Canaris (film)

Canaris
Directed by Alfred Weidenmann
Produced by Emile J. Lustig
Written by Erich Ebermayer
Herbert Reinecker
Starring O. E. Hasse
Barbara Rütting
Adrian Hoven
Martin Held
Music by Siegfried Franz
Cinematography Franz Weihmayr
Edited by Ilse Voigt
Production
company
Fama-Film
Distributed by Europa-Filmverleih
Release dates
30 December 1954
28 April 1958 (New York City)
Running time
112 minutes
Country West Germany
Language German

Canaris is a 1954 West German drama film directed by Alfred Weidenmann and starring O. E. Hasse, Barbara Rütting and Adrian Hoven. It portrays real events during the Second World War when Wilhelm Canaris the head of German military intelligence was arrested and executed for his involvement with the 20 July Plot to overthrow Adolf Hitler. The film was a major success at the German box office, possibly because it allowed audiences to identify with a heroic German figure disassociated from Nazism.[1] Released in the UK as Canaris Master Spy, and in the US as Deadly Decision— it is also known by the alternative title Canaris: Master Spy.

Main cast

Music

The soundtrack features music from Lohengrin, composed by Richard Wagner.

Release

Canaris opened in Hanover on 30 December 1954. The distributor played down any political significance to the film, and marketed it as the story of a good German Christian "whose human tragedy reflects the experience of millions of Germans."[2]

Reception

The film was generally well received by critics, the press, and the public. It was recognized by the FBW as "especially valuable", and was awarded a Bambi for being the most financially successful film of 1955.[3]

The film's portrayal of a "tragic hero" of the Nazi period has been described as part of the beginning of a wave of films "interrogating the National Socialist past" in West German cinemas.[4]

References

  1. Hake, Sabine (2008). German National Cinema (illustrated ed.). Routledge. p. 104. ISBN 0415420970. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  2. Hake, Sabine (2012). Screen Nazis: Cinema, History, and Democracy. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 75–76. ISBN 0299287130.
  3. Wolfgram, Mark A. (2011). "Getting History Right": East and West German Collective Memories of the Holocaust and War. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press. pp. 136–137. ISBN 161148006X.
  4. Cooke, Paul; Silberman, Marc, eds. (2010). Screening War: Perspectives on German Suffering. Rochester, NY: Camden House. pp. 57–60. ISBN 1571134379. Retrieved 17 April 2016.

External links

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