Der Postmeister (English: The Postmaster or The Stationmaster) is a 1940 Austrian-German film directed by Gustav Ucicky.[1] Released during the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, it depicts Russians in a sympathetic light, unlike their depiction in such films as Frisians in Peril before or GPU after.[2] It was very loosely based on The Station Master, an 1831 short story from The Belkin Tales series by Alexander Pushkin. It was remade in 1955 as Dunja. An earlier version was the French film Nostalgie (1938) with Harry Baur, directed by Victor Tourjansky.
| Der Postmeister | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Gustav Ucicky |
| Written by | Alexander Pushkin (short story) Gerhard Menzel |
| Produced by | Karl Hartl Erich von Neusser |
| Starring | Heinrich George Hilde Krahl Siegfried Breuer |
| Cinematography | Hans Schneeberger |
| Edited by | Rudolf Schaad |
| Music by | Willy Schmidt-Gentner |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | UFA |
Release date |
|
Running time | 92 minutes |
| Country | Nazi Germany |
| Language | German |
The film's sets were designed by the art directors Kurt Herlth and Werner Schlichting. It was made in Austria when it was part of Nazi Germany, by the Wien Film company, and distributed by UFA.
At the Venice Film Festival, Der Postmeister won the Mussolini Cup for best foreign film.
Plot
editThe daughter of a stationmaster falls in love with a cavalry captain. He persuades her to run away with him to St. Petersburg, but she realizes there that he never intended to marry her.
Cast
edit- Heinrich George as Der Postmeister
- Hilde Krahl as Dunja
- Siegfried Breuer as Rittmeister Minskij
- Hans Holt as Fähnrich Mitja
- Ruth Hellberg as Elisawetha
- Margit Symo as Mascha
- Erik Frey as Sergej
- Alfred Neugebauer as Gutsbesitzer
- Franz Pfaudler as Knecht Pjotr
- Leo Peukert as Oberst
- Reinhold Häussermann as Schneider
- Auguste Pünkösdy as Wirobowa
See also
edit- The Stationmaster (1925)
References
edit- ^ "New York Times: Der Postmeister (1940)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-11-03. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
- ^ Erwin Leiser, Nazi Cinema p43 ISBN 0-02-570230-0
External links
edit- The Stationmaster (1940) at IMDb
- Der Postmeister Full movie at the Deutsche Filmothek
