Kolberg

I saw "Kolberg" on French television some time ago. What was most interesting about it was how desperate the propagandizing looked in this film - as if the filmmakers knew that they were on a sinking ship and that time was running out. I don't think the film is as "evil" as other Nazi films but it's only watchable for the historical interest of witnessing the final product, the last gasp, of a dying, militarist, and anti-humanistic culture. It looks like a film shot on borrowed time.

Herr Goebbels mentioned that "Kolberg" was an attempt to one-up the Hollywood style and clearly, he's given his director, Veit Harlan, the financial and manpower resources to stage some big scenes. Or, at least, what I think were big scenes. Goebbels, worried that the sight of Prussian troops (the film is set during the Napoleonic wars) getting wounded and killed in battle might demoralize the flagging German spirits - the film was shot in 1944 - and thus cut most action sequences out of the film. You'll get an army charging a hill abruptly cut into a shot of a burning house(whose ignition is never seen) cut again into someone encouraging the dedicated Prussian citizenry to hold fast against the merciless French troops. Cut back to a charging army that never really engages with the enemy. Cut again to panicking villagers. In between these gaps, which become more egregious as the film progresses, you get hamfisted attempts at colorful local humor, an impossibly convulted plot that crosscuts between several German towns to no avail, and an overbearing Valkyrie peasant woman forever spurring her fellow subjects to the Higher Cause (she's the most sexless woman in movie history). Everything in the movie is impossibly crude to the hammer-on-anvil dialouge, to the declarative acting (each actor seems to be wearing his or her own Greek mask while at the same time failing to make any impression whatsoever), to the whole stilted and incoherent pacing of this film.

The film is terrible but fascinating, especially given the context of when and where it was made. Goebbels diverted troops from the eastern front for the battle scenes that he subsequently mutiliated. And when one learns that Goebbels considered this the film that would revive the Nazi cause and that it was filmed at the time and near the locations where the Final Solution was shifting into high gear, it leaves you with a strong feeling of disgust for the whole enterprise. Even the subject matter, about Kolberg's citizens futilely defending themselves against a French onslaught, seems out of place. The tale is obviously used to rally support for the flailing German cause but the Kolberg citizenry's efforts were lost (the Prussian army was vanquished) and thus the message of the film is cancelled out. In an even greater historical irony, by the time the film debuted (30 January 1945), the Pomeranian town of Kolberg had been taken over by the Russians and today is a part of Poland.

"Kolberg" is a unique document showing a well-oiled propaganda machine collapsing in the face of its immanent demise. It achieves the opposite of its intent. The stolid face at the end of the film with the proto-Nazi flag as a backdrop is supposed to convey a sense of determined conviction but there's fear in those eyes.

To correct one thing the first critic said, KOLBERG was released on January 31, 1945. But it's release came to late to increase the morals of the Wehrmacht, because at the end of Janauary things went not so well for the German Army, because the Red Army reached the Oder, some 60 km near Berlin. Furthermore the powers of the Wehrmacht were nearly exhausted, due to the loss of arms and men. So it was clear to see for the most, that we would loose the war, unless the promised Wunderwaffen would not come to action. And that never happened. Nevertheless KOLBERG is an interesting experience. Alt last I'd like to point out HEINRICH GEORGE, who truly was one of our greatest Actors in Theatre and Film ever, in his role of the Bürgermeister of Kolberg. A stunning performance.

I suppose some kind of cosmic justice has been meted out to all concerned in regard to Kolberg the town and Kolberg the final propaganda product film of the Third Reich. This piece of turf that became the symbol of German resistance to Napoleon whose story Josef Goebbels had hoped to inspire the Reich populace to resist and fight the invaders from east and west in 1945 is now part of Poland.

The film is an awesome piece of spectacle especially when you consider the money spent and the manpower appropriated from the battlefield by Dr. Goebbels to be extras, playing being French and Prussian soldiers for the camera and missing the real war where doubtless a lot of them would be killed. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of candles were lit for Goebbels in many German households today because of it.

The story is after Austerlitz Napoleon pretty much had the run of things in Europe for a while. In his march toward Russia he met this incredible resistance from the former Hanseatic League town of Kolberg. Inspired by its mayor played by Heinrich George and Horst Caspar as General Gneissenau the place held out against incredible odds until the Treaty of Tilsit was signed, one of the few places in the future united Germany to do so. A whole lot like the way the City of Leningrad held out for years against the Nazis invading though that was a comparison the Third Reich would not be making.

George who was a favorite and favored player during the Third Reich is brilliant as Mayor Joachim Nettelbrick who spent as much time battling with Paul Wegener as the first commandant of the garrison as with the French. I had to think about that one for a bit, but it occurred to me that Hitler would probably have liked the citizen mayor showing up the professional army man as George continually does. After he was just a corporal and had conquered most of Europe against the advice of most of his generals. Of course then Gneissenau who is an ideal Aryan teams up with the mayor and they triumph.

The battle scenes populated with extras who were thanking whatever Gods they worshiped that they were not in the real war only miles away are staged brilliantly. The message of Kolberg is resistance and none of the other Nazi prejudices made its way into the film.

Veit Harlan one of the Third Reich's favored directors brought this one in which in Hollywood would have had the studio bean counters tearing the hair out of their heads. Krista Soderbaum who was the symbol of blond Aryan womanhood and Harlan's wife is also in the film who sustains several tragic losses, but carries on.

In a booklet that accompanied the DVD of Kolberg I ordered it pointed out the film did not have quite the impact that Goebbels thought it would after its Berlin premiere on January 30, 1945. First of all it had limited bookings because 90% of the theaters in Germany had been destroyed by Allied bombings. And by the time it came out the people were really not responding too well to the Propaganda Ministry's pablum.

I have to say that this last film from Goebbels is brilliantly conceived and executed. But after World War II Kolberg became and remains part of Poland with its German population expelled or worse by the Russian Army and Polish resistance. So what was it all about?

First of all, this one will not be out in the stores or at your local rent-a-flick...The movie is the last effort of 1945´s german movie propaganda to strengthen the people´s will to fight on. Therefore, this - as many other propaganda pictures - is not offered to the public. Still, you might get it in universities with an interest in history of the third reich.

The story of the movie is not all that important... What matters is the great heinrich george, the rich colours, the hateful atmosphere of the movie - and the tragedy of reality as a background: Shortly after the making of "kolberg" was finished, germany was finished either:

The movie has a romantic perspective on a reactionary, aggressive, irrational and leader-oriented ideology... Not too far away from John Wayne, though I find him very entertaining as a green beret, either.

Kolberg is one of those more timeless tales, of a small town besieged by a vast, greedy enemy. It is a story of the small people holding to their honour and duty, and ultimately triumphing over the mighty. The movie is set in the Napoleonic Wars, but the message is for the people of Germany just as they are being invaded by the Red Army and the American and British armies.

Goebbels film studios managed to film and distribute this movie just as the final battles of World War II were being fought. Its message of defiant defense in the face of hopeless odds was meant to rally the severely demoralised Germans as their homes were being threatened by the enemy. The songs and vivid colours were meant to entertain and raise morale as life became darker and darker.

Technically, its a masterpiece, and makes use of all kinds of modern shots, angles, and special effects. Its colours were terrible, though, but I trust it was the copy I saw. Of course, it might have been a result of the war constraints.

Seen in this context, this film is even more interesting than the entertaining story it presents.

Jurched