Maria, le passeur

Unique in its visual impact, excellent acting by Sybille Schmitz who became a star with this film. For her "non-arian" looks she was later dropped by Goebbels and committed suicide in the Fifties after her hopes of a new beginning to her career didn't fulfil. Very dark, mysterious and melancholic. A must-see!!!

A few years ago I watched this film as part of my Halloween watchlist, which I do every October, and it immediately became one of my favorite discoveries. The version I watched is a degraded copy available on archive.org that looks like it may have been ripped from a VHS, or at the very least hasn't undergone any kind of meaningful restoration, but the visuals still dripped with beauty and atmosphere. Sybille Schmitz is a dark, haunting presence of strength and beauty as Maria, a woman who comes to a small village looking for work. She winds up taking on the role of "ferryman" after the man in charge of this post died while transporting a mysterious gaunt figure (who seems to precede Bergman's vision of Death in The Seventh Seal) across the lake. Over the course of her stay, Maria falls in love with a wounded soldier who escapes to the out-of-the-way town to recuperate while hiding from the enemy, but when the Grim Reaper shows up to collect the soldier, it's up to Maria to outwit him and rescue her beloved.

The only flaw in the movie is the ending--the way that Maria gets rid of Death doesn't really make a lot of sense or live up to the folkloric milieu out of which the story operates, but that's a minor complaint. See it for the atmosphere and Schmitz's hypnotic performance.

Karl Platen is the ferryman in a remote part of Germany. His job is to pull the rope and get the ferry from the pier (a few wooden boards) on his village across the swampy marshes to the pier (a few more wooden boards) on the other side. That's his job - back and forwards all day carrying whoever wants to take the ride for a small payment. A gong is sounded to alert him if someone is waiting. This place is very secluded so it's not a hive of activity. An ominous customer takes a ride with him and that's the end of Karl. Sybille Schmitz (Maria) takes his place and she has to deal with the supernatural mystery that unfolds.

Death figures prominently in this story. I don't just mean death, I mean Death the person. At the story's end I was reminded of the Greek tale of Orpheus and his journey to the Underworld in order to save Eurydice. He has to lead her out and not look back or he will lose her to Hell forever. Well, he nearly makes it but looks back at the last second. And that's that! It drew a parallel for me when Sybille is leading Death through the swamp, although in reverse, ie, don't look back in order to destroy rather than to save.

I like to read the film's ending as a spiritual awakening of sorts for all concerned. There are some inconsistencies in the story but we are dealing with the paranormal here, so just let them be and enjoy the folk tale and the story's atmosphere. I watched this film and noted that Death never paid for his ride on the ferry boat and this annoyed me. It's really inconsiderate.

Who can help me? This is a very well done German film from the thirties with the then famous Sybille Schmitz. As the previous Reviewers pointed out, the film has its cinematic qualities - well acting - and a sincere dark atmosphere. For a long time, I search for this film. In 2007 the film was brought out from Black Hill/ UFA. Unfortunately I missed to order it in time and suddenly it was no longer available. Has anyone the original DVD? Alternative a Copy would also do fine. If you have - please be so kind and drop me a line :-) I have quite good Collection of old German films of that period - so if you are interested in old German movies, let me know. Send to: chris-100@gmx.de

Update 2014-2-7: Liebe Hildegard Brosseau in Statford: Unfortunately I couldn't answer you per email. I tried twice, first the normal way via "Answering", then I copied out your email address. There must me something wrong with your email address (hilgar657@optimum.net). Immediately after sending my Answer to you I both times received an "Mail delivery failed". Please do write me again, I will answer with Mail (hope it works out then) otherwise I will answer you here :-) Danke.

Frank Wisbar was one of the many talented people working in the German film industry in the late 1920s-early 1930s. He was a producer, often working with Arnold Fanck; he produced MAEDCHEN IN UNIFORM (directed by Leontine Sagan), and assisted on the production of Dreyer's VAMPYR. Obviously, this was a person with an interest in "alternative" cinema; his own work as a director also revealed his interest in non-mainstream cinema.

FAHRMANN MARIA is a fable of the occult. As such, it follows VAMPYR in trying to tell a narrative in terms of atmosphere and metaphor. The moody, shadow-shrouded cinematography is just so marvelously evocative; the settings show the great influence of Expressionist design. Yet this design is used to enhance the performances, particularly those of Sybille Schmitz (also one of the leads in VAMPYR) and Peter Voss.

Wisbar's highly promising career was cut short, as he was one of the many who fled the Nazi regime and wound up in the US; though many of the German emigres would succeed, quite a few wound up toiling in the nether regions of low-budget fare for Poverty Row studios. Wisbar, like Edgar Ulmer, was one of those who never quite made the leap to success in the major studios. Wisbar would remake FAHRMANN MARIA as THE STRANGLER OF THE SWAMP, but, though atmospheric, the mythic dimensions of FAHRMANN MARIA are contracted in the American settings. But FAHRMANN MARIA is one of the true classics of the Weimar cinema.