Hangmen, Women and Soldiers

Last updated
Hangmen, Women and Soldiers
Directed by Johannes Meyer
Written by
  • Max W. Kimmich
  • Jacob Geis (dialogues)
Produced by Bavaria Film company, Munich
Starring
Music by Peter Kreuder
Production
companies
Bavaria Studios, Geiselgasteig near Munich
Distributed byBavarian Film company, Munich
Release date
  • 19 December 1935 (1935-12-19)
CountryNazi Germany
LanguageGerman

Hangmen, Women and Soldiers (German : Henker, Frauen und Soldaten) is a propaganda film made by the German filmmaker Johannes Meyer in 1935. It was produced with the Bavaria film company in Munich. The screenplay was written by Max W. Kimmich and Jacob Geis after the novel A Fellow Named Prack written by Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen.

Contents

Summary

Cavalry captain Michael von Prack, a daredevil pilot in World War I, is taken prisoner by British troops in Asia Minor in 1918. He seizes the chance to escape to his homeland East Prussia with a ready-for-take-off British plane. At home, he gets caught up in the post-war turmoil.

In a bar, Michael comes across a captain who is recruiting former regular soldiers to fight in a Freikorps aligned with the White movement against the Red Army. Michael joins the troops and, at the same time, meets lovely Vera Iwanowna. She considers him to be his cousin, Russian general Alexej Alexandrowitsch von Prack, with whom she is in love, because the two men are as like as two peas. Alexej, who cannot stand his cousin Michael since their childhood, commands the Russian troops standing against the Freikorps.

While moving forward into the warzone, Michael re-meets Vera who is not only Alexej's lover, but also a Russian spy. Meanwhile, she has learned that he is Alexej's German cousin, but nevertheless spends a night with him before returning to the Russian headquarters.

When Alexej learns that Vera has met his hated cousin who is the commander of the enemy troops, he swears him death and sets a trap for the Freikorps by luring them into a swamp. In this situation he demands Michael to meet him personally, and the two men fight against each other. Alexej dies, Michael is severely wounded.

Because the latter is not wearing his uniform jacket, the Russians consider him to be the general and take him to their headquarters. Although Vera recognizes him immediately, Michael is able to act as the general and to discover important military secrets. He also gives the Russians orders that improve the situation of the Freikorps.

Meanwhile, Vera is wavering between love and patriotism. Finally she reveals everything to the Russian commissar because her patriotism is stronger than her love to Michael. The latter is, however, able to escape and to return to his soldiers before being arrested.

Now that they know the deployment plans of the Russians, the Freikorps attacks them from the back. Michael is killed in battle, Vera dies when the Freikorps shells the Russian headquarters.

Background

This film was made to defend the deployment of Freikorps in armed conflicts. It passed censorship on 11 December 1935 and was first shown to the public a week later. The movie was rated "artificially valuable" by film censors of the propaganda ministry. (This attribute was given to films that fulfilled special aesthetic criteria besides the actors' performances. It meant that cinemas had to pay a lower rate of entertainment tax when showing this film.)

Moreover, Goebbels himself was also taken by it (which did not always mean the same as pleasing the critics). On 11 December 1935 he wrote in his diary, "an exciting and adorable film with (Hans) Albers."

After the war, it was banned by the Allies.

Cast

actorrole
Hans Albers Cavalry captain Michael von Prack
(dual role)General Alexej Alexandrowitsch von Prack
Charlotte SusaVera Iwanowna
Jack TrevorCaptain MacCallum
Ernst Dumcke captain Eckau
Aribert Wäschergeneral manager Brosuleit
Hubert von Meyerinckcavalry captain Lensberg
Annie MarkartMarianne, called Mary
Otto WernickePieter Timm
Gustav PüttjerTetje Eckers
Fritz GenschowBuschke
Gerhard BienertKossmann

Related Research Articles

<i>Freikorps</i> 1760s–1940s German volunteer military units

Freikorps were irregular German and other European paramilitary volunteer units that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenaries or private military companies, regardless of their own nationality. In German-speaking countries, the first so-called Freikorps were formed in the 18th century from native volunteers, enemy renegades, and deserters. These sometimes exotically equipped units served as infantry and cavalry ; sometimes in just company strength and sometimes in formations of up to several thousand strong. There were also various mixed formations or legions. The Prussian von Kleist Freikorps included infantry, jäger, dragoons and hussars. The French Volontaires de Saxe combined uhlans and dragoons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter III of Russia</span> Emperor of Russia in 1762

Peter III Fyodorovich was Emperor of Russia from 5 January 1762 until 9 July of the same year, when he was overthrown by his wife, Catherine II. He was born in the German city of Kiel as Charles Peter Ulrich of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, the grandson of Peter the Great and great-grandson of Charles XI of Sweden.

<i>October: Ten Days That Shook the World</i> 1928 film

October: Ten Days That Shook the World is a 1928 Soviet silent propaganda film written and directed by Sergei Eisenstein and Grigori Aleksandrov. It is a celebratory dramatization of the 1917 October Revolution commissioned for the tenth anniversary of the event. Originally released in the Soviet Union as October, the film was re-edited and released internationally as Ten Days That Shook The World, after John Reed's popular 1919 book on the Revolution.

Ernst von Salomon was a German novelist and screenwriter. He was a Weimar-era national-revolutionary activist and right-wing Freikorps member.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Russian Volunteer Army</span> Russian warlords in the Baltic during the Russian Civil War

The West Russian Volunteer Army or Bermontians was a pro-German military formation in Latvia and Lithuania during the Russian Civil War from November 1918 to December 1919.

<i>Mephisto</i> (novel) 1936 novel by Klaus Mann

Mephisto – Novel of a Career is the sixth novel by German author Klaus Mann.

Max Wilhelm Kimmich, also known as M. W. Kimmich, was a German film director and screenwriter during the first half of the 20th century. He was the brother-in-law of Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels.

<i>The Fugitive from Chicago</i> 1934 German film

The Fugitive from Chicago is a German crime and adventure movie produced in 1933 by director Johannes Meyer. The screenplay was written by Max W. Kimmich, Hermann Oberländer and Hans Martin Cremer after the 1932 novel of the same title by Curt J. Braun. The film was a co-production between the film companies of Bavaria and Atalanta. Some scenes were shot at German motorcycle company Zündapp. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Max Seefelder and Erich Zander. It passed censorship on 23 January 1934 and was presented to the public on 31 January 1934 in Munich and on 22 February 1934 in Berlin.

<i>The Invisible Front</i> 1932 film

The Invisible Front is a 1932 German spy thriller film directed by Richard Eichberg and starring Trude von Molo, Karl Ludwig Diehl, Veit Harlan and Paul Hörbiger. The story was written by Robert A. Stemmle, Curt Siodmak and Max W. Kimmich, who also presented the idea of this film to his colleagues. It was made at the Johannisthal Studios in Berlin and on location in Hamburg. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Artur Günther and Willi Herrmann.

<i>Under False Flag</i> (1932 film) 1932 film

Under False Flag is a 1932 German spy thriller film directed by Johannes Meyer and starring Charlotte Susa, Gustav Fröhlich and Friedrich Kayssler. It was shot at the Johannisthal Studios in Berlin from the end of November 1931 to the beginning of 1932. It was made by Deutsche Universal, the German branch of Universal Pictures, in co-production with Tobis Film. The film's sets were designed by the art director Otto Hunte. It premiered at Berlin's Ufa-Palast am Zoo. The film was based on the novel of the same title by Max W. Kimmich, who also worked on the screenplay.

Artisten is a German circus movie from 1934 to 1935 starring Susi Lanner, Hans Junkermann, Hilde Hildebrand and Harry Piel, who also acted as director. The screenplay was written by Max W. Kimmich after the silent movie The secret of the circus Barré.

<i>Ever in My Heart</i> 1933 film

Ever in My Heart is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film directed by Archie Mayo and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Otto Kruger, and Ralph Bellamy. It portrays the tragic consequences of the virulent propaganda that spread false stories of atrocities and stigmatized anything German during the Great War.

<i>Frisians in Peril</i> 1935 Nazi Germany film

Frisians in Peril is a 1935 German drama film directed by Peter Hagen and starring Friedrich Kayßler, Jessie Vihrog and Valéry Inkijinoff. Made for Nazi propaganda purposes, it concerns a village of ethnic Frisians in Russia.

I Was Nineteen is a 1968 East German film produced by Konrad Wolf for the DEFA studio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurt Eggers</span> Nazi writer, poet, and soldier (1905–1943)

Kurt Eggers was a German writer, poet, songwriter, and playwright with close links to the Nazi Party. He served as both a member of a propaganda company (Propagandakompanie) and as a Waffen-SS soldier at the rank of Mann in World War II, he was killed while serving in a tank regiment on the Eastern Front by the Red Army.

<i>Goodbye, Franziska</i> (1941 film) 1941 film

Goodbye, Franziska is a 1941 German romance film directed by Helmut Käutner and starring Marianne Hoppe, Hans Söhnker and Fritz Odemar. It portrays the relationship between a globetrotting reporter and his devoted wife. The film was remade in 1957.

The Gambler is a 1938 German drama film directed by Gerhard Lamprecht and starring Eugen Klöpfer, Lída Baarová, and Hedwig Bleibtreu. It is based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1866 novel The Gambler. Due to the scandal over Baarová's affair with Joseph Goebbels, followed by her return to Czechoslovakia, the film was withdrawn from cinemas three days after its release. It was not given a release again until 1950. A similar fate had befallen another film of hers, A Prussian Love Story.

<i>Lake Placid Serenade</i> 1944 film by Steve Sekely

Lake Placid Serenade is a 1944 American musical romance film directed by Steve Sekely and starring Vera Ralston, Eugene Pallette and Barbara Jo Allen. Following the German invasion of Czechoslovakia a Czech ice-skating champion goes to stay with her Uncle in the United States.

<i>Salt to the Sea</i> 2016 novel by Ruta Sepetys

Salt to the Sea is a 2016 historical fiction young adult novel by Ruta Sepetys. It tells the story of four individuals in World War II who make their way to the ill-fated MV Wilhelm Gustloff. The story also touches on the disappearance of the Amber Room, a world-famous, ornately decorated chamber stolen by the Nazis that has never been recovered.

<i>A Thousand Red Roses Bloom</i> 1952 film

A Thousand Red Roses Bloom is a 1952 West German drama film directed by Alfred Braun and starring Rudolf Prack, Winnie Markus and O. W. Fischer. It was shot at the Göttingen Studios. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Hans Ledersteger and Ernst Richter.

References