, sent to the front in the waning days of World War 1. The futility of killing an enemy who is already dead spiritually, and of being killed for a cause that has for all intents and purposes been resolved, is brought home to the viewer with both barrels. The astonishingly fluid camerawork of Fritz Arno puts the spectator in the thick of the battle, and the effect is both terrifying and heartbreaking To watch only a few moments of Westfront 1918, one might think that Pabst had been making sound pictures all his life, rather than a mere couple of months. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Fritz Kampers, Gustav Diessl, (more)
German filmmaker G.W. Pabst's late-silent classic Pandora's Box (Die Büchse der Pandora) stars the hauntingly beautiful Louise Brooks as libertine dancer Lulu. Ever out for the "main chance," Lulu persuades her wealthy lover Dr. Schön (Fritz Kortner) to marry her. But in a fit of jealous rage, he pulls a gun, a scuffle ensues, and she shoots him. Eventually escaping to London with the doctor's moonstruck son Alwa (Francis Lederer), Lulu takes up residence with her "adopted" father Schigolch (Carl Götz), where she is reduced to walking the streets, with tragic consequences. Pandora's Box (based on two works by the controversial German writer Franz Wedekind) exudes smoky sensuality in every frame; regarded now as a masterpiece, the film received surprisingly scathing reviews, with most of the critical broadsides aimed at Louise Brooks (this was long before Brooks graduated from just another pretty Hollywood starlet to Cult Goddess). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, (more)
- 1929
After his wife falls to her death in a glacier crevasse, Dr. Johannes Krafft (Gustav Diessl) wanders alone through the Bernina Alps and becomes known as the legendary "Spirit of the Mountain." He encounters Maria Majoni (Leni Riefenstahl) and Hans Brandt (Ernst Petersen) in a mountain shelter, and he and Maria find themselves drawn to each other. Krafft heads out alone the next day but is pursued by the jealous Hans. Maria goes after Hans, who breaks his leg trying to follow Krafft. She and Krafft stay with him, and a powerful storm threatens their lives. After several days Krafft attempts to climb down to get help but freezes to death. The rescue team finds Maria and Hans and returns them to safety. Note that this popular silent "mountain film" was also released in Germany in a shortened (92-minute) sound version in 1935. 29/127 ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
After his wife falls to her death in a glacier crevasse, Dr. Johannes Krafft (Gustav Diessl) wanders alone through the Bernina Alps and becomes known as the legendary "Spirit of the Mountain." He encounters Maria Majoni (Leni Riefenstahl) and Hans Brandt (Ernst Petersen) in a mountain shelter, and he and Maria find themselves drawn to each other. Krafft heads out alone the next day but is pursued by the jealous Hans. Maria goes after Hans, who breaks his leg trying to follow Krafft. She and Krafft stay with him, and a powerful storm threatens their lives. After several days Krafft attempts to climb down to get help but freezes to death. The rescue team finds Maria and Hans and returns them to safety. Note that this popular silent "mountain film" was also released in Germany in a shortened (92-minute) sound version in 1935. 29/127 ~ Nicole Gagne, Rovi
- Starring:
- Leni Riefenstahl, Ernst Petersen, (more)
German filmmaker G.W. Pabst and Hollywood expatriate Louise Brooks re-team after the success of Pandora's Box for the silent film Diary of a Lost Girl. On the day of her confirmation, innocent young Thymiane Henning (Brooks) is given a lockable diary as a present. She's distraught because the housekeeper Elisabeth (Sibylle Schmitz) is leaving under curious circumstances and turns up presumably dead. Her duties are taken over by the conniving Meta (Franziska Kinz), who accepts the advances of Thymiane's pharmacist father (Josef Ravensky). Trying to understand Elisabeth's fate, Thymiane agrees to meet her father's assistant, Meinert (Fritz Rasp). She passes out, he carries her up to her room, and by the next scene she has borne a child by him. Meta snoops in Thymiane's diary and finds out it was Meinert's baby, so she suggests they get married. Thymiane refuses, so they throw her in a creepy reformatory for fallen women and leave her baby with a midwife. While in the reformatory, she meets Erika (Edith Meinhard), with whom she eventually escapes. To escape from poverty and homelessness, the girls then become nominal prostitutes in a brothel and are "sexually liberated." ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Louise Brooks, Fritz Rasp, (more)
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