by Miguel Alejandro Marquez, Staff Writer

Kino Lorber has recently made restorations/Blu-ray quality releases of two Kristina Söderbaum classic, war-era made, kinos. Both films being cornerstones in both her body of work, and in German director Veit Harlan’s. Both films show the perspectives of women from the era, and the ability of individuals to choose their own directions in life.

Immensee, A German Folk Song
Directed by Veit Harlan
Written by Veit Harlan and Alfred Braun
Starring Kristina Söderbaum, Carl Raddatz, and Paul Klinger
Runtime: 94 minutes
Released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber July 27

Kristina Söderbaum has a career that spanned most of the 1930’s and 40’s. Immensee, a German Folk Song, has her play Elizabeth, a German woman who lives in the small town of Immensee.

She is in love with a young composer on his way to university. As he goes off to make a life of his own, Elizabeth goes on a journey from being a young woman, to an adult who is torn between her past and the man she has married. Acting alongside her is Carl Raddatz, who has chemistry with Söderbaum.

The drama of the kino comes in the form of the love triangle with Raddatz character, and a gentleman who owns land in the area. The title of the film comes from the setting itself, the beautiful landscape of Immensee. The characters of the film have beautiful moments within this area of the world and, the film, alongside its counterpart, The Great Sacrifice, makes great use of the environment.

The movie does in fact lag, with no real cinematic drive at the center. The center of the film is replaced by the actors and their performances. Söderbaum’s character is both frustrated by her male counterpart, as well as in love with him. This gives weight to the drama of the love triangle. The love triangle, being both interesting but tedious at times. It is, although, the focal point of the story. The actors are the main source of entertainment, rather than the plot.

It is quite strange that the two main actors play varying ages within the picture. It does take something away from the movie, and makes some of the actions made by the characters odd and off-putting. Seeing a thirty-something play a young adult is quite weird. Outside of the two leads, the acting by actor Wilfried Seyferth, was a triumph. He did a stupendous job of playing the best friend to Raddatz’s character. He is one of very few instances that one can truly say there is no such thing as a small role. He was no small actor.

Immensee, A German Folk Song is not a terrible film. There are more factors involved to watching this movie than just the stunning German environment. One cannot watch this film without thinking of the bigger picture, that being Nazi Germany. This film, alongside with its counterpart The Great Sacrifice, were made during the greatest tragedy of the 20th century. These films aren’t just well produced melodramas, but a shining mirror of war-torn Germany. A relic of what the German people desired during the years of oppression.

The Great Sacrifice (Opfergang)
Directed by Veit Harlan
Written by Veit Harlan and Alfred Braun
Starring Kristina Söderbaum, Irene von Meyendorff, Carl Raddatz, Franz Schafheitlin, Otto Tressler, Annemarie Steinsieck, and Ernst Stahl-Nachbaur
Runtime: 96 minutes
Released on Blu-Ray by Kino Lorber July 27

The Great Sacrifice is a film that is rife with scenes that both dazzle and delight, but is weighed down by a melodramatic plot. Kristina Söderbaum plays the character of Als Flodeen. A woman who is pitied in a world plagued by disease, and is slowly rotting away herself. Her world expanding by the introduction of Albrecht Froben, a married man she grows to love. She, obviously, is a representation of the German people. A people in love with an ideology, slowly being drained by the powers that be. This may not be the true intention by Harlan, but it’s undoubtable that Flodeen represents Germany herself. She acts alongside Irene von Meyendorff, who plays the character Octavia.

Once again Veit Harlan spins his tale around a love triangle. This time, the man is the one to choose who he is to be with. Is he to stay with his currently love Octavia, or with the free spirited, yet physically challenged, Swedish woman? The male love interest is once again played by the always smirking, always encapsulating, Carl Raddatz.

The great takeaway from Veit Harlan’s films is his use of dialogue, but his inability to construct a clear narrative, is an impediment for anything deeper. To quote my film professor, writer of the Hollywood Standard, Christopher Riley, “the first act needs to have the characters shot out of a cannon.” The first act is sluggish. No one is shot out of a cannon. Nothing big happens. This film has the characters begin their journey talking about problems, and the film ends with them talking about their problems. Talking is the bread and butter to Harlan’s work. That being said, does every film need to be cinematically encapsulating? Cinematically jarring? No. Slice of life films do have a need to exist. They are a reflection of the real. They are stripped of aesthetic and artistic overreach. But there is something to be said about poorly done slice of life. They are boring. They rely too heavily on an emotional core, and robs themselves of cinematically captivating their audiences. Bad slice of life films are simply boring. Boring I can handle. Boring can be amazing, and boring can even inspire. But boring films that have nothing insightful, or interesting to say, are an insult to any audience. This boarded on being an insult.

The set design and the costumes make this a stand out picture. The party scene in particular being a moment in which the art direction really shines. The color photography is also on par with most films of that era, especially with the films going on in the west. The quality of the film must have been a push by Goebbels and his team to be as competent as Hollywood.

The film itself is beautiful. A shot in particular that is interesting, is when Kristina Söderbaum’s character walks outside while Raddatz’s character is communicating his love for his spouse. The way that Soderbaum’s character walks outside, her multitude of dogs following her, causing a ruckus, was cinematically encapsulating. It wasn’t a very complex scene, or a scene that played any real significance, but this humble critic has to say that it was sonically resonant. It was like Veit Harlan was saying that chaos was afoot. The dogs of war were released. The melodrama has come full circle and now it’s time to cry havoc.

The second scene that I must say was well done, was the film’s ending. This ending being in which the young Swedish woman was dying. A scene that was dissected and analyzed by Slavoy Zizek. Zizek being known for his cultural theories and commentary on film criticism, The scene was stunning, but I do not see the level of importance that Slavoy Zizek found. Zizek may had found something more resonate between the lines than I did. Yes, the Nietzscheian worldview told at the beginning is quite interesting, but the philosophical aspect are not interesting enough to deem it one of “the most important films ever made.” I did not see the underlying importance in this melodrama. Zizek could probably prove this humble critic wrong.

Come see The Great Sacrifice and Immensee for their cultural impact and the underlying reason for their existences, but do not be surprised if you’ll need to give yourself three or more watching sessions in order to endure such slow burns.

On Kino Lorber:

Kino Lorber’s restoration has made both films more beautiful than ever before. Yes, there are still problems with both film negatives, such as frames being missing, and weird transitions, But both films overall problems do not impede in the viewing experience.

Immensee still had problems audio wise. Especially with the second scene in which Söderbaum and Raddatz are outside. The audio being muffled and hard to make out. Luckily this critic is already relying on subtitles. This may be a problem not with the sound mixing in post production, but with the audio recording during production. I believe this is not the fault of Kino Lorber.

I must say that I’m quite disappointed with certain aspects of Kino Lorber’s release. There are very few DVD options and the only form of movie setup is with/without commentary on both films by Olaf Moller, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, and Josh Nelson. This is also included with the option to turn off subtitles. The viewers options with the Blu-ray are sparce to say the least. There isn’t even scene selection! Yes, Kino Lorber did a fantastic job recreating cinematic experiences with what they had, but this humble critic is just astonished how little detail was put into the additional aspects of this release.