Gerhart Hauptmann

TV adaptation of Michael Thalheimer's production at the Deutsches Theater Berlin.

Dorothea Angermann the daughter of a clergyman is accused of the murder of her husband, a brutal man that she was obliged to marry because she was pregnant and he was the father of the baby.

West Germany's entry in the 1957 Cannes Film Festival was this cinemadaptation of the Gerhardt Hauptman play Rose Bernd. The title character, played by Maria Schell, is a servant girl on a remote farm. Sexually assaulted by both her employer and a coworker, Rose later bears a child, who die soon afterward. After nearly two hours of unrelieved misery, Rose finally finds happiness in the arms of a longtime admirer (where has he been for the past 12 reels?) Rose Bernd (aka The Sins of Rose Bernd) received a smattering of American showings thanks to the drawing power of star Maria Schell.

After the fall and before the wall.

Mother Wolffen, a washerwoman, is a woman of principle: A poor man must do what he must to get through life, only he mustn't get caught doing it. All sorts of crooked deals contribute to the improvement of the daily menu and the increase of household funds. When everyone is searching for pensioner Krueger's missing beaverskin coat, Mother Wolffen and her family are calmly enjoying fresh roast venison.

Der Herrscher (The Sovereign) was based on Before Sunset, a play by Gerhart Hauptmann. The great Emil Jannings stars as Mathias Clausen, a self-made businessman who is forced to do a great deal of soul-searching when his wife unexpectedly dies. Determining to start life anew, he falls in love with his secretary Inken (Marianne Hoppe) and impulsively takes a vacation to Italy. Clausen's selfish grown children, not wishing to share their father's affections -- nor his money -- with his new wife-to-be, go to court demanding that Clausen be declared mentally incompetent. Upon finding this out, Clausen flies into a rage, leaving the audience to wonder whether or not he really as gone off his trolley. Der Herrscher was directed by Veit Harlan, more famous (or notorious) for his viciously anti-Semitic Jud Suess (1940).

Die Weber (1927), a rousing German tale of the 1844 weavers’ revolution.

The perfect body as an object of cult worship. Based on the mass sports and body worship movement of the 1920s, the film propagates physical training and shows in stylized documentary scenes aspects of physical hygiene, gymnastics, sports and dancing as well as scenes in which supposed sportsmen of antiquity pose naked.

무르나우의 가장 중요한 영화 중 한 편이자 오랜 세월 동안 사라졌다가 기적적으로 복원된 “잃어버린” 걸작. 현재는 무르나우의 영화적 발전에서 “미싱 링크”에 해당하는 작품으로 여겨지고 있다. 게르하르트 하우프트만의 소설을 느슨하게 각색한 작품으로, 성적 고착과 죽음의 악몽 같은 세계를 몽타주와 트릭효과를 통해 마법과도 같이 그려내고 있다. 시골마을의 서기로 아마추어 시인이기도 한 로렌츠는 어느 날 거리에서 아름다운 여자와 스쳐지나가게 된다. 그녀의 이미지에 사로잡힌 로렌츠는 마침내 아주 비슷하게 생긴 창녀를 찾아내어 그녀와 똑같은 모습으로 만들려 한다. 그러나 그의 집착은 해소되지 않고, 오히려 숙모와 그 정부의 손아귀에 붙잡혀 살인을 저지르도록 조종당한다. 인물 위에 드리워지는 그림자의 움직임을 통해 카오스의 이미지를 만들어내는 몽타주 시퀀스가 탁월하며, 무르나우의 작품 중 가장 불안정하고 강박적인 분위기를 가진 작품이다. 프리츠 랑의〈메트로폴리스〉에서 자본가 역을 맡았던 알프레드 아벨이 몽유병적인 젊은 시인으로 출연하여 인상적인 연기를 보여준다. (2005년 한국시네마테크협의회 - 무르나우 회고전)

A young woman is abused or abandoned by the men in her life.

Die Ratten was produced by actress and singer Grete Ly. Her company, Grete Ly-Film, made five films between 1919 and 1921. Die Ratten, which is based on the play of the same name by Gerhart Hauptmann, was the last one. Hauptmann, one of the most important promoters of literary naturalism, had received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1912. The screen adaptation of his play is beautifully photographed in a realistic style by Karl Freund, one of best German cameraman of that time who also worked with directors such as Lang, Murnau, Dreyer, Dupont and Ruttmann. Moreover, the cast of Die Ratten also acts in a very naturalistic way, far from the affected expressionistic style. Die Ratten was made on a modest budget, but the collaboration of an excellent team produced a film that was ahead of its time.

An adaptation of the Gerhart Hauptmann play of the same name. A young farmer's daughter is used and abused by the men in her life.

Overwhelmed by personal and professional problems, biologist Friedrich von Kammacher decides to travel abroad in order to regain the joy of living. During his adventurous journey he will meet two very different women, one of whom will be the key to his fate.