This movie was made towards the end of World War Two, at a time when every man was needed for the German army, and Germany was being bombed night and day by the Allies. So where did the cast come from? And how did large groups of actors manage to film outdoors without being a target for enemy bombers?
shareAs far as I know, about 10000 Soldiers from the eastern front were drafted to play all the french and prussian soldiers.
shareTheres more detail on how it got made in a wikipedia article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolberg_%28film%29
The medveds have a wholer chapter on this film in their book "The Hollywood Hall of Shame".
Laura Ess
Considering that the movie wasn't made in Hollywood I fail to see how it was relevant to that topic.
shareYou've obviously never read the book (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hollywood_Hall_of_Shame), which covered films made in more than just the USA. Hey - I didn't make up the title! I think the selection criteria was just how large a sum of money was lost if and when the film was released. Other non-USA films include Scipio Africanus, The Blue Bird, Mohammad: Messenger of God, and Inchon.
So, have you seen Kolberg then?
Laura Ess
Yes, I've seen it. It doesn't make any difference if money was lost when the film was released, it wasn't created to make money, the film was designed as pro-war propaganda to motivate Germany's civilian population toward greater efforts of sacrifice and resistance against the Allies. Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels even re-wrote large portions of the film's dialogue because he wanted the film's propaganda to achieve the maximum effect. In such circumstances I think the money the film made or didn't make is a non-issue and not worthy of any serious discussion.
shareYou may be right, and the efforts detailed in the book are extraordinary. Flying a copy into La Rochelle and delivering it by parachute (because the town was besieged by Allied forces) is not something one would do if the motive were only profit. Of course the town fell two weeks later.
Also in the Medved book, it was implied that at the Premiere in Berlin, it was mostly watched by party officials mostly, and that the average inhabitant was too busy trying to stay Alive. Don't know how they would have got that information. Of course the film consumed a lot of resources and kept quite a number of troops away from various fronts (which no doubt they were glad of). That was something that came up when the director was put in trial after the war ended. I think he got off.
Laura Ess
I've always wanted to see that book turned into a series either on film or at the NFT
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