Die Liebe des Hans Albers is a historical and biographical drama which premiered on German television (ARD) in 2021.
Hans Albers (who was born 1891) was one of the most famous and most popular actors in Germany for three decades: from 1930 until his death in 1960.
This drama is about his life and his career as an actor and a singer. As the title says, it is also about the love of his life, Hansi Burg, who was the daughter of his mentor, the Austrian actor Eugen Burg.
Here is some basic information about this drama:
** Director: Carsten Gutschmidt
** Writers: Dirk Eisfeld and Nina Koshofer
** Based on an idea of Claude Oliver Rudolph
** Language: German
** Subtitles: German
** Run time: 89 minutes
The cast includes the following:
The first group
** Ken Duken as Hans Albers (1891-1960) – a German actor
** Picco von Groote as Hansi Burg (1898-1975) – an Austrian actress
** Wolf Bachofner as Eugen Burg (1871-1944) – father of Hansi Burg – an Austrian actor
** Henning Hartmann as Adolf Wohlbrück (1896-1967) – an Austrian actor, who left Germany in 1936 and settled in the UK where he used the name Anton Walbrook
The second group
** Dirk Mertens as Josef Goebbels (1897-1945) – a high-ranking Nazi official, who was in charge of the entertainment industry in Nazi Germany
** Christian Aumer as Hans Hinkel (1901-1960) – an important Nazi official, who was a personal assistant of Josef Goebbels
** Dirk Böhling as Carl Froelich (1875-1953) – a German film director who joined the Nazi party in 1933
Since this drama is based on a true story, the basic facts are part of the public record. They are not a secret. Therefore, I feel free to mention some of them in this review.
While this drama is based on a true story, it is not a documentary film. It is a dramatized version of events.
Not everything happened exactly as shown in this drama. Some details may have been added, altered or excluded for dramatic reasons or for practical purposes. But the basic story is true.
Hans Albers served as a soldier in the German army during World War One. When the war was over, he had to start his life as a civilian.
He wanted more than anything to become an actor and he quickly managed to get some minor jobs in the entertainment industry (theatre and movies).
During the 1920s, he appeared in more than 100 silent movies. He was on the way to success. He had a mentor, the Austrian actor Eugen Burg.
His mentor had a daughter, Hansi Burg, who was an actress. Hans and Hansi fell in love and became a couple with her father’s blessing.
Around 1930, the time of the silent movies was coming to an end. Talking movies were taking over the industry. Some actors were not able to make the transition from a silent movie to a talking movie. But Hans Albers was not one of them. He managed to make the transition without any problems.
In the talking movies, he would often sing a song or several songs. These songs were released on records which became popular. Now Hans was famous not only as a movie star but also as a singer of popular songs.
Hans and Hansi were a famous couple. For a while, things were going well for them, but in 1933, when Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power, the situation suddenly changed.
Hansi and her parents were Jewish, and the Nazis wanted to push all Jews out of the German entertainment industry.
Hans was not Jewish. He was not a Nazi, but the Nazis wanted him to work for them, because he was so popular in Germany.
The Nazis told him to get rid of Hansi, but to their great surprise he said no. According to him, his private life was not the business of the state.
It was dangerous to say no to a request made by Goebbels, but the Nazis did not want to offend Hans. For a while, Hans and Hansi were allowed to stay together. But the pressure was mounting, month by month.
Hansi was never arrested, but she was more and more afraid of her future in Germany. She wanted to leave the country. She wanted Hans to join her. But he said no. He said he was a German actor who had to live and work in Germany.
He explained that he did not speak English. Even if he would be allowed to work in the UK or the US, he said that he could not do it.
In 1938, Hansi had had enough. She had to get out, even if he wanted to stay. She left the country. First, she moved to France. Later, she settled in the UK, where she met with an old friend Adolf Wohlbrück, who had moved to the UK in 1936.
It was not safe for him to stay in Germany, because his mother was Jewish and he was a gay man. He had to get out. In the UK, he changed his name to Anton Walbrook, which was probably a wise decision.
Hans remained in Germany where his career continued. He made movies while Hitler and the Nazi Party was in power. Not only before the war but also during the war.
Hans and Hansi both survive the war. In 1945, Hansi returns to Germany. When she returns, she is wearing the uniform of an officer in the British army.
She returns to Germany to meet with Hans after several years of separation. She wants to find out if they can get back together again or not.
The main part of this drama is set in 1945 when Hans and Hansi meet each other again after a long separation because of the war.
From time to time, the story-line set in 1945 is interrupted by some flashbacks to the past:
** To the time before 1933, during the Weimar Republic, before Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power
** To the time after 1933, during the Third Reich, after Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power
Archive footage is frequently used. There are clips from some
of the movies in which Hans Albers was the leading star. We see him as an actor and as a singer.
Finally, there are some statements from Hans and Hansi. Not the real persons but the actors:
** Ken Duken speaks for Hans Albers
** Picco von Groote speaks for Hansi Burg
They are not talking to each other. They are talking directly to the viewers. In the world of theatres and movies, this method is known as “breaking the fourth wall.”
In these statements, which seem to be made in 1950 or perhaps 1955, Hans and Hansi are reflecting on the past. They are trying to explain what they did and to understand what happened.
When they meet each other again 1945, after a long separation, they both want to get together again, but a huge obstacle is standing between them: Adolf Hitler and his rule of Nazi Germany!
Can they overcome this problem?
She says:
How could you stay in Germany?
How could you work for them?
How could you do it?
He says:
I did not like them, but I had to work for them in
order to survive. I am just an actor who wants to make movies and to please the audience.
The discussion is very emotional, because it is about life and death. It is about trust and betrayal. Can she forgive him and stay with him again or will she have to break away and leave him? This is the key question when they meet each other again in 1945.
What do reviewers say about this historical and biographical drama?
On IMDb it has a rating of 69 percent which corresponds to a rating of 3.5 stars on Amazon.
In my opinion, this rating is a bit too low. On the other hand, I can understand why the rating does not go all the way to the top.
This drama is good but not great. I think it deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent).
REFERENCES
# 1. Films
Cinema’s Exiles:
From Hitler to Hollywood
A documentary film which premiered in 2009
Run time = 90 minutes
From Caligari to Hitler:
German Cinema in the Age of the Masses
A documentary film which premiered in 2014
Run time = 119 minutes
Hitler’s Hollywood
A documentary film which premiered in 2017
Run time = 105 minutes
# 2. Books
Ministry of Illusion:
Nazi Cinema and Its Afterlife
By Eric Rentschler
(1996)
Popular Cinema of the Third Reich
By Sabine Hake
(2002)
The Use and Abuse of Cinema:
German Legacies from the Weimar Era to the Present
By Eric Rentschler
(2015)
*****
Die Liebe des Hans Albers
A historical and biographical drama
(ARD) (2021)
*****
Hans Albers
(1891-1960)
German actor and singer
*****
Hansi Burg
(1898-1975)
Austrian actress
*****
Hans Albers and Hansi Burg
A famous couple in Germany and Austria
*****
No comments:
Post a Comment