The Rebel (1932 film)

The Rebel
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
Written by
Story byLuis Trenker
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography
Edited by
Music byGiuseppe Becce
Production
company
Distributed byDeutsche Universal-Film
Release date
  • 22 December 1932 (1932-12-22) (Germany)
Running time
82 minutes
CountryGermany
LanguageGerman

The Rebel (German: Der Rebell) is a 1932 German historical drama film directed by Curtis Bernhardt, Edwin H. Knopf, and Luis Trenker and starring Trenker, Luise Ullrich, and Victor Varconi. The film's art direction was by Fritz Maurischat. A separate English language version, The Rebel, was released the following year. The film is part of the mountain film genre.

Trenker stated that the film's plotline of a Tyrolean mountaineer, Severin Anderlan, leading a revolt against occupying French forces in 1809, during the Napoleonic Wars. Andreas Hofer, the noted Tirolean patriot, was a proto-type of "Severin Anderlan" (both died in the same year). Trenker was designed to mirror what was happening in contemporary Germany, as it rejected the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. In 1933 Luis Trenker's novel Der Rebell. Ein Freiheitsroman aus den Bergen Tirols was published.

Trenker later made a second film about the Tyrolean Rebellion The Fire Devil in 1940.

Cast

Production

Following Trenker's appearance in Universal Pictures' Doomed Battalion, they engaged him to appear in several more films with The Rebel being the first. There were planned to be three versions: English, German and French. Victor Varconi signed to appear in the English and German versions. Esther Ralston was originally signed as the lead in the English version, but Vilma Bánky replaced her.

The German version was made by the German subsidiary of Universal.

location shooting in Austria and St. Moritz, and Zuoz, Switzerland. Interior scenes were filmed at the Tempelhof Studios in Berlin.

Sepp Allgeier was one of four cameramen who shot the film.

Reception

Joseph Goebbels and Adolf Hitler watched the film on 18 January 1933. Goebbels praised the film as what Nazi filmmakers should aspire to.

References

  1. ↑ Prawer, p. 207.
  2. ↑ "Multi-Tongue U's in Berlin". Variety. New York, NY: Variety Publishing Company. 12 July 1932. p. 13 – via Internet Archive.
  3. 1 2 Hull 1969, p. 15.
  4. ↑ Welch 1983, pp. 59.

Works cited