Wunschkonzert
Encyclopedia
Wunschkonzert is a 1940 German drama propaganda film
by Eduard von Borsody
. After Die grosse Liebe, it was the most popular film of wartime Germany, reaching the second highest gross.
") was broadcast on the German radio
network every Sunday afternoon at 3.00 from the Great Broadcasting Room of the Haus des Rundfunks
on Masurenallee in Berlin
. Its popularity was based in part on its claims to broadcast music requested by men in the armed forces, thus uniting the armed forces and the homefront in Volksgemeinschaft
. Reich Minister Goebbels
insisted that all German performers contribute to it and concluded that a film based in it would be even more successful.
in Berlin the young Inge Wagner and Luftwaffe
Fliegerleutnant (Flight Lieutenant
) Herbert Koch meet, and within a few days fall in love. They make plans for their joint future, but before they can get married Herbert is seconded to the Condor Legion
and ordered to the Spanish Civil War
; he is forced to leave immediately without giving Inge any explanation. The mission is top secret and all contact with home is forbidden, including by letter, and he is unable to contact her with an explanation. When after several months the operation is over, and Herbert is recovering from a severe injury, he is at last able to write to Inge, but she has moved in the meantime and he is unable to trace her.
Inge meanwhile is unable to forget Herbert and is prepared to wait for him. Three years go by. When the war begins with the Invasion of Poland in 1939, the men from Inge's area all go off to the front, including Inge's childhood friend, Helmut Winkler, whose proposal of marriage she has turned down, but who continues to hope for her hand. Helmut is assigned to a Squadron
where he is put directly under Herbert, who has meanwhile been promoted to Hauptmann
(Group Captain). The two become friends, not knowing that they both love the same girl.
Since the beginning of the war, a big musical event has taken place in Berlin every week, which is broadcast on the radio as "Wunschkonzert für die Wehrmacht" and provides a channel for greetings and messages between the front and home. When Herbert, remembering the beautiful days with Inge, asks for the Olympic fanfares, Inge, who is listening at home like every one else, hears it and is encouraged by this sudden sign out of the blue to discover Herbert's whereabouts, with renewed hope of seeing him again. They exchange letters, and arrange to meet in Hamburg
.
However, at the last moment before the meeting, Herbert and Helmut are both ordered off on a reconnaissance
flight over the Atlantic
and are shot down. A German U-Boat
picks them up. Meanwhile Inge is waiting in vain. Helmut is taken wounded to the military hospital, where all three meet in his sickroom. After sorting out the confused situation - Herbert assumes that Inge and Helmut are engaged - the two lovers are reunited.
as Inge Wagner, Carl Raddatz as Herbert Koch and Joachim Brennecke as Helmut Winkler.
Other actors were Hedwig Bleibtreu (Frau Wagner), Ida Wüst
(Frau Eichhorn), Hans Hermann Schaufuss (Hammer), Hans Adalbert Schlettow (Kramer), Malte Jäger (Friedrich), Walter Ladengast
(Schwarzkopf), Albert Florath (Physician), Elise Aulinger
(Frau Schwarzkopf), Wilhelm Althaus (Captain Freiburg), Walter Bechmann (Waiter), Günther Lüders (Zimmermann), Erwin Biegel (Justav), Vera Hartegg (Frau Friedrich), Vera Complojer (Frau Hammer), Aribert Mog and Ewald Wenck.
's Stukas (1941). After World War II, the Allied Control Council
, which in 1945 subjected all German-language films then on release to an ideological examination, banned its performance. It was released later in West Germany
with clearance from the FSK
motion picture rating system.
The love story in itself was innocuous (particularly given the unconvincing performances of the two male leads) and was intended only to strengthen morale at the home front, particularly among women who thought of their loved ones on the front.Cinzia Romani, Tainted Goddesses: Female Film Stars of the Third Reich p137 ISBN 0-9627613-1-1 With this film (her 11th), Ilse Werner tightened her grip on star status and added to her image the role of the "girl back home", faithfully enduring. Although she had at first turned the part down, her collaboration in this film cost her in 1945 a performance ban, albeit temporary.
Its real political force was due to other elements of image and plot not immediately apparent from a straightforward storyline summary. The film historians Francis Courtade and Pierre Cadars quote an unknown writer, who describes the film as follows: "This "harmless-homeloving" film contains in palatable form just about everything that was dear to the Third Reich, with the exception of anti-semitism
".
Friedemann Beyer also describes it as a "paradigm of the National Sozialist cinema". The blend of distracting escapist
entertainment on the one hand and naked propaganda on the other makes Wunschkonzert one of the most significant products of Nazi film politics.
In the first section, against the background of the opening of the Olympic Games, the film contains documentary images of Hitler
with adoring crowds, deliberately reminiscent of Leni Riefenstahl
's propaganda films; the Olympic scenes include actual footage from Riefenstahl's film "Olympia
". Later, in the war scenes, original newsreel footage is used. The film is also openly propagandistic in the scenes in which the men go off to war: these scenes convey on the one hand a spirit of readiness for self-sacrifice, and on the other, one of carefree singing and jollity, as though going on a great adventure. "Echt deutsche Gefühlsinnigkeit" ("genuine German sensibility") is celebrated in another scene, in which Schwarzkopf, a young pianist, plays Beethoven
to a house-party in farewell. He later dies an operatically staged heroic death, playing the organ in a church to guide his comrades, thus diverting the enemy to himself. This depiction of an actual German soldier's death was unusual for German film and carefully glamorized.
The real main theme of the film however is German Volksgemeinschaft
("people's community", a specifically Nazi term), the inner bond between home and the front, and the participation of every level of society. The role of Nazism in bringing about this happy unity is underscored when Inge's aunt recounts how she could not marry a lover of higher social class, Inge wonders if such things are possible, and the aunt declares they were -- in those days. The classes also, however unified in purpose, are still recognizable; the lower classes are simple souls, obeying orders at the front and being clowns at home, while the hero is a dignified person of high status.
The request concert, as the bridge between the two, and indeed the love story between a civilian girl and a fighting man, are really just symbols for the greater whole. Consequently the film closes, not just on the images of the idyll of love, but with battleships, bomber squadrons, swastika banners and the patriotic song "Denn wir fahren gegen Engelland".
characterised the film - after 1945 - not only as a state-commissioned film, but as: "Goebbels’ pet child. He had worked on the screenplay, written dialogue and specified particular singers and music to be presented in the great set pieces. Since he prized Ilse Werner above all as the 'sympathetic model of a modern woman', he was completely besotted with that piece of casting."Friedemann Beyer, Die Ufa-Stars im Dritten Reich p259 ISBN 3-453-03013-3
The director Eduard von Borsody
, who otherwise mostly specialised in adventure films, had recommended himself to the Nazi regime by his work on the films Morgenrot
(1933, pre-dating the Nazi seizure of control), Flüchtlinge
(1933) and Kautschuk (1938).
Shooting began on 16 July 1940. On 21 December the completed film was laid before the Filmprüfstelle (original edition: 2,832 metres, 103 minutes), which classified it as fit for youth viewing. The premiere took place on 30 December 1940 in a Berlin showpiece cinema, the Ufa-Palast am Zoo. Distribution was managed by the Universum-Film Verleih GmbH
. On 4 November 1943 the film was again presented to the Filmprüfstelle in a shortened version (2,689 metres, 98 minutes) and in this version too was classified as suitable for minors.
In the original version the film was entitled "Das Wunschkonzert" ("The Request Concert") but this was replaced when the film was advertised by the snappier-sounding "Wunschkonzert".
Next to the Zarah Leander
film Die grosse Liebe, Wunschkonzert was the most commercially successful film production of the National Socialist period: by the end of World War II the film had been seen by almost 26 million people and taken 7.6 million Reichsmarks.
At its presentation to the FSK on 24 January 1980 (2,720 metres, 99 minutes) the film was cleared as suitable for showing on public holidays and for those aged 16 and over (Prüf-Nr. 51284). After a re-edit (2,756 metres, 101 minutes) it was presented again to the FSK on 22 January 1997, when it was re-classified as suitable for those aged 18 and over (Prüf-Nr. 51284). The rights have been taken over by the Transit-Verleih GmbH.
Propaganda film
The term propaganda can be defined as the ability to produce and spread fertile messages that, once sown, will germinate in large human cultures.” However, in the 20th century, a “new” propaganda emerged, which revolved around political organizations and their need to communicate messages that...
by Eduard von Borsody
Eduard von Borsody
Eduard von Borsody was an Austrian cameraman, film editor, film director and screenplay writer.- Life :Eduard von Borsody began his film career as a cameraman...
. After Die grosse Liebe, it was the most popular film of wartime Germany, reaching the second highest gross.
Background
The popular music show "Wunschkonzert für die Wehrmacht" ("Request Concert for the WehrmachtWehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
") was broadcast on the German radio
Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft
The Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft , which can be loosely translated as the State Broadcasting Company, was a national network of German regional public broadcasting companies active from 1925 until 1945...
network every Sunday afternoon at 3.00 from the Great Broadcasting Room of the Haus des Rundfunks
Haus des Rundfunks
The Haus des Rundfunks , located in the Westend district of Berlin, Germany, is the oldest self-contained broadcasting house in the world. It was designed by Hans Poelzig in 1929 after winning an architectural competition...
on Masurenallee in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. Its popularity was based in part on its claims to broadcast music requested by men in the armed forces, thus uniting the armed forces and the homefront in Volksgemeinschaft
Volksgemeinschaft
Volksgemeinschaft is a German expression meaning "people's community". Originally appearing during World War I as Germans rallied behind the war, it derived its popularity as a means to break down elitism and class divides...
. Reich Minister Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
insisted that all German performers contribute to it and concluded that a film based in it would be even more successful.
Plot
During the 1936 Summer Olympics1936 Summer Olympics
The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the Games over Barcelona, Spain on April 26, 1931, at the 29th IOC Session in Barcelona...
in Berlin the young Inge Wagner and Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
Fliegerleutnant (Flight Lieutenant
Flight Lieutenant
Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries. It ranks above flying officer and immediately below squadron leader. The name of the rank is the complete phrase; it is never shortened to "lieutenant"...
) Herbert Koch meet, and within a few days fall in love. They make plans for their joint future, but before they can get married Herbert is seconded to the Condor Legion
Condor Legion
The Condor Legion was a unit composed of volunteers from the German Air Force and from the German Army which served with the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War of July 1936 to March 1939. The Condor Legion developed methods of terror bombing which were used widely in the Second World War...
and ordered to the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
; he is forced to leave immediately without giving Inge any explanation. The mission is top secret and all contact with home is forbidden, including by letter, and he is unable to contact her with an explanation. When after several months the operation is over, and Herbert is recovering from a severe injury, he is at last able to write to Inge, but she has moved in the meantime and he is unable to trace her.
Inge meanwhile is unable to forget Herbert and is prepared to wait for him. Three years go by. When the war begins with the Invasion of Poland in 1939, the men from Inge's area all go off to the front, including Inge's childhood friend, Helmut Winkler, whose proposal of marriage she has turned down, but who continues to hope for her hand. Helmut is assigned to a Squadron
Squadron
Squadron has different meanings:*Squadron , a cavalry or other unit that consists of a number of troops.*Squadron , a unit of aircraft that consists of three or four "flights", with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, depending on aircraft type and air force.*Squadron , a unit of 3-4 major naval vessels...
where he is put directly under Herbert, who has meanwhile been promoted to Hauptmann
Hauptmann
Hauptmann is a German word usually translated as captain when it is used as an officer's rank in the German, Austrian and Swiss armies. While "haupt" in contemporary German means "main", it also has the dated meaning of "head", i.e...
(Group Captain). The two become friends, not knowing that they both love the same girl.
Since the beginning of the war, a big musical event has taken place in Berlin every week, which is broadcast on the radio as "Wunschkonzert für die Wehrmacht" and provides a channel for greetings and messages between the front and home. When Herbert, remembering the beautiful days with Inge, asks for the Olympic fanfares, Inge, who is listening at home like every one else, hears it and is encouraged by this sudden sign out of the blue to discover Herbert's whereabouts, with renewed hope of seeing him again. They exchange letters, and arrange to meet in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
.
However, at the last moment before the meeting, Herbert and Helmut are both ordered off on a reconnaissance
Reconnaissance
Reconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....
flight over the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
and are shot down. A German U-Boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
picks them up. Meanwhile Inge is waiting in vain. Helmut is taken wounded to the military hospital, where all three meet in his sickroom. After sorting out the confused situation - Herbert assumes that Inge and Helmut are engaged - the two lovers are reunited.
Cast
Starring roles were played by Ilse WernerIlse Werner
Ilse Werner was an actress and singer. She was born to a Dutch father and a German mother and was a Dutch citizen by birth...
as Inge Wagner, Carl Raddatz as Herbert Koch and Joachim Brennecke as Helmut Winkler.
Other actors were Hedwig Bleibtreu (Frau Wagner), Ida Wüst
Ida Wüst
Ida Wüst was a German stage and film actress, whose career was most prominent in the 1920s and 1930s with Universum Film AG .-Life and career:...
(Frau Eichhorn), Hans Hermann Schaufuss (Hammer), Hans Adalbert Schlettow (Kramer), Malte Jäger (Friedrich), Walter Ladengast
Walter Ladengast
Walter Ladengast was an Austrian film actor. He appeared in 72 films between 1928 and 1979.He was born in Vienna, Austria and died in Munich, Germany.-Selected filmography:* Wunschkonzert * Hanussen...
(Schwarzkopf), Albert Florath (Physician), Elise Aulinger
Elise Aulinger
-Selected filmography:* Martin Luther * Krambambuli * Wunschkonzert * Das sündige Dorf * Hanna Amon * Fear * Das sündige Dorf -External links:...
(Frau Schwarzkopf), Wilhelm Althaus (Captain Freiburg), Walter Bechmann (Waiter), Günther Lüders (Zimmermann), Erwin Biegel (Justav), Vera Hartegg (Frau Friedrich), Vera Complojer (Frau Hammer), Aribert Mog and Ewald Wenck.
Music
Many well-known artists appear as themselves in the request concert programme section, hosted by Heinz Goedecke:- Paul HörbigerPaul HörbigerPaul Hörbiger was an Austrian theatre and film actor.-Life and work:Paul Hörbiger was born in Budapest, the son of Hans Hörbiger, an engineer who wrote Welteislehre on glacial cosmology, and elder brother of actor Attila Hörbiger. In 1902 the family returned to Vienna, while Paul attended the...
: "Apoloner, Apoloner bist Du" - Weiß Ferdl: Bin ich froh, ich bin kein Intellektueller
- Hans BrausewetterHans BrausewetterHans Brausewetter was a German film actor of the silent era. He appeared in 135 films between 1922 and 1945. He appeared in the 1923 film The Treasure, which was directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst...
, Heinz RühmannHeinz RühmannHeinrich Wilhelm "Heinz" Rühmann was a popular German film actor.-Life and work:Rühmann was born in Essen, Westphalia. His role in the 1930 movie Die Drei von der Tankstelle led him to film stardom. He remained highly popular as a comedic actor throughout the 1930s and early 1940s...
, Josef SieberJosef Sieber-Selected filmography:* Joan of Arc * Kora Terry * The Heart of a Queen * Das Grosse Spiel * The Heath is Green * Ave Maria * Drei Mann in einem Boot -External links:...
: "Das kann doch einen Seemann nicht erschüttern" (song from the film Paradies der Junggesellen, 1939) - Wilhelm Strienz: Gute Nacht Mutter
- Marika RökkMarika RökkMarika Rökk was an Austrian-German singer, dancer and actress of Hungarian descent, who became famous in German films, notably in the Nazi era.- Life and work :...
: In einer Nacht im Mai (song from the film Eine Nacht im Mai, 1938) - Soldiers: Soldaten sind Soldaten
- Albert Bräu: clarinet solo
- Berlin Philharmonic OrchestraBerlin Philharmonic OrchestraThe Berlin Philharmonic, German: , formerly Berliner Philharmonisches Orchester , is an orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. In 2006, a group of ten European media outlets voted the Berlin Philharmonic number three on a list of "top ten European Orchestras", after the Vienna Philharmonic and the...
, conducted by Eugen JochumEugen JochumEugen Jochum was an eminent German conductor.Born in Babenhausen, near Augsburg, Germany, Jochum studied the piano and organ in Augsburg until 1922. He then studied conducting in Munich...
: overture to the opera The Marriage of FigaroThe Marriage of FigaroLe nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
National Socialist propaganda
Wunschkonzert was officially classified as "Politically valuable", "Artistically valuable", "Valuable for the people" and "Valuable for youth", which by Nazi standards put it close to the rank of a major propaganda film such as Karl RitterKarl Ritter
Karl Ritter was a German diplomat, ambassador to Brazil, a member of the Nazi Party, Special Envoy to the Munich Agreement, a senior official in the Foreign Office during World War II, and convicted war criminal in the Ministries Trial.-Life:Karl Ritter was a graduate in law, and was appointed to...
's Stukas (1941). After World War II, the Allied Control Council
Allied Control Council
The Allied Control Council or Allied Control Authority, known in the German language as the Alliierter Kontrollrat and also referred to as the Four Powers , was a military occupation governing body of the Allied Occupation Zones in Germany after the end of World War II in Europe...
, which in 1945 subjected all German-language films then on release to an ideological examination, banned its performance. It was released later in West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
with clearance from the FSK
Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle der Filmwirtschaft
The Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle der Filmwirtschaft is a German motion picture rating system organisation run by the Spitzenorganisation der Filmwirtschaft based in Wiesbaden.- Assignment :The main tasks of the FSK are approving and rating movies and trailers, videos and DVDs, and...
motion picture rating system.
The love story in itself was innocuous (particularly given the unconvincing performances of the two male leads) and was intended only to strengthen morale at the home front, particularly among women who thought of their loved ones on the front.Cinzia Romani, Tainted Goddesses: Female Film Stars of the Third Reich p137 ISBN 0-9627613-1-1 With this film (her 11th), Ilse Werner tightened her grip on star status and added to her image the role of the "girl back home", faithfully enduring. Although she had at first turned the part down, her collaboration in this film cost her in 1945 a performance ban, albeit temporary.
Its real political force was due to other elements of image and plot not immediately apparent from a straightforward storyline summary. The film historians Francis Courtade and Pierre Cadars quote an unknown writer, who describes the film as follows: "This "harmless-homeloving" film contains in palatable form just about everything that was dear to the Third Reich, with the exception of anti-semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
".
Friedemann Beyer also describes it as a "paradigm of the National Sozialist cinema". The blend of distracting escapist
Escapism
Escapism is mental diversion by means of entertainment or recreation, as an "escape" from the perceived unpleasant or banal aspects of daily life...
entertainment on the one hand and naked propaganda on the other makes Wunschkonzert one of the most significant products of Nazi film politics.
In the first section, against the background of the opening of the Olympic Games, the film contains documentary images of Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
with adoring crowds, deliberately reminiscent of Leni Riefenstahl
Leni Riefenstahl
Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl was a German film director, actress and dancer widely noted for her aesthetics and innovations as a filmmaker. Her most famous film was Triumph des Willens , a propaganda film made at the 1934 Nuremberg congress of the Nazi Party...
's propaganda films; the Olympic scenes include actual footage from Riefenstahl's film "Olympia
Olympia (1938 film)
Olympia is a 1938 Nazi propaganda film by Leni Riefenstahl documenting the 1936 Summer Olympics, held in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany. The film was released in two parts: Olympia 1. Teil — Fest der Völker and Olympia 2. Teil — Fest der Schönheit . It was the first documentary feature...
". Later, in the war scenes, original newsreel footage is used. The film is also openly propagandistic in the scenes in which the men go off to war: these scenes convey on the one hand a spirit of readiness for self-sacrifice, and on the other, one of carefree singing and jollity, as though going on a great adventure. "Echt deutsche Gefühlsinnigkeit" ("genuine German sensibility") is celebrated in another scene, in which Schwarzkopf, a young pianist, plays Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
to a house-party in farewell. He later dies an operatically staged heroic death, playing the organ in a church to guide his comrades, thus diverting the enemy to himself. This depiction of an actual German soldier's death was unusual for German film and carefully glamorized.
The real main theme of the film however is German Volksgemeinschaft
Volksgemeinschaft
Volksgemeinschaft is a German expression meaning "people's community". Originally appearing during World War I as Germans rallied behind the war, it derived its popularity as a means to break down elitism and class divides...
("people's community", a specifically Nazi term), the inner bond between home and the front, and the participation of every level of society. The role of Nazism in bringing about this happy unity is underscored when Inge's aunt recounts how she could not marry a lover of higher social class, Inge wonders if such things are possible, and the aunt declares they were -- in those days. The classes also, however unified in purpose, are still recognizable; the lower classes are simple souls, obeying orders at the front and being clowns at home, while the hero is a dignified person of high status.
The request concert, as the bridge between the two, and indeed the love story between a civilian girl and a fighting man, are really just symbols for the greater whole. Consequently the film closes, not just on the images of the idyll of love, but with battleships, bomber squadrons, swastika banners and the patriotic song "Denn wir fahren gegen Engelland".
Production and reception
The former Reich Film Superintendent Fritz HipplerFritz Hippler
Fritz Hippler was a German filmmaker who ran the film department in the Propaganda Ministry of the Third Reich, under Joseph Goebbels. He is most famous as director of the propaganda film Der ewige Jude ....
characterised the film - after 1945 - not only as a state-commissioned film, but as: "Goebbels’ pet child. He had worked on the screenplay, written dialogue and specified particular singers and music to be presented in the great set pieces. Since he prized Ilse Werner above all as the 'sympathetic model of a modern woman', he was completely besotted with that piece of casting."Friedemann Beyer, Die Ufa-Stars im Dritten Reich p259 ISBN 3-453-03013-3
The director Eduard von Borsody
Eduard von Borsody
Eduard von Borsody was an Austrian cameraman, film editor, film director and screenplay writer.- Life :Eduard von Borsody began his film career as a cameraman...
, who otherwise mostly specialised in adventure films, had recommended himself to the Nazi regime by his work on the films Morgenrot
Morgenrot
Morgenrot is a 1933 German submarine film set during World War I.Released three days after Adolf Hitler became Reichskanzler, it was the first film to have its screening in Nazi Germany. It became a symbol of the new times touted by the Nazi regime...
(1933, pre-dating the Nazi seizure of control), Flüchtlinge
Flüchtlinge
Flüchtlinge is a 1933 German film depicting Volga German refugees persecuted by the Bolsheviks on the Sino-Russian border in Manchuria in 1928.The film was directed by Gustav Ucicky and starred Hans Albers, Käthe von Nagy and Eugen Klopfer...
(1933) and Kautschuk (1938).
Shooting began on 16 July 1940. On 21 December the completed film was laid before the Filmprüfstelle (original edition: 2,832 metres, 103 minutes), which classified it as fit for youth viewing. The premiere took place on 30 December 1940 in a Berlin showpiece cinema, the Ufa-Palast am Zoo. Distribution was managed by the Universum-Film Verleih GmbH
Universum Film AG
Universum Film AG, better known as UFA or Ufa, is a film company that was the principal film studio in Germany, home of the German film industry during the Weimar Republic and through World War II, and a major force in world cinema from 1917 to 1945...
. On 4 November 1943 the film was again presented to the Filmprüfstelle in a shortened version (2,689 metres, 98 minutes) and in this version too was classified as suitable for minors.
In the original version the film was entitled "Das Wunschkonzert" ("The Request Concert") but this was replaced when the film was advertised by the snappier-sounding "Wunschkonzert".
Next to the Zarah Leander
Zarah Leander
Zarah Leander was a Swedish actress and singer.Leander began her career in the late 1920s, and by the mid 1930s her success in Europe, particularly in Germany and the Scandinavian countries, led to invitations to work in the United States...
film Die grosse Liebe, Wunschkonzert was the most commercially successful film production of the National Socialist period: by the end of World War II the film had been seen by almost 26 million people and taken 7.6 million Reichsmarks.
At its presentation to the FSK on 24 January 1980 (2,720 metres, 99 minutes) the film was cleared as suitable for showing on public holidays and for those aged 16 and over (Prüf-Nr. 51284). After a re-edit (2,756 metres, 101 minutes) it was presented again to the FSK on 22 January 1997, when it was re-classified as suitable for those aged 18 and over (Prüf-Nr. 51284). The rights have been taken over by the Transit-Verleih GmbH.