Niemandsland

original title:
Niemandsland
other titles:
No Man's Land, Hell on Earth
country / year of production:
Germany / 1931
original length:
90 min. , black/white
premiere:
10 December 1931, Berlin
genre:
melodrama
based on:
director:
George Shdanoff , Victor Trivas
film script:
Leonhard Frank , George Shdanoff , Victor Trivas
producer:
cinematographer:
Alexander von Lagorio
editor:
composer:
Hanns Eisler
cast (role):
Ernst Busch (Ernst Kohler) , Louis Douglas (Joe Smile) , Hugh Douglas (Charles Brown) , Vladimir Sokoloff (Lewin) , Georges Péclet (Charles Durand) , Ernst Busch , Hugh Douglas , Louis Douglas , Vladimir Sokoloff , Georges Péclet
more:
plot synopsis:
Most of the film takes place in a WW I trench, where five diverse individuals have been unwillingly thrust together. The characters are not given names, but designations instead: The Frenchman, The Englishman, The Jew, The German and The Negro. Despising one another at first, the five protagonists come to realize that they must learn to get along if they hope to survive.
keywords:
trench , trench warfare , bunker , comradeship
war:
First World War (1914-1918)
literature:
Jeanpaul Goergen (Ed.). Victor Trivas. Eine Filmreihe im Metropolis-Kino, Hamburg und im Zeughauskino, Berlin. Hamburg: CineGraph, 1996.

http://www.cinegraph.de/filmmat/fm9/filmmat9.html

Herbert Achternbusch. Es ist niemand da. Frankfurt a. M.: Fischer, 1992.

Bernadette Kester. Filmfront Weimar. Representaties van de Eesrte Wereldoorlog in Duitse films uit de Weimarperiode (1919-1933). Hilversum: Verloren, 1998, 124-129.

Zur Zensurgeschichte: http://www.deutsches-filminstitut.de/filme/f013206.htm
remarks:
The pacifistic sentiments (not to mention the ethnic mix) of Niemansland would be verboten by the Nazi regime within a few years after its original 1931 release; indeed, all copies of this film were ordered to be destroyed by propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.
availability:
VHS NTSC