|
Survey of German Film Minutes for 9/27/04 David Ledbetter
Films of the Third Reich
Overview
-Watch and discuss clips of various Nazi period films and analyze the reasoning behind particular portions of the films.
Clips
-S.A. Mann Brand (Franz Seitz, 1933) -Hitlerjunge Quex (Hanz Steinhoff, 1933) -Gluckskinder (Paul Martin, 1936) -Woman of My Dreams (1943)
Discussion
S.A. Mann Brand:
-Nazi party announced as winner and immediately man of family begins to assume power over his wife -Communists are rounded up and arrested -Jewish industrial threatened and forced to leave -Nazi’s march through the streets with the flag -Goebbels disliked the film and said “Nazi’s belong on the street, not on the screen.”
Hitlerjunge Quex
-Director foregrounds the irresponsible characteristics of the communist children in the clip versus the structure and clean cut portrayal of the Nazi campers -Film is shown today with over the top explanatory notes to discourage the Nazi message -Nazi’s shown as sophisticated and appeal to the audience -Main character dies as a martyr for the Nazi’s -Goebbels did not object to the film due to the positive portrayal of the Nazi’s and the emotional response it called forth.
Gluckskinder
-German Comedy -Film set in New York -Was most likely not dubbed or subtitled when it played NY.
Woman of My Dreams
-Film in color -Rokk sings “Don’t Look Left, Don’t Look Right” with a strong text that life would go on even if the war was a failing cause -May have been let through censorship to entertain in the context that the Nazi’s stood for
Power Point Presentation
Hitlerjunge Quex
-Conflation of two legends -Influence of Weimar Cinema -Heinrich George conversion -Nazi party as substitute parent -Transfiguration of hero -Nazi iconography
Gluckskinder
-Substitute for It Happened One Night -Comedic subversion -No Nazi iconography -Hollywood references
Woman of My Dreams
-German Dance Film -No Nazi iconography -Conservative social themes -Marika Rokk (German Dance Star)
|