Friesennot
| Friesennot | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Peter Hagen |
| Produced by |
Alfred Bittins (line producer) Dr. Scheunemann (line producer) Hermann Schmidt (producer) |
| Written by | Werner Kortwich (writer) |
| Starring | See below |
| Music by | Walter Gronostay |
| Cinematography | Sepp Allgeier |
| Edited by | W. Becker |
Release dates | 1935 |
Running time | 97 minutes (Germany) |
| Country | Nazi Germany |
| Language | German |
Friesennot is a 1935 German film directed by Peter Hagen.[1]
The film is also known as Dorf im roten Sturm (German reissue title) and Frisions in Distress (USA).
Plot
Communist authorities are making life as difficult as possible for a village of Volga Germans in the Soviet Union, with taxes and other oppression.[2] When Mette, a half-Russian, half-Frisian woman, becomes the girlfriend of Kommissar Tschernoff, the Frisians murder her and throw her body in the swamp.[3] Open violence breaks out, and the Red Army soldiers are all killed; the villagers set fire to their village and flee.[3]
Cast
- Friedrich Kayßler as Jürgen Wagner
- Helene Fehdmer as Kathrin Wagner
- Valéry Inkijinoff as Kommissar Tschernoff
- Jessie Vihrog as Das Mädchen Mette
- Hermann Schomberg as Klaus Niegebüll
- Ilse Fürstenberg as Dörte Niegebüll
- Kai Möller as Hauke Peters
- Fritz Hoopts as Ontje Ibs
- Martha Ziegler as Wiebke Detlevsen
- Gertrud Boll as Telse Detlevsen
- Maria Koppenhöfer as Frau Winkler
- Marianne Simson as Hilde Winkler
- Franz Stein as Christian Kröger
- Aribert Grimmer as Kommissar Krappien
Motifs
Despite Nazi hostility to religion, a cynical piece of anti-Communist propaganda depicts the Communists as posting obscene anti-religious posters, and the Frisians as piously declaring that all authority comes from God.[4]
The portrayal of Cherkov does not conform to the heavy-handed depiction of Communists as brutal and murderous in such films as Flüchtlinge; he is truly and passionately in love with Mette, and only with her death does he unleash his soldiers.[3] A villager objects to the affair on the grounds that even though her mother was Russian, her father's Frisian blood "outweighs" foreign blood, and therefore she must not throw herself at a foreigner.[3] Her murder is presented as in accordance with the Nazi principle of "race defilement."[5]
Ban and reversal
After the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, in 1939, the film was banned; in 1941, after the invasion of Russia, it was reissued under its new title.[6]
References
- ↑ "New York Times: Friesennot (1936)". NY Times. Retrieved 2010-10-31.
- ↑ Erwin Leiser, Nazi Cinema, pp. 39-40 ISBN 0-02-570230-0
- 1 2 3 4 Erwin Leiser, Nazi Cinema, p. 40 ISBN 0-02-570230-0
- ↑ Erwin Leiser, Nazi Cinema p40-1 ISBN 0-02-570230-0
- ↑ Richard Grunberger, The 12-Year Reich, p. 384, ISBN 0-03-076435-1
- ↑ Erwin Leiser, Nazi Cinema p. 41 ISBN 0-02-570230-0
External links
- Friesennot at the Internet Movie Database
- Friesennot is available for free download at the Internet Archive