Douglas Sirk is best known for his lavish Hollywood
melodramas of the 1950s such as Magnificent Obsession (1954) and All
That Heaven Allows (1955) – both featuring Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman – up
to Imitation of Life (1959) with Lana Turner and John Gavin. In 1955 he
went to Ireland to film Captain Lightfoot with Hudson and it is here
that he directed my Uncle Mike Nolan who played Willie the Goat! It’s an
under-rated film but perhaps one for another day… Rock did give Mike a bracelet
which he then gave to our Thelma though.
Born Hans Detlef Sierck in 1897 Sirk made a number of films
in his native Germany before leaving in 1937 unable to risk the persecution of
his Jewish wife. This set highlights three features all of which foreshadow the
above later work with romantic tales that deal with clashes of cultures, the
differing worlds of the rich and poor, the morally superior and “inferior”,
royalty and new money. In these films people move in different circles and
there’s plenty of social commentary as individuals connect in transgressive
ways. The Power of Love but so much more.
I had to start with The Girl from Marsh Croft (Das
Mädchen vom Moorhof) (1935) as it is based on Nobel laureate Selma Lagerlöf’s
novella from 1908 which was first adapted for film by Victor Sjöström in 1917
starring Lars Hanson and Greta Almroth. The author was pleased with the outcome
– she was by no means easily convinced – but I don’t know how she viewed this
version. For me, it’s an equally good reading of the story with the focus on
the moral strength of the titular character and the Christian faith and boggy
myths that inform her thinking.
Helga Christmann is a wonderful creation here played by
Hansi Knoteck who gives a performance of remarkable stillness and expressive
tone, she had trained in ballet and her physicality is an important part of her
impression here. She plays a lowly farm girl from the marshy edges of the
community who has a child following an affair with the married farmer who
employed her, Marten (Carl Jönsson). Driven by circumstance as well as morality
she takes him to court for income support only to withdraw her claim to prevent
him perjuring himself by swearing on the bible.
The judge shakes her hand, recognising her moral courage
and she also impresses Karsten Dittmar (Kurt Fischer-Fehling) who subsequently
gets her employment at his family farm after following her to the Marsh Croft
as she contemplates her mortality. Sirk is in no doubt as to where our
sympathies should be and he also presents the film with the lyrical beauty
often found in Lagerlöf’s work. Soon Karsten is engaged to Gertrud Gerhart
(Ellen Frank) from the richest farm in the area and she sees Helga as a threat
but the rarest of Helga’s qualities is that she always does the right thing and
what she feels she must do for everyone else, even at a cost to herself.
She is the most morally consistent character and whilst
other’s learn from their mistakes as they go they eventually learn from her
too. In his commentary Sirk expert David Melville Wingrove points out that in
Sweden even working women such as Helga would have been educated enough to
stand firm at this point but less so in the Germany Sirk relocated the story too
but that only makes Helga more remarkable and I’m sure Selma would have agreed.
Some have described the film as a prototypical Heimatfilm
which would place it firmly among the rural tales of nuclear family favoured by
the Nazis and other extremists but whilst Wingrove brushes this aside I would
agree given the still challenging nature if Helga’s situations; she’s a single
mother with agency who follows her God and conscience first and foremost. To
date the story has been made into seven films so the resonance is way beyond
German nationalism and Selma’s proto-feminism drives the appeal.
Far from portraying a rural idyll, Sirk depicts an almost noirish view of the countryside, inhabited by proud, superstitious and reserved folk living in medieval dwellings and according to unforgiving social norms.
Tim Bergfelder, Professor of Film Studies at the
University of Southampton – booklet essay.
Sirk’s first feature April! April! (1934) the German announcement for April Fool! is an altogether different being a comedy of manners, deference, pasta manufacture and royalty with a surprisingly common touch… It too deals with behaviours of sectors of society and, in this case the hubris of the nouveau rich. Julius Lampe (Erhard Siedel) is a self-made pasta magnet whose product has bought him wealth and an arrogant assurance. Along with his wife, Mathilde (Lina Carstens) he hosts extravagant social occasions in which the gathered people of means must endure their ceaseless boasting.
One friend, Finke (Paul Westermeier) decides to teach
them a lesson and sends them a letter supposedly from the Prince von
Holsten-Böhlau, placing a large order for Lampe's noodles to take on an African
expedition. The Lampes cannot contain their glee and read the good news out to the
gathered throng forcing Finke to double down and pretending to be the Prince’s
PA, phone up to arrange a visit to their factory.
Now things get complicated as Lampes discovers the
deception but cannot lose face so arranges for a man named Müller (Hubert von
Meyerinck) to play at being the Prince only for the real Prince (a splendid
turn from Albrecht Schoenhals) to see the story in the newspaper and decide to
visit for himself. Confusion reigns as the fresh Prince gets mistaken for the
real one and vice versa with Lampes treating his royal highness as if he’s the
phoney. Meanwhile the journey’s not a fruitless one for the actual Prince as he
takes a shine to Lampes’ secretary Friedel (Carola Höhn) who is as
down-to-earth as her employers are on another planet.
It's a hoot and showcases the German sense of humour as
well as Sirk’s already impressive skills of performance management and
narrative control.
The final feature, Pillars of Society (Stützen der
Gesellschaft, 1935) was the director’s third and took it’s inspiration
again from Scandinavia, this time Norwegian writer Henrik Ibsen’s 1878 play. It’s
a tale impossible to separate from the circumstances of its making with enough
anti-capitalist/corrupting greed to satisfy both left and right as well as
being what Bergfelder calls “an advance in Sirk’s staging and editing”. It’s
very much a Play for Today featuring a corrupt and lying man who sacrifices the
truth for profit and also has more children than he knows how to betray…
Oddly enough it also starts off in the United States
where émigré Johann Tonnessen (Albrecht Schoenhals) has made a success as a
farmer and after twenty years away decides to accompany his friend’s circus on
their tour of his home country. This is inevitably going to be bad news for his
former friend and business partner, Consul Karsten Bernick (Heinrich George)
who is the titular pillar of society with wife Betty (Maria Krahn), ward Dina
(Suse Graf) and his beloved son Olaf (Horst Teetzmann) who is strangely
obsessed with America, cowboys and Native Americans.
Consul Bernick has lied his way to the top though, falsely
accusing Johann of embezzlement to cover his mismanagement of the shipping firm
they used to run together and so the latter gets the coolest of welcomes on his
return even though both Dina and Olaf are immediately interested in Uncle
Johanne’s adventures in the land of the free. Bernick has also spread the word
that Dina is Johanne’s illegitimate daughter when in fact she is the result of
his indiscretion.
Be sure, however, that your sins will find you out and
sure enough everything unravels for the Consul as it is revealed that Johann committed
no crime and his daughter is actually Bernick’s. As Bernick tries to buy
himself time he forces one of his ships to set sail before being fully refitted
and it steams off into trouble during a storm with Olaf stowed away in search
of America…
There’s some splendid work as the ship battles the storm
and Johann joins the locals in trying to rescue the boy… Will Bernick’s tragic
lies create even more sorrow? Once
again, Sirk deals with different worlds and the natural justice for those who
are true to themselves and others; it’s an affecting film even knowing that Heinrich
George went on to make propaganda films for the new regime.
Also included in the set are Sirk’s shorts Two
Greyhounds (Zwei Windhunde) (1934), Three Times Before (3 x Ehe) (1934)
and The Imaginary Invalid (Der eingebildete Kranke) (1935). These
were Sirk’s first three projects at UFA and gave him a chance to show what he
could do away from the stage and with the help of experienced hands at the
studio. All the films are on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK from
brand-new restorations by the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation.
It’s quite the package and provides an invaluable
introduction to the formative work of this major director as well as a snapshot
of German filmmaking during the early years of the Nazi government. By 1937 he
had escaped with his wife to first France and then onto the USA and new stories
which would eventually see him placed in the highest regard. This is where it
all began.
There’s a must-have limited edition of just 2,000 copies
including and O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Scott Saslow along with
the following features:
·
New audio commentaries on all three features by
Sirk expert David Melville Wingrove
·
Magnificent Obsessions – a new interview
with film historian Sheldon Hall who gives an excellent overview of Sirk’s
career from Germany to Hollywood
·
Optional English subtitles on all features and
shorts
·
Alternate “sound” presentation of Three Times
Before (made at the same time as the “silent version,” the original sound
reel no longer exists – this version is presented with subtitles)
·
A limited collector’s booklet featuring a new
extended essay on Sirk’s early works by German cinema expert Professor Tim
Bergfelder
The set is released on Monday 24th February
so do not hesitate in placing your pre-order NOW via the Eureka website!
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