Anna Susanna
Encyclopedia
Anna Susanna is an East German drama film
directed by Richard Nicolas. It was released in 1953.
, a rich businessman named Brinkmann decides sink his ship, Anna Susanna, so he would be compensated by the insurance. He orders its captain, Kleiers, to sabotage it while at sea. When Kleiers carries out his instructions, several sailors and passengers notice him. In a fight that ensues, the captain is killed, but not before he manage to shipwreck Anna Susanna. Only a handful of people survive the incident. After they return home, they discover that Brinkmann's insurance fraud worked and he was compensated. They sue him at court and manage to have him indicted.
and dedicated to the ideological struggle between capitalism and socialism. Anna Susanna was one of those. Although the film had a plot suiting the government's policy, the DEFA Board was very reluctant to allow Richard Nicolas, for whom the picture was his debut as a director, to make Anna Susanna. Nicolas had threatened to resign if he would not be allowed to direct it, and was eventually granted permission. The film was also noted for being one of the first DEFA pictures to employ primitive special effects, such as building a miniature ship model that was wrecked in an aquarium.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Richard Nicolas. It was released in 1953.
Plot
During the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, a rich businessman named Brinkmann decides sink his ship, Anna Susanna, so he would be compensated by the insurance. He orders its captain, Kleiers, to sabotage it while at sea. When Kleiers carries out his instructions, several sailors and passengers notice him. In a fight that ensues, the captain is killed, but not before he manage to shipwreck Anna Susanna. Only a handful of people survive the incident. After they return home, they discover that Brinkmann's insurance fraud worked and he was compensated. They sue him at court and manage to have him indicted.
Cast
- Günther SimonGünther Simon-Early life:A bank clerk's son, Simon attended an acting school already in Gymnasium. At the age of sixteen, he was sent to a pre-military training camp of the Hitler Youth and then drafted to the Reich Labour Service. He volunteered to join the paratroopers in August 1943...
as Orje - Peter Marx as Fietje
- Werner PetersWerner PetersWerner Peters was a German film actor. He appeared in 102 films between 1947 and 1971.Peters was born in Werlitzsch, Kreis Delitzsch, Prussian Saxony, and died of a heart attack on a promotion tour for his latest film in Wiesbaden, Germany.His film career started with the lead in Wolfgang...
as Kuddel - Harry Hindemith as Emil
- Herbert Richter as Kleiers
- Alfred Maack as Peer Frensen
- Maly Delschaft as Kuddel's mother
- Aribert Grimmer as Kuddel's father
- Arno Paulsen as Jan Brödel
- Werner Pledath as Brinkmann
- Fritz WagnerFritz WagnerFritz Wagner was an Austrian entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera.Fritz Wagner was an insect dealer in Vienna from 1902 to 1905 as a partner in the firm Ortner Brothers & Co....
as Uwe Frahm - Hans Olaf Moser as Wesener
- Klaus Dirks as Lütt Heini
- Lothar Firmans as Van Diemen
- Jürgen Grundling as Jochen-Jürgen
Production
During 1952, as the government control over DEFA tightened, the studio produced only six films, all of them influenced by the Cold WarCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
and dedicated to the ideological struggle between capitalism and socialism. Anna Susanna was one of those. Although the film had a plot suiting the government's policy, the DEFA Board was very reluctant to allow Richard Nicolas, for whom the picture was his debut as a director, to make Anna Susanna. Nicolas had threatened to resign if he would not be allowed to direct it, and was eventually granted permission. The film was also noted for being one of the first DEFA pictures to employ primitive special effects, such as building a miniature ship model that was wrecked in an aquarium.
Reception
Heinz Kersten quoted an East German official who told that "the times in which pictures like Anna Susanna, that damaged the image of DEFA in the eyes of the people... should not return." The West German Catholic Film Service described it as "rather well-developed, thrilling crime film... but filled with typical criticism of the capitalist system."External links
- Anna Susanna original poster on ostfilm.de.
- Anna Susanna on cinema.de.
- Anna Susanna on DEFA Foundation's website.
- Anna Susanna on PROGRESS' website.