Die Große Liebe
Encyclopedia
- For the 1931 film directed by Otto Preminger, see Die große LiebeDie große Liebe (1931 film)Die große Liebe is a 1931 Austrian drama film directed by Otto Preminger, the first of his career. The screenplay by Artur Berger and Siegfried Bernfeld is based on a true story.-Plot:...
.
Die grosse Liebe or Die große Liebe (The Great Love) is a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
drama film
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...
of the National Socialist period, made by Rolf Hansen
Rolf Hansen (director)
Rolf Hansen was a German film director. He directed 20 films between 1936 and 1960.-Selected filmography:* Die grosse Liebe * Dr. Holl * Desires...
, starring Zarah Leander
Zarah Leander
Zarah Leander was a Swedish actress and singer.Leander began her career in the late 1920s, and by the mid 1930s her success in Europe, particularly in Germany and the Scandinavian countries, led to invitations to work in the United States...
and Viktor Staal
Viktor Staal
-Selected filmography:* Ride to Freedom * Spy for Germany * Der Jäger von Fall * The Standard -External links:...
. It premiered in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
in 1942
1942 in film
The year 1942 in film involved some significant events, in particular the release of a film consistently rated as one of the greatest of all time, Casablanca.-Events:...
and went on to become the most commercially successful film in the history of the Third Reich.
Story
The attractive Oberleutnant Paul Wendlandt is stationed in North Africa as a fighter pilot. While in Berlin to deliver a report he is given a day's leave, and on the stage of the cabaret theatre "Skala" sees the popular Danish singer Hanna Holberg. For Paul it is love at first sight. When Hanna visits friends after the end of the performance, he follows her, and speaks to her in the U-BahnBerlin U-Bahn
The Berlin is a rapid transit railway in Berlin, the capital city of Germany, and is a major part of the public transport system of that city. Opened in 1902, the serves 173 stations spread across ten lines, with a total track length of , about 80% of which is underground...
. After the party in her friends' flat he accompanies her home, and chance throws them further together when an air raid warning forces them to take cover in the air raid shelter. Hanna reciprocates Paul's feelings, but after a night spent together Paul has to return immediately to the front.
There now follows a whole series of misunderstandings, and one missed opportunity after another. While Hanna waits in vain for some sign of life from Paul, he is flying on missions in North Africa. When he tries to visit her in her Berlin flat, she is giving a Christmas concert in Paris. Nevertheless their bond grows in strength and arouses the jealousy of the composer Rudnitzky, who is also in love with the singer. Paul asks Hanna in a letter to marry him. However, when he is finally able to visit her, he is called away again on the night before the wedding. Hanna, disappointed, leaves for Rome, where she has to make a guest appearance. Even when Paul manages to get three weeks' leave and follows Hanna to Rome, the wedding has still to be postponed: Paul feels so strongly that he is needed at the front that he goes back even though he has not been ordered to do so. Hanna does not understand this, and there is an argument, after which Paul thinks he has lost her for ever.
The war against the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
breaks out (1941) and Paul and his friend Etzdorf are sent to the Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
. When Etzdorf is killed, Paul writes a farewell letter to Hanna, to make the dangers of his missions easier to bear. Only when he himself has been shot down and wounded and is sent to a military hospital in the mountains does he see Hanna again, who is still prepared to marry him. The last shots of the film show the happy couple, confident in the future, looking skywards where squadrons of German bombers fly past.
Musical numbers
- Davon geht die Welt nicht unter ("It's Not the End of the World")
- Blaue Husaren (Heut' kommen die blauen Husaren) ("Today the Blue Hussars Are Coming")
- Ich weiß, es wird einmal ein Wunder gescheh'n ("I Know a Miracle Will Happen")
- Mein Leben für die Liebe - Jawohl! ("My Life for Love - Jawohl!")
All the songs were composed by Michael Jary
Michael Jary
Michael Jary was a German composer.- Early years :...
, with lyrics by Bruno Balz
Bruno Balz
Bruno Balz was a German songwriter and schlager writer.From the time he wrote the music for the first German sound film until his retirement in the 1960s, Balz was responsible for the lyrics to over a thousand popular hits...
and sung by Zarah Leander. "Davon geht die Welt nicht unter" and "Ich weiß, es wird einmal ein Wunder gescheh'n" were two of the biggest hits of the National Socialist period, and because of their political subtexts were much approved of and promoted by the authorities. After 1942, as the military situation became more and more unfavourable to Germany, they became a staple element of the prevalent informal propaganda geared to "seeing it through".
Nowadays, "Ich weiss, es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehen" and "Davon geht die Welt nicht unter" are idioms in German language.
Cast
The starring roles were played by Zarah LeanderZarah Leander
Zarah Leander was a Swedish actress and singer.Leander began her career in the late 1920s, and by the mid 1930s her success in Europe, particularly in Germany and the Scandinavian countries, led to invitations to work in the United States...
as Hanna Holberg and Viktor Staal
Viktor Staal
-Selected filmography:* Ride to Freedom * Spy for Germany * Der Jäger von Fall * The Standard -External links:...
as Paul Wendlandt.
Other parts were played as follows:
- Grethe WeiserGrethe WeiserGrethe Weiser was a German actress.- Biography :Born in Hanover, she spent her childhood in Dresden. She escaped from her dominant and sometimes violent father by marrying a Jewish confectionery manufacturer in 1920. Her only child, a son, was born in 1922...
: Käthe, Hanna's dresser - Paul HörbigerPaul HörbigerPaul Hörbiger was an Austrian theatre and film actor.-Life and work:Paul Hörbiger was born in Budapest, the son of Hans Hörbiger, an engineer who wrote Welteislehre on glacial cosmology, and elder brother of actor Attila Hörbiger. In 1902 the family returned to Vienna, while Paul attended the...
: Alexander Rudnitzky, composer - Wolfgang PreissWolfgang PreissWolfgang Preiss was a German theatre, film and television actor.The son of a teacher, in the early 1930s Preiss studied philosophy, German and drama. He also took private acting classes with Hans Schlenck, making his stage début in Munich in 1932...
: Oberleutnant von Etzdorf - Hans Schwarz jr.: Alfred Vanloo, artist
- Leopold von Ledebur: Herr von Westphal
- Julia Serda: Jenny von Westphal
- Victor JansonVictor Janson-Selected filmography:* So You Don't Know Korff Yet? * The Leghorn Hat * The Way to Freedom * Rembrandt * Peter Voss, der Millionendieb * The Marriage of Figaro * Professor Nachtfalter...
: Mocelli, theatre director - Agnes WindeckAgnes WindeckAgnes Windeck was a German theatre and film actress. She appeared in 55 films between 1939 and 1973.She was born in Hamburg and started her career at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus. She later worked as a teacher at the drama school of the Deutsches Theater in Berlin...
: Hann's mother - Paul BildtPaul BildtPaul Hermann Bildt was a German film actor. He appeared in over 180 films between 1910 and 1956. He was born and died in Berlin, Germany.- Selected filmography :* Ludwig II: Glanz und Ende eines Königs...
: Head waiter - Erich DunskusErich DunskusErich Dunskus was a German film actor. He appeared in 170 films between 1927 and 1966.He was born in Pillkallen, East Prussia and died in Hagen, Germany.-Selected filmography:* Friedemann Bach...
: man with dog - Olga EnglOlga EnglOlga Engl was an Austrian stage and motion picture actress who appeared nearly 200 films during her career in the film industry....
: old lady in block of flats - Karl EtlingerKarl EtlingerKarl Etlinger was a German film actor. He appeared in 117 films between 1914 and 1946.-Selected filmography:* Nosferatu * Phantom * Gräfin Donelli * One Does Not Play with Love...
: man with admission tickets - Ilse Fürstenberg: air raid shelter attendant
- Grete Reinwald: mother in air raid shelter
- Ewald Wenck: Berlin taxi driver
- Just Scheu: Alfred Vanloo's brother
- Erna SellmerErna Sellmer-Selected filmography:* Port of Freedom * Murderers Among Us * Corinna Schmidt * Das Herz von St. Pauli * Münchhausen in Afrika * Homesick for St. Pauli * Charleys Onkel...
: ticket collector
National Socialist propaganda
In its blend of entertainment and propaganda elements the film is paradigmatic for National Socialist cinema in much the same way as WunschkonzertWunschkonzert
Wunschkonzert is a 1940 German drama propaganda film by Eduard von Borsody. After Die grosse Liebe, it was the most popular film of wartime Germany, reaching the second highest gross.-Background:...
, after Die grosse Liebe the next most popular film of the National Socialist period. While on the one hand the suspensefully presented love story, with its images of the North African desert, Paris and Rome, as well as the extravagant show numbers, constitutes an invitation to dream, yet on the other hand "Die grosse Liebe" urges adjustment to the realities of war at all levels. Not love, but war, is the real theme of the film. This is despite omitting any background for, or events in, the war.
The film does not just contain original material from the "Die Deutsche Wochenschau
Die Deutsche Wochenschau
Die Deutsche Wochenschau is a series of German newsreels from 1940 until the end of World War II.After the invasion of Poland , the Nazis consolidated four separate newsreel production efforts into one...
" with pictures of German attacks on the English channel coast: the war determines the whole action of the film. The lesson that Hanna Holberg, and with her the entire public, has to absorb, is the insignificance of individual striving for happiness in times in which higher values - here, the military victory of Germany in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
- come to the fore. The film does not gain its political impact by simply urging renunciation or "going without" in difficult times, but by setting off individual happiness against duties which go far beyond the requirements of ordinary military duties. Paul is not concerned about behaving with military correctness, but about his desire to make his contribution to Germany's military victory. He renounces Hanna, not because of military orders recalling him to the front but in order to serve the national cause and if necessary to sacrifice his life for Germany. In the process Hanna learns that waiting and renunciation in war have not only to be accepted as fate, but constitute the really "great love". She learns to bravely send him back to his squadron, singing, "The World's Not Going To End Because of This".
The film owes by far the greatest part of its attractiveness to Zarah Leander's performance. When she was selected for the role she had already established a strong profile as an expressive portrayer of self-aware, mature, emotionally stable women, whose plans and lives were thrown into disarray by unexpected blows of fate. The director Rolf Hansen, working with her here for the second time, had the good idea of teaming her up with a weak and relatively insignificant male lead, who was scarcely capable of playing against the weight of her presence. The suffering laid upon Hanna Holberg by her unfulfilled love gained, by the fact that she was profoundly misunderstood, an important additional element that deeply impressed the public.
In order to impress also by its modernity, the film took the risk of making - for the time - an unprecedentedly realistic representation of day-to-day wartime life, and shows rationing of food, air raid warnings and hours spent waiting in air raid shelters. Admittedly it never shows these things without taking care always to point out how to maintain at all times care for others and good humour, however difficult the circumstances. All levels of society are depicted as pitching in together, with the heroine coming to know those of much lower social level in the course of the film. Hanna learns thereby to overcome her snobbishness, manifested in her singing for wounded soldiers.
The depiction of Zarah Leander was also unusual, in that in this film she wore ordinary day clothes, lived in a normal Berlin rented flat and even travelled on the U-Bahn.
Production and reception
The interior scenes for "Die grosse Liebe" were filmed from 23 September 1941 to early October 1941 in the Tobis-Sascha-Studio in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
- better known as the Rosenhügel Film Studios - and in the Carl Froelich
Carl Froelich
Carl August Froelich was a German film pioneer and film director.-Apparatus builder and cameraman:...
sound studio in Berlin-Tempelhof
Tempelhof
Tempelhof is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. It is the location of the former Tempelhof Airport, one of the earliest commercial airports in the world. It is now deserted and shows as a blank spot on maps of Berlin. Attempts are being made to save the still-existing...
. The exterior scenes had been filmed in Berlin and Rome by the middle of March 1942. The film was submitted to the Film Censor's Office on 10 June 1942 (Prüf-Nr. B. 57295) when it had a length of 2,738 metres or 100 minutes and was classified as suitable for minors and for public holiday viewing. It was distributed by the UFA
Universum Film AG
Universum Film AG, better known as UFA or Ufa, is a film company that was the principal film studio in Germany, home of the German film industry during the Weimar Republic and through World War II, and a major force in world cinema from 1917 to 1945...
-owned Deutsche Filmvertriebs GmbH (DFV). On 18 April 1944 it was re-submitted, now with a length of 2,732 metres (B. 60163), and was re-classified as before.
The premiere took place on 12 June 1942 in Berlin, in the Germania-Palast cinema on the Frankfurter Allee
Frankfurter Allee
The Frankfurter Allee is one of the oldest roads of Berlin, the capital city of Germany. It extends the Karl-Marx-Allee from Frankfurter Tor in the direction of the city of Frankfurt . It is part of Bundesstraße 1 and has a length of ....
and the UFA-Palast am Zoo cinema. Die grosse Liebe became the greatest commercial film success of the Third Reich. It was seen by 27 million spectators and took 8 million Reichsmarks, having cost 3 million to produce. The Film Censor's Office pronounced it "politically valuable", '"artistically valuable" and "valuable for the people" - a combination of accolades also granted, for example, to Gerhard Lamprecht
Gerhard Lamprecht
Gerhard Lamprecht was a German film director and screenwriter. He directed 63 films between 1920 and 1958. He also wrote for 26 films between 1918 and 1958...
's nationalist hero biography "Diesel" (also 1942).
After the end of World War II the Allied Control Commission forbade the film to be screened. In 1963 however it was submitted to the FSK
FSK
FSK can have alternative meanings:* Federal Counterintelligence Service, , Federal Counterintelligence Service of Russia)...
, who approved its re-release subject to cuts, which were however disregarded by the distributors: the film was shown with a preliminary warning but with no cuts. Further cuts were made in 1980. "Die grosse Liebe" is commercially available as a video and DVD in a German only 90-minute version. Distribution rights are now the property of Transit-Film GmbH.