The Dictator as Spectator: Feature Film Screenings before Adolf Hitler, 1933–39

Abstract

Already during his life time, it has been a popular fact that Adolf Hitler had a passion for cinema and, at least until the war, spent much of his spare time watching German and foreign pictures. His preferences, his perception of cinema as an art form and his influence on the Reich’s film production have to date scarcely been subject of historical research. Besides analyzing Hitler’s surviving film evaluations, the article aims at estimating the dictator’s ideal of sublime German cinema that was de facto never achieved under National Socialist rule.

Notes

1. Rudolf Olden, Hitler. Amsterdam, Querido, 1937, 359./Konrad Heiden, Der Fuehrer. Hitler’s Rise to Power (New York: H. Fertig, 1968), 380 (First edition: London: Houghton Mifflin, 1944).

2. See Mark Pendergrast, For God, Country and Coca-Cola. The Definitive History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company That Makes It (New York: Basic Books, 2000), 220.

3. Felix Moeller, Der Filmminister. Goebbels und der Film im Dritten Reich (Berlin: Henschel, 1998), 328ff.

4. Albert Speer, Erinnerungen (Frankfurt a. M.: Ullstein, 1969), 49.

5. Speer, Erinnerungen, 104.

6. Charles Barr, ‘Much Pleasure and Relaxation in These Hard Times: Churchill and Cinema in World War Two’, The Historical Journal of Film Radio and Television 31, no. 4 (2011): 561–86.

7. Zarah Leander, Es war so wunderbar! Mein Leben (Hamburg: Hoffmann und Campe, 1973), 178.

8. Hitler‘s Table Talk of January 8/9, 1942. Werner Jochmann (ed.), Adolf Hitler. Monologe im Führerhauptquartier 1941–1944 (Munich: Orbis, 2000), 190.

9. In autumn 1941 Hitler recounted: ‘I got the limited footage of the World War into my possession—it had been collected for destruction. It was then [after the beer hall Putsch; D.A.] seized by the Bavarian State as part of the party’s property, and I never got it back’. (Table Talk of September 25–26 and October 9–10, 1941. Jochmann (ed.), Monologe, 76–77).

10. Ernst Hanfstaengl, Hitler. The Missing Years (New York: Arcade Publishing, 1994), 80.

11. Christa Schroeder/Anton Joachimsthaler, Er war mein Chef. Aus dem Nachlass der Sekretärin von Adolf Hitler (Munich: Herbig, 1985), 163.

12. Goebbels’ diary entry of February 6, 1934. (Elke Fröhlich (ed.), Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels (Munich: Saur, 1993–2006), Part I, Vol. 2/III, 369).

13. Goebbels’ diary entries of February 24, 26, March 9, 16, 1934 (Fröhlich: Tagebücher), Part I, Vol. 2/III, 377, 378, 384, 386.

14. Traudl Junge/Melissa Müller, Bis zur letzten Stunde (Munich: List, 2003), 83.

15. Rochus Misch, Der letzte Zeuge (Munich: Pendo, 2008), 108.

16. Heinz Linge, Bis zum Untergang (Munich: Herbig, 1980), 92.

17. With reference to Hitler’s physician Hans Karl von Hasselbach, Percy Ernst Schramm reported that Hitler had acquired a working knowledge of English and French and watched original-language film versions primarily to enhance these skills. (Schramm/Donald S. Detwiler, Hitler. The Man and the Military Leader (Chicago: Academy Chicago Publishers, 1999), 21.)

18. BArch, NS 10, 49, file 16.

19. The Fuehrer’s film archive is mentioned in: BArch (German Federal Archives), NS 10, 49, file 7.

20. Goebbels’ diary entry of December 22, 1937. (Fröhlich, Tagebücher part I, vol. 5, 64.) BArch, NS 10, 44, file 138 (undated) is simply captioned ‘list of archive films’ without giving information on the archive in question. It does contain not 32 but 34 German films made between 1933 and 1937, plus 12 US-American animation shorts. Therefore, it is likely that this list contains the films given by Goebbels as a present to Hitler in December 1937—even more so as only German but no US-American feature films are listed.

21. Goebbels’ diary entry of March 18, 1935 (Fröhlich: Tagebücher), Part I, Vol. 3/I, 201.

22. Goebbels’ diary entry of September 18, 1938. (Fröhlich: Tagebücher), Part I, Vol. 6, 98.

23. Goebbels’ diary entries of August 20, 21, 24, 1939. (Fröhlich, Tagebücher Part I, Vol. 7, 46, 47, 75.)

24. BArch, NS 10. Hitler’s film evaluations can be found under the signatures 44, 45 and 49.

25. According to Eugen Dollmann, Hitler called Garbo the ‘woman of the century’. (Dolmetscher der Diktatoren. Bayreuth, Hestia, 1963, 140.) Henriette von Schirach reports that he saw each of her films several times. (Frauen um Hitler. Munich: Herbig, 1985), 98.

26. Goebbels’ diary entry of January 25, 1937 (Fröhlich: Tagebücher), Part I, Vol. 3/II, 343.

27. BArch, NS 10, 45, file 16.

28. BArch, NS 10, 45, file 156.

29. Bärbel Dusik (ed.), Hitler. Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. II:2, 1926 Juli –August 1927 (Munich: Saur, 1992), 233.

30. BArch, NS 10, 44, file 134.

31. For Way out West see BArch, NS 10, 44, file 132, for Block-Heads see NS 10, 45, file 2.

32. For Marie Antoinette see BArch, NS 10, 45, file 3, for Shanghai see file 31, for The Great Gambini and Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife see file 35, for High, Wide, and Handsome see file 151.

33. BArch, NS 10, 49, file 11.

34. Anthony Eden, The Eden Memoirs. Full Circle (London: Cassell & Co., 1962), 138. According to Ivone Kirkpatrick, secretary at the British Embassy in Berlin, Hitler ‘liked this film because it depicted a handful of Britons holding a continent in thrall’. (Kirkpatrick, The Inner Circle. Memoirs (London: Macmillan & Co., 1959), 97.)

35. For Der Schimmelreiter see Goebbels’ diary entry of 21 February 1934 (Fröhlich: Tagebücher), Part I, Vol. 2/III, 376, for Traumulus 11 Januar 1936 (Fröhlich: Tagebücher), Part I, Vol. 3/I, 361, for Der Herrscher 15 March 1937 (Fröhlich: Tagebücher), Part I, Vol. 3/II, 52, for Der zerbrochene Krug 4 October 1942 (Fröhlich: Tagebücher), Part II, Vol. 6, 68, for Patrioten 19 and 26 May 1937 (Fröhlich: Tagebücher), Part I, Vol. 4, 143, 151.

36. Goebbels’ diary entry of 22 December 1936 (Fröhlich: Tagebücher), Part I, Vol. 3/II, 301.

37. Ernst Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weißem und Braunem Haus (Munich: Piper, 1970), 104.

38. Prince Friedrich Christian zu Schaumburg-Lippe, Als die goldene Abendsonne. Aus meinen Tagebüchern der Jahre 1930–1937 (Wiesbaden: Limes, 1971), 114–5.

39. Veit Harlan, Im Schatten meiner Filme (Gütersloh: Sigbert Mohn, 1966), 41.

40. Riefenstahl’s reaction: ‘I was speechless […]. At first I thought it was a joke but he was serious’. (Memoiren. Munich, Albrecht Knaus, 1987, 367.).

41. Fröhlich, Tagebücher, Part II, Vol. 4, 409.

42. Gerd Albrecht, Nationalsozialistische Filmpolitik. Eine soziologische Untersuchung über die Spielfilme des Dritten Reichs (Stuttgart: Ferdinand Enke, 1969), 295–304; David Welch, Propaganda and the German Cinema 1933–1945 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983), 40–2.

43. Hitler interviewed by actress Toni von Eyck in 1932, quoted after Gerd Albrecht, Film im 3. Reich (Stuttgart: Fricker, 1979), 10.

44. Goebbels’ diary entry of November 14, 1933 (Fröhlich: Tagebücher), Part I, Vol. 2/III, 314. An edited version of the film was admitted by the Filmprüfstelle/classification board on the day of its actual premiere, November 16, 1933.

45. BArch, NS 10, 45, file 16.

46. Moeller, Der Filmminister, 335. For Ewiger Wald see Goebbels‘ diary entry of 27 August 1936 (Fröhlich: Tagebücher), Part I, Vol. 3/II, 168, for Weiße Sklaven see Moeller, 334, for Artillerie greift ein! see Dirk Alt, Der Farbfilm marschiert! Frühe Farbfilmverfahren und NS-Propaganda 1933–1945 (Munich: Belleville, 2013), 260 f.

47. Moeller, Der Filmminister, 332f.

48. See Joachim C. Fest, Hitler. Eine Biographie. [Frankfurt a. M., 1973], 865.

49. Quoted after Alfres-Ingemar Berndt (ed.), Gebt mir vier Jahre Zeit! Dokumente zum ersten Vierjahresplan des Führers (Munich: Franz Eher, 1941), 237.

50. Goebbels‘ diary entry of August 3, 1937. (Fröhlich, Tagebücher part I, vol. 4, p. 247.).

51. Goebbels’ diary entries of March 7, May 30, 1938 and January 30, 1939 (Fröhlich: Tagebücher), Part I, Vol. 5, 193, 325, Vol. 6, 243.

52. Goebbels’ diary entry of February 12, 1939 (Fröhlich: Tagebücher), Part I, Vol. 6, 256.

53. Goebbels’ diary entry of June 20, 1939 (Fröhlich: Tagebücher), Part I, Vol. 6, 384.

54. Goebbels’ diary entry of December 12, 1939 (Fröhlich: Tagebücher), Part I, Vol. 7, 228.

55. Rosenberg’s diary entry of December 11, 1939 (Hans-Günther Seraphim (ed.), Das politische Tagebuch Alfred Rosenbergs 1934/35 und 1939/40. Munich, dtv, 1964, p. 111.).

56. Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde, 81.

57. Goebbels‘ diary entry of September 23, 1943 (Fröhlich: Tagebücher), Part II, Vol. 9, 584. See also diary entry of January 25, 1944 (Fröhlich: Tagebücher), Part II, Vol. 11, 169.

58. Rochus Misch claims that Hitler saw Gone with the Wind at least three times (Der letzte Zeuge, 109). Heinrich Hoffmann remembered to have seen Die Feuerzangenbowle together with Hitler at least 20 times, presumably mistaking the 1944 with its 1934 predecessor So ein Flegel (Such a bugger, Robert A. Stemmle, Cicero-Film). (Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah. Aufzeichnungen seines Leibfotografen (Munich: Herbig, 1974), 163.).

59. Otto Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler (Cologne: Atlas, 1955), 229.

60. Goebbels’ diary entry of January 26, 1945 (Fröhlich: Tagebücher), Part II, Vol. 15, 234.

61. Hitler‘s Table Talk of August 20, 1942. Jochmann (ed.), Monologe, 355.

62. Barr, Churchill and cinema in World War II, 562.

63. Stig Hornshøj-Møller, „Der ewige Jude“. Quellenkritische Analyse eines antisemitischen Propagandafilms (Göttingen: Institut für den Wissenschaftlichen Film, 1995), 7–9.

64. Goebbels’ diary entry of September 23, 1943 (Fröhlich: Tagebücher), Part II, Vol. 9, 584.

65. Hitler‘s Table Talk of July 18, 1942 (Picker, Henry, Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier 1941–1942 (Athenäum: Bonn, 1951), 182).

66. Moeller, Der Filmminister, 330.

67. Trenkers Besuch beim Führer. Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler über den deutschen Film, Film-Kurier, August 23, 1933, 197.

68. Goebbels’ diary entry of February 8, 1937 (Fröhlich: Tagebücher), Part I, Vol. 3/II, 364.

69. Hitler‘s Table Talk of March 13, 1944 (Jochmann, Monologe, 406.)

70. Goebbels’ diary entry of December 31, 1936 (Fröhlich: Tagebücher), Part I, Vol. 3/II, 311.

71. BArch, NS 10, 45, file 2.

72. Riefenstahl, Memoiren, 367.

73. Hitler‘s Table Talk of July 18, 1942. (Picker, Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier 1941–1942, 182.).

74. Hitler’s Table Talk of February 4, 1942. (Jochmann, Monologe, 265.).

75. See also Goebbels’ diary entries of September 12, 1940 and November 22, 1941 (Fröhlich: Tagebücher), Part I, Vol. 8, 321, Part II, Vol. 1, 344.

76. According to Harlan, Im Schatten meiner Filme, 176.

77. Moeller, Der Filmminister, 332.

78. Riefenstahl, Memoiren, 367.

79. Goebbels’ diary entries of April 4, and July 7, 1937 indicate Hitler’s enhanced interest in the compilation of the newsreels (Fröhlich, Tagebücher), Part I, Vol. 4, 109, 255. In August 1938, Hitler urged Goebbels to reform the newsreels; this led to artistic experiments which were neglected by both (August 4, 20 and 21, 1938; Fröhlich: Tagebücher, Part I, Vol. 6, 32, 50, 53). On January 28, 1939, Goebbels regarded the realignment of the newsreels as concluded: ‘I think now we will also find the Fuehrer’s acclaim’. (Fröhlich: Tagebücher, Part I, Vol. 6, 241.).