Tannenberg is a 1932 Swiss–German war film directed by Heinz Paul and starring Hans Stüwe, Käthe Haack and Jutta Sauer. The film is based on the 1914 Battle of Tannenberg during the First World War. It focuses on a German landowner Captan von Arndt and his family.
Production
It was shot on location in East Prussia and at Terra Film's Marienfelde Studios and UFA's Babelsberg Studios during the summer of 1932. It cost over half a million reichsmarks to make and employed 8,000 people. The film focused on a notable German victory and was in sharp contrast to recent anti-war films such as Westfront 1918. Tannenberg served as a national symbol in Germany, and was re-issued in 1936 during the Nazi era. The Producers made an effort to make the film as historically accurate as possible, and portrayed the Russian commanders respectfully. It was due to be released on 26 August 1932, the eighteenth anniversary of the battle, but was delayed by the censors acting on a request from the German President Paul von Hindenburg who was unhappy with his portrayal in the film and the premiere was pushed back until certain scenes had been cut.
Cast
Hans Stüwe as Gutsbesitzer Rittmeister von Arndt
Käthe Haack as Grete von Arndt
Jutta Sauer as Inge von Arndt
Hertha von Walther as Schwägerin Sonja
Erika Dannhoff as Schwägerin Lita
Hannelore Benzinger as Lisbeth, Arndt, Magd
Karl Klöckner as Gutsverwalter Puchheiten
Franziska Kinz as Gutsfrau Frau Puchheiten
Rudolf Klicks as Fritz Puchheiten
Alfred Döderlein as Leutnant Schmidz
Wolfgang Staudte as Husar Franke
Karl Körner as Paul von Hindenburg
Henry Pleß as Generalmajor Ludendorff
Hans Mühlhofer as Oberstleutnant Hoffmann
Friedrich Franz Stampe as Generalmajor Grünert
Alfred Gerasch as Generalmajor Graf von Waldensee
Graf Schönborn as Hauptmann Fleischmann von Theißruck
Edgar Boltz as General von Scholz
Georg H. Schnell as General der Kavallerie Shilinski
Sigurd Lohde as General der Kavallerie Samsonow
Carl Auen as Generalmajor Postowski
Georg Schmieter as Oberst Gerwe
Aruth Wartan as Stabstrompeter Kupschik
Fritz Arno Wagner as Militärattaché Oberst Knox
Ernst Pröckl as General der Artillerie Martos
Erwin Suttner as General der Infanterie Kljujew
Fritz Alberti as Generalleutnant Mingin
Valy Arnheim as Oberstleutnant Fjedorow
Viktor de Kowa as Rittmeister Fürst Wolgoff
Friedrich Ettel as Kosakenwachtmeister
References
Bibliography
Kester, Bernadette. Film Front Weimar: Representations of the First World War in German films of the Weimar Period (1919-1933). Amsterdam University Press, 2003. Von der Goltz, Anna. Hindenburg: Power, Myth, and the Rise of the Nazis. Oxford University Press, 2009.