The Trial [1962] (4 Stars)

Amazon Friday #7

I'm becoming more and more certain that my Amazon Friday feature is worth while. When I checked my Amazon watch list this afternoon I was told that today is the last day that "The Trial" is available. I was just in time.

I read the novel "The Trial" when I was at school. I must have been about 16. In fact, I read all of Kafka's novels. A disadvantage of this is that I get them mixed up. They deal with similar topics, so I can remember things I read, but not which book they happened in.

"The Trial" is about a man called Joseph K. He's arrested and put on trial, but he's not told what the crime is. He's recommended a lawyer by his uncle, but the lawyer is sick with an unnamed illness and rarely gets out of bed. The lawyer's mistress attempts to seduce K, but he resists her. In fact, every young woman that K meets attempts to seduce him. He's told that women are attracted to condemned men, so their feelings for him are the proof that he will be found guilty.

The courtroom is full of men who cheer loudly when K proclaims his innocence. It makes no difference. He's still found guilty.

It's not just the courtroom that's large and anonymous. K's office is full of men and women who sit all day typing.

Orson Welles is best known for his film "Citizen Kane", which is often considered the best film ever made. Orson Welles himself didn't share this opinion. He claimed that "The Trial" was his best film.

It's a good film, but there are a few things about it that I don't like. The voiceover in the opening scene is annoying. I don't need anyone to tell me what the film is about. The explanation seems condescending. There's also a problem with Anthony Perkins' performance as K. In the opening scenes he's clumsy and inept. I'm certain that K wasn't like this in the novel. When he speaks in court he becomes eloquent in his own defence. After the court he becomes clumsy again. I don't like this inconsistency. I don't understand why Orson Welles made the film like this. He was a highly skilled director, so it must have been deliberate.

After watchingthe trial today I wish that the book could be filmed again. In the hands of the right director it could be one of the best films ever made.

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Die Deutschmeister (4½ Stars)

Before I sat down to watch this German musical comedy I had no idea what "Deutschmeister" means. I had to look it up. It's the name of an Austrian military regiment that existed from 1696 to 1918. As a proper name it can't be translated and has to be left in its original form. The film itself was released in English with the title "A March for the Emperor".

The film takes place in 1893, and it uses the fictional character Stanzi Hübner (played by 16-year-old Romy Schneider) to tell the story of the Austrian composer Willi Jurek, who lived from 1870 to 1934.

The film opens with pretty girls running down the mountains of Austria singing happy songs. If you think this sounds like "The Sound of Music", you're dead right. "The Sound of Music" was based on "Die Deutschmeister" and similar German Heimatfilme of the 1950's.

Stanzi (in the middle) is a farmer's daughter who lives in a mountain pasture near Salzburg. All the young people go to a yearly fair in the city, waving flower garlands and singing happy songs as they go. A fortune teller predicts that Stanzi will meet two men in Vienna, one of them a nobleman, the other an artist, and she'll bring happiness to a relative. That's a very precise prediction. She asks her mother for permission to visit her aunt in Vienna.

On arrival in Vienna she sees a woman drop a handkerchief, so she follows her into a building to give it back. It's a costume ball for the city's social elite. She's praised for her realistic looking peasant dress. She dances first with a prince, then with a baron. The handkerchief she's carrying identifies her as a countess. Baron Zorndorff falls head over heels in love with her. The next day he visits the countess's aunt and asks for permission to marry her. This is the funniest part of the film. It's the wrong woman, but the countess's aunt persuades him to go ahead with the marriage – "you can always get divorced three years from now" – and he persuades the countess that she met him at the ball while she was sleepwalking.

That's the nobleman. Now what about the artist? Stanzi's aunt owns a bakery in the middle of Vienna that sells bread rolls to palace of Emperor Franz-Josef of Austria. The military band of the Deutschmeister marches past, and she wins the attention of the drummer, Willi Jurek. He says he can only compose music when he's in love, and Stanzi inspires him. Using the connections of her mother's bakery she persuades the emperor to let the band play Willi's new song, which was later called the Deutschmeister Regimentsmarsch. Click here to listen to it.

Finally, Stanzi encourages her widowed aunt to consider marriage with one of the emperor's officials.

There's a lot of political propaganda in the film. Sometimes it's presented in the form of jokes, other times it's direct. It has to do with the relationship between Germany and Austria. The picture above shows Germany's leader (Wilhelm II, on the left) visiting Austria's leader (Franz-Josef, on the right). In January 1871 Otto Bismarck united the various independent kingdoms of central Europe into a new country called Germany. It might surprise some people to know that although Germany had existed as a geographical area for 2000 years, it had never been a country. Bismarck changed this. Austria was the only German kingdom that refused to join the new country, mostly because of its enmity with Prussia. Bismarck offered to make Vienna the capital of Germany, but Austria still refused. It wasn't until 1938 that the Austrian government voted to join Germany.

The second world war took place, and Austria left Germany again in 1945. The reason was the Austrian attitude towards the war, which is incomprehensible in retrospect. They said that the war was nothing to do with Austria, Germany forced Austria to take part. They seem to have forgotten Hitler's nationality.

The film was made in 1955. A lot of German patriots, especially in the South of Germany, thought it was wrong for Germany and Austria to be separate nations. "The war's over, let's be friends again". The ordinary people in the film express the wish for unity repeatedly. For instance, men say that they don't mind if they drink wine from the Danube (Austria) or the Rhine (Germany). The bread rolls are the same in Berlin and Vienna, they just have different names.

Will Germany and Austria ever be united again? I hope so. The separation is artificial. Everyone knows that the Austrians are Germans, except for the Austrians themselves.

Mädchenjahre einer Königin (4 Stars)

This film has been released in English as "Victoria in Dover", but I prefer to use the original German title, which means "The girlhood years of a queen".

This is a German historical comedy about Queen Victoria. Maybe the German title is inaccurate, because it's not about years (plural), it's only about one year in her life, from 19th June 1837 (the day before she became Queen) to 24th May 1838 (her 19th birthday). On the surface it might seem like a love story, but the main plot revolves around a young woman who wants to do what she wants, not what she's told to do.

The main historical events and the people in her life are accurate, but many smaller details are invented for the sake of comedy. For instance, in the film she only finds out that she'll be the next queen the day before her uncle's death. It was kept secret from her until then to spare her stress while growing up. I highly doubt that was really the case. Today all the members of the British Royal Family know exactly what number they are in the line of succession to the throne.

The next day the king dies. Her adviser, Sir John Conroy, writes a list of things for her to say as the new Queen. Her reaction is to rip up the list and put him into early retirement, with instructions that she never wants to see him again. She grows close to the prime minister, Lord Melbourne, as a friend and a trusted adviser.

There are still attempts to isolate her. She's not allowed to read newspapers. Finally she asks a guard to smuggle newspapers into her room, and she's depressed by what she reads. She didn't know that the level of poverty was so high in Britain. She summons Lord Melbourne and asks him to create legislation for better payment. He gladly agreed.

In 1938 there's a consensus among the established members of the Royal Family that Victoria should get married as soon as possible to stop her being so rebellious. Three potential bridegrooms are invited to her 19th birthday party, two Germans and a Russian. Victoria is horrified and says that she doesn't want to get married for at least 20 years. The day before her birthday she sets off to Paris with her governess, Baroness Lehzen. She doesn't know how long she'll stay in Paris, she just wants to spend time incognito and get to know as many men as possible.

Due to a heavy storm, they have to stay in an inn in Dover. She meets and falls in love with a handsome German student who's also staying in the inn. What she doesn't know is that he's really Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg, one of the three suitors. He doesn't recognise her either. They decide to travel to Paris together. The next morning (her birthday) Prince Albert's companion, Professor Landmann, reveals who Albert really is and says that it's important that he go to London. Victoria leaves without giving an explanation and goes back to her palace. Albert is unhappy and goes to the birthday party to meet the new queen, not expecting to like her.

They meet. They dance. They kiss.

And they all live happily ever after.

This is a delightful comedy which is intended to make Queen Victoria seem very down to Earth. She might have lived all her life in a palace, but she had the same thoughts and wishes as you and me. In this respect, the film is a success. It's impossible not to fall in love with her after seeing Romy Schneider's glowing performance. She wanted to marry the man she loved, not the man she was expected to marry, but she was fortunate that the two men were the same.

It's been pointed out many times that this film is a precursor to Romy Schneider's role as Sissi, the Empress of Austria. Queen Victoria and Sissi have identical personalities, in the films at least. They're both rebellious but caring young women who put love first and royalty second.

Fireworks (3 Stars)

This is a German musical comedy.made in 1954.

The film takes place in an unnamed Bavarian town. (It was actually filmed in Switzerland). Thankfully everyone speaks high German. I have problems understanding the Bavarian accent. The four Oberholzer brothers are a successful family in high social standing. One is a judge, one is a politician and one is a high ranking civil servant, but the most respected of the four is Albert Oberholzer, the owner of a factory that makes garden gnomes. I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere. There's also a fifth brother, Alexander, but he ran away from home 20 years ago, and nobody has heard from him since. They don't even know if he's still alive.

The film begins on 8th August 1909. It's Albert's 50th birthday. There's tension in the house, because his daughter's fiancé has written a newspaper article denouncing garden gnomes as trash that have no place in a garden. His daughter is 15-year-old Anna, played by Romy Schneider. She doesn't go to school any more. I don't know what the legal requirements were for school in those days.

At the party there's a surprise guest. Alexander Oberholzer arrives, having changed his name to Sascha Obolski. After leaving home he joined a circus, and he's now the owner of the Circus Obolski. His circus performs in Albert's garden for his birthday, but when the performers come indoors the family is disgusted by the primitive, uncouth behaviour of the people far below their social standing. It doesn't help that one of the women sits at the table with a python wrapped around her neck.

Sascha's wife Iduna flirts outrageously with the four brothers, despite the criticism from their wives. At least the circus will leave soon, and everything can be forgotten.

Or can it? Anna is sick of her stuffy life in an upper class household. She begs her uncle to let her join his circus.

This is a pleasant film, although it seems dated today. There are extended scenes of circus performances, which were the highlights of the film for me. The songs that break out at sporadic intervals are awful, making me want to clutch my ears. Notable is that this was the first German film made by Lilli Palmer, best known for her Hollywood films from 1935 onwards. Her birth name was Lilli Peiser, a German Jewess, and she had the misfortune to have been a refugee twice in her life. First she had to flee from Posen, when it was occupied by Poland in 1918. In 1934 she was one of the sensible Jews who fled to England while they were still allowed to leave.

Despite Lilli Palmer's popularity, Romy Schneider is given the top billing in the film credits and posters. It's true, she's the person with the most screen time, but it's still unusual, because this was only her second film. She already shows a lot of promise in her pre-Sissi days. She had a vitality and freshness about her which she lost when she emigrated to France.

Wenn der weiße Flieder wieder blüht (4 Stars)

The title of this 1953 film translates as "When the white lilacs blossom again". The title comes from a hit song from the 1920's. A shortened version of the song is used in the film in various scenes.

When the white lilacs blossom again
I'll sing you my most beautiful love song.
Again and again I'll kneel before you
And we'll drink the scent of the white lilacs.
When the white lilacs blossom again
I'll kiss your red lips endlessly.
We'll become a fairy tale couple
When the white lilac blooms again.

Yes, it's a love film. It's not a romantic comedy. Were romantic comedies even invented that long ago? Most of the film is sad, but it ends on a happy but thoughtful note.

Willi Forster and his wife Therese have been married for a year. She works hard as a seamstress, while he doesn't work at all. He wants to become a singer, but he hasn't made a breakthrough yet. Therese is getting frustrated with him lying around in bed all day, and he's annoyed with her when her sewing machine wakes him up at 7 am. They're lucky enough to have a pleasant apartment in Wiesbaden, but they're always short of money. Accommodation was cheap after the war.

One day they have a big argument, and he walks out. Therese doesn't find out until a month later that she's pregnant. She still loves Willi,  but she doesn't tell him, because she wants him to come back because of her, not because of the baby. 15 years go by. Willi's best friend Peter supports Therese, acting as a surrogate father, for instance teaching Therese's daughter Eva how to ride a bike.

In the meantime, Willi goes to Rome and makes his big break. He changes his name to Bill Perry and becomes an international singing star. He's never remarried. He still loves Therese. Then, after 15 years, he returns to Wiesbaden for a concert. Quite by accident, he bumps into Eva. She's a big fan of his music, not knowing he's her father.

At the same time Willi tries to win Therese back, but he's chosen the wrong time to do it. After 15 years of friendship, Therese is finally considering marrying Peter.

I don't want to give away what happens, apart from sharing one detail: the film's most important theme is the reconciliation of father and daughter. That's what brought tears to my eyes. The film contains several extravagant musical numbers, the equal of anything made in Hollywood, and it ends with father and daughter on stage together.

The film is made even more poignant by Therese and Eva being portrayed by the real life mother and daughter, Magda and Romy Schneider. Magda was a famous German actress in the 1950's, but Romy's fame soon outshone her. This was the first of many films that Romy Schneider made.

It's also worth mentioning that it was also the first film of the actor Götz George. I wouldn't have recognised him.

Götz George in 1953

Götz George in 2013

This is supposedly one of Germany's most popular films, but today is the first time I've ever seen it. That's what comes from never watching television! I don't think the film has ever been released in English. It's worth watching if you speak German.

Sissi the Young Empress (5 Stars)

This is the second film in the Sissi trilogy. It was made in 1956, one year after the first film. "Sissi" ended with Princess Elisabeth of Bavaria, nicknamed Sissi by her parents, marrying Emperor Franz Josef of Austria on April 24th 1854. "Sissi the Young Empress" begins four weeks later, with the couple living together in the royal palace in Vienna. There was no honeymoon. Franz Josef is much too busy with ruling his country to take time away from the palace. Sissi complains about being neglected, and she compensates by buying a large number of parrots.

Unlike the first film, "Sissi the Young Empress" departs from the historical facts by putting them out of chronological order. First I'll describe the plot as shown in the film.

Sissi was only 16 when she got married, so Franz Josef's mother Sophie considered her to be a child who still needed to be educated. The main subjects of her education were languages (Hungarian and Croatian) and court etiquette. She soon developed a love for Hungary, so she enjoyed learning the language, but she hated the other subjects. At the time Hungary was ruled by Austria, but there were tensions because an independence war had failed in 1948. Sissi made no secret of her love for Hungary, which gained her popularity with the Hungarian people. Franz Josef offered an amnesty to all Hungarian political prisoners, against the recommendation of his mother and his ministers. This was his own decision, but many gave the credit to Sissi.

Sissi had her first daughter on March 5th 1855, named Sophie after her grandmother. Soon after the birth the baby was taken away because Franz Josef's mother considered Sissi incapable of looking after a child at the age of 17. Sissi was so distressed that she ran away from the palace and returned to her parents in Bavaria. Franz Josef went in person to win her back. Together they travelled to Tirol. Pretending to be common people they spent a few days in a guest house in the mountains. This holiday was a replacement for the honeymoon that they had missed a year earlier. Franz Josef promised to give Sissi back her daughter when they returned to Vienna.

Back in Vienna preparations were being made for Franz Josef and Sissi to be crowned King and Queen of Hungary. Franz Josef's mother used this as an excuse to keep Sissi's daughter away, saying that Sissi would be too busy to look after a child. Sissi threatened to refuse the crown of Hungary, which would have led to another war, since the Hungarians wanted Sissi as their monarch more than Franz Josef. At the last minute the baby was returned. The film ends with Franz Josef and Sissi being crowned in Hungary. Sissi wins over the crowd by holding a speech in Hungarian.

As you can see from the above summary, two themes are interwoven: Sissi's first child and the reconciliation of Austria and Hungary. In actual fact, these events happened years apart. The amnesty for Hungarian political prisoners wasn't given in 1854, as the film portrays it, but in 1866. The film suggests that Sissi became Queen of Hungary in 1855, a few months after the birth of her daughter, but the date of her coronation was actually June 8th 1867.

There's something I forgot to mention in my review of the first Sissi film. Sissi's mother, Duchess Ludovika of Bavaria, is played by Magda Schneider. She was well known as Adolf Hitler's favourite actress, but she's also the mother of Romy Schneider, the actress who plays Sissi.

I admit that this is a girly film, but who cares? Female emotions aren't something inferior to be ashamed of. This is a true story -- almost -- but it has the magic of a fairy tale with kings and queens and emperors and empresses, a magical world where a teenage girl can wield great power. It's a world I would like to live in.

After watching "Sissi" last month I spent some time researching the lives of Franz Josef and Sissi. I've come to the conclusion that Franz Josef is an example of monarchy at its best. He was born on August 18th 1830, and he became Emperor of Austria on December 2nd 1848 after the abdication of his uncle. He reigned for 68 years until his death on November 21st 1916. He was greatly loved by his people. There was peace for the first 45 years of his reign, followed by a series of wars caused by aggression from Prussia and Russia, and finally the First World War. Nevertheless, he was a man of peace all his life. He always preferred to forgive rather than punish his enemies. If all monarchs were as good as Franz Josef we wouldn't need democracy.

Sissi (5 Stars)

I've known about this film for many years, but I never felt inclined to watch it. A story of princes and princesses sounds like a girly film, something aimed at the pre-teen market. After finally watching it today my reaction is, "Wow! Why did I wait so long?"

The film is well known in German speaking countries, but not in other countries. It was made in 1955. It's about the early years of the woman who became the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, one of the world's longest reigning rulers, from 1848 to 1916. Elisabeth, nicknamed Sissi, was married to him from 1854 until her death in 1898. The film keeps close to the historical facts, as far as they are recorded, but adds touches of drama, humour and romance. Lots of romance.

Franz Josef was born in 1830 and became Emperor of Austria at the age of 18. It was a time of turmoil and military conflicts in Europe. Franz's mother Sophie was a skilled diplomat who understood that it was necessary for her son to marry a princess from another country to secure peace. He rejected all the early suggestions made by his mother, saying he was too young to marry. Shortly before his 23rd birthday his mother said that Austria desperately needed an ally, so he should marry as quickly as possible. She suggested her niece Helene, the daughter of the sister, who was married to Duke Maximilian of Bavaria. When Franz met Helene he found her uninteresting, but because she was physically attractive he agreed to marry her. However, he met Helene's younger sister Sissi and immediately fell in love with her. They shared similar interests, especially a love of hunting and walking in the mountains, so they were the perfect match. Franz proposed to Sissi on his 23rd birthday, but because she was only 15 at the time he waited a year before marrying her.

"Sissi" is one of the most successful films ever in Germany. When it was released 25 million cinema tickets were sold, which was remarkable for a country with a population of 52 million. Even though the film dealt with royal families it had the style of the popular German Heimatfilme. After all, Sissi's father was hardly a typical monarch. He liked to sit and drink beer with his friends rather than attend to affairs of state. Sissi inherited this rebellious spirit from him. It was the right film made at the right time. Germans were yearning to be reminded of the good days they had before the war.

The film made me laugh and cry. I know that many of my readers might pass it by because of its subject matter. I ignored it for years, and now I regret it. Please don't wait as long as me.