Stanley Kubrick in the late 1940s/early 1950s:
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/KubrickForLook.jpgIn 1949, with showgirl Rosemary Williams:
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Stanley_Kubrick_1949_with_Rosemary_Williams_a_showgirl.jpgKubrick was a struggling photographer and director, no college degree, considered nothing special, until he got his first major studio contract with MGM and went to
MUNICH, WEST GERMANY to direct
Paths of Glory, starring Kirk Douglas. At this time Kubrick, Jewish and born in the Bronx, NYC of a Jewish physician, met and surprisingly married
Christiane Harlan, the NIECE OF INFAMOUS NAZI FILM WRITER-DIRECTOR/PROPAGANDIST
VEIT HARLAN. The best known and most reviled movie of Veit Harlan is
Jud Suss ("Jew Suss"), which like
The Eternal Jew helped inspire the Holocaust and massacres of Jews during WW II. Veit Harlan wrote and directed it, based upon a 1925 historical novel, which he twisted into a tale of a cabal of evil Jewish conspirators, rapists and murderers in medieval germany, set in the towns of Frankfurt and Wurttemburg. It was commissioned by Nazi propaganda minister Jozef Goebbels (committed suicide and killed his family in the closing days of WW II in Berlin). Veit Harlan was very controversial at the time that Kubrick (or Fubrick?!) married into his family because he had actually resumed his film career in post-war germany instead of being jailed or executed like other Nazi top propagandists, and other German fillmakers were suing him or demading he stop his career.
Anyway, my main point for now is this: Kubrick's career did not take off and zoom, and he did not become a "genius" until after
Paths of Glory and his marrying Christiane and into the family of Veit Harlan. This was like making a deal with the devil, a theme brought out in his films
The Shining and
Eyes Wide Shut. But looking at photos, I'm starting to wonder if Kubrick had been imposter-replaCIAed at this time, in the notorious "Nazi Mecca" city of Munich which in the 1950s had become a hotbed of Cold War intrigue and covert operations run by and employing former Nazi war criminals and inteligence masterminds. I'm aslo thinking of the Hamburg Silver Beetles and the Matt Busby Munich plane crash here. And the doppleganger Kubrick-Beatles connections and mirror-memes have been discussed here and in other forums quite a bit.
Here is a photo of Kubrick in 1963 , below. Compare with those above. By the way, photos of the "recluse" Kubrick are few and far between and I've found only one video clip, less-than-a-minute interview with him, from 1968.
1963:
ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BNzkwNDI5Nzc2OV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwMjA5ODQ2._V1._SX260_SY400_.jpg1960:
www.taschen.com/media/images/480/page_ms_kubrick_01_0705241229_id_9592.jpgKubrick 1950 "self portrait" photo found here:
www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2005/03/kubrick200503Kubrick 1968:
www.morethings.com/fan/stanley_kubrick/1968-stanley-kubrick.jpghttp
Christiane Harlan with "Stanley Kubrick," sometime in or after 1958:
www.archiviokubrick.it/vita/fotografie/alip/alip22.jpgAnd again, here is the "other" S.K.:
The "Lenny Bruce" face on the Sgt. Pepper album cover looks a lot like Kubrick to me; his screenwriter Terry Southern (Dr. Strangelove) is also on the cover.
Coincidentally, there is a film documentary about Veit Harlan and his post-war career and family members coming to NYC in March.
1966 audio interview with Stanley Kubrick, with biographical photo/film montage:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzO_sLnfrg81968 S.K. interview video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdKHuyhhyuM&feature=relatedI'll try to make it clearer where I'm going with all this in future postings. Sorry if it seems a bit rambling for now....
Wikipedia on
Jud Suss below:---note that Veit Harlan was so scummy as to coerce real, actual Czechoslovak Jews into performing as extras in the film, and acting out purportedly realisitic Jewish religious scenes. Within several years these same Jews, already stripped of their rights, would be sent to the death camps.
Jud Süß (1940 film)
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Jud Süß
Jud Süß Poster
Directed by Veit Harlan
Produced by Otto Lehmann
Written by Veit Harlan
Eberhard Wolfgang Möller
Starring Ferdinand Marian
Werner Krauss
Heinrich George
Kristina Söderbaum
Music by Wolfgang Zeller
Release date(s) 1940
Running time 98 minutes
Country Nazi Germany
Language German
Jud Süß (Jew Süss) is a 1940 film produced by Terra Filmkunst on behalf of the Nazi regime and conceived as an antisemitic propaganda film. The screenplay was written by Veit Harlan, Wolfgang Eberhard Möller and Ludwig Metzger, and it is partially based on the 1925 historical novel Jud Süß by Lion Feuchtwanger as well as the 1827 novella by Wilhelm Hauff. Neither the film, nor the novel nor the novella correspond to the historic sources regarding Joseph Süß Oppenheimer as still accessible at the Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg. The movie was directed by Veit Harlan.
The movie played on basic Nazi stereotypes of Jews having hooked noses and being materialistic, immoral, cunning, untrustworthy and physically unattractive. With the exception of Marian—who shaved off his beard, cut his hair and wore "Christian" attire for most of the story—the actors playing male Jewish characters were made up to look unappealing and alien (non-German) to German audiences. The best example of this is Marian's co-star Werner Krauss who played the two other major Jewish characters, Rabbi Loew and his secretary Levy. There was also a scene that purported to show Jewish religious services.
Jewish extras were "recruited" (coerced into performing) in Prague (the capital of the German occupied Bohemia-Moravia) and the scenes showing the entry of the Jews into Württemberg and worshipping in a synagogue were filmed there.[1]
Contents [hide]
1 Plot
2 Critique and analysis
3 See also
4 References
5 External links
[edit] Plot
The Nazi version of the story begins with the coronation of Karl Alexander, Duke of Württemberg (Heinrich George), a man much beloved by his people, who swears an oath to obey the laws of the dukedom. Unfortunately, the duke does not have sufficient funds to buy coronation gifts for the duchess (Hilde von Stolz), and so he sends a loyal retainer to Frankfurt to borrow money from Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer shows the go-between a cabinet full of jewels and jewelry—items that are obviously beyond the Duke's means—and then says that it would be his honor to provide the Duke with jewelry at a substantial discount. However, to do so he must be allowed to bring the items to Wurttemberg. The law prohibits Jews from entering Wurttemberg, but the Duke provides Oppenheimer with a pass that grants him entry. Oppenheimer cuts his hair and shaves his beard, and in "Christian" clothes goes to Wurttemberg. The Duke is delighted with the jewelry, and Oppenheimer defers payment, saying that it is his honor to help the Duke. When Oppenheimer learns that the Duke wants to have a court orchestra and a court ballet troupe, and that the Wurttemberg council refuses to pay for them, he provides the financing for them as well.
The Duke eventually discovers that he owes Oppenheimer 350,000 Thalers (evidently a tremendous amount of money). Oppenheimer then skilfully plays on the Duke's honor and greed by saying that if the Duke is going to honor this debt to a Jew all he wants in "payment" is the authority to maintain the roads and bridges of the dukedom for 10 years—and the right to levy tolls for their use and upkeep. A percentage of the proceeds will go directly to the Duke's privy purse and thereby free the Duke from the financial limits imposed by the counsel.
The Duke agrees to this. The resulting tolls cause the price of food and other essentials to go up, and so the (German) people of Wurttemberg suffer, but the result is also great wealth for Oppenheimer and a steady stream of income for the Duke. Oppenheimer is also given the authority to levy taxes on salt, beer, wine and wheat—with the same result. Oppenheimer also assists the Duke in procuring women when the duchess is not around. He eventually persuades the Duke to repeal the law prohibiting Jews from living in Wurttemberg, and many Jews then move into the city.
After an angry (German) man attacks Oppenheimer's coach with a hammer, Oppenheimer persuades the Duke to give him the authority to do anything he deems necessary in the Duke's name, and to do so with the Duke's full protection. Oppenheimer then has the man who attacked his carriage hanged after arguing that an attack on his coach is indirectly an attack on the Duke, and therefore an act of treason and punishable by death. When the council objects to Oppenheimer's policies he suggests to the Duke that this challenge to the Duke's authority be handled by dismissing the council and restructuring the government so that the Duke can reign as an absolute monarch. Oppenheimer tells the Duke that he can do this by hiring additional soldiers from another dukedom, and that as a sign of their gratitude the Jews of Wurttemberg will provide all the money that will be needed to hire them— costing the Duke nothing.
Meanwhile, Oppenheimer is relentlessly pursuing a German woman, Dorothea Sturm (Kristina Soderbaum), who is the daughter of the council chairman (Eugen Klopfer). Oppenheimer's plans to marry Dorothea, an act that would be illegal in Nazi Germany in 1940, and, apparently illegal in 18th century Wurttemberg as well, are thwarted when Dorothea and her fiance, Faber (Malte Jager), marry secretly, but Oppenheimer then has Dorothea's father imprisoned—in theory because he objected to the execution of the man who attacked Oppenheimer's carriage.
When Faber attempts to leave the city to get help he is taken prisoner. Dorothea goes to Oppenheimer to beg for Faber's release from prison and can hear his screams as he is being tortured. Oppenheimer makes it clear to Dorothea that the only way he will release her husband is if she has sex with him. Dorothea complies, and then drowns herself afterwards. Oppenheimer—surprisingly, given the virulent anti-Semitic theme of the movie—keeps his promise and frees Faber. He then suggests to the Duke that he leave Wurttemberg for a couple of days and then come back after the "coup" as an absolute monarch. Oppenheimer leaves Wurttemberg as well.
However, the people of Wurttemberg rise up before the foreign soldiers arrive, the Wurttemberg soldiers refuse to fire on their fellow citizens, and several of the townspeople go to the neighboring principality to confront the Duke and Oppenheimer. The Duke has a heart attack and dies. Oppenheimer is captured, brought to trial, and tried on a list of charges that include treason and financial improprieties. However he is executed only because he had sex with a German woman—and it appears from the dialogue that he would have been executed even if the act had been fully consensual. Oppenheimer is executed, saying to the last that he was nothing more than a "faithful servant" of the late Duke. All the other Jews are then given three days to leave Wurttemberg.
[edit] Critique and analysis
A German audience in 1940 would have recognized several basic Nazi stereotypes in the portrayal of Jews and Jewish culture: There is the early scene in which Oppenheimer is shown to possess a fortune in jewels and jewelry. In another, he tells an innocent German girl that his home is "the world" (reflecting the Nazi stereotype of Jews as rootless wanderers in contrast to the Germans' love of their German homeland). Several conversations between Jewish characters perpetuate the Nazi line that Jews are inherently hostile to non-Jews. There is also Oppenheimer's role as a purveyor of women for the Duke, and his relentless pursuit of an "Aryan" woman for sexual purposes, even after she rebuffs his first attempt to seduce her.
Contemporary viewers will notice the broad cartoonish stereotypes of the Jewish characters and the preternaturally noble characters of their German counterparts. They will also notice that several of the German characters, Faber in particular, are unfailingly rude to Oppenheimer from the moment he arrives in Wurttemberg simply because he is Jewish—and before he gives them any reason to do so. They will probably also note that it is the Duke's vanity, greed, and weak moral character that makes it possible for Oppenheimer to do everything that he is seen doing in the movie. The Duke would seem to be as much to blame as Oppenheimer—at least in translation.
Contemporary viewers will also notice several odd things about this anti-Semitic propaganda film. In one scene, Levy expresses concern about Oppenheimer's plans and warns that it could backfire, apparently suggesting that Oppenheimer should stick to selling jewelry and loaning money. In another scene, Rabbi Loew criticizes Oppenheimer for his excessively opulent lifestyle as the Duke's finance minister and warns that it could be his downfall. In a third scene Rabbi Loew seems surprised that Oppenheimer wants him to lie to the Duke. It is also odd that the film shows Oppenheimer, the Jewish villain in an anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda film, keeping his word and releasing Faber after Dorthea submits to his sexual demands instead of having Faber killed or tortured to death anyway.
The 1940 film achieved Nazi objectives and was a great success in Germany and abroad. Within the Third Reich, it was the number one film of the 1939-1940 season, seen by over twenty million people.[2] It was shown to SS units about to be sent against Jews, to non-Jewish populations of areas where Jews were about to be deported, and to concentration camp guards.[3] Anti-Jewish violence was reported after its projection in Marseille, for example. The impact of this movie was such that its director, Veit Harlan, received the 1943 Universum Film Archiv award (the UFA was the major commercial German film studio in the early part of the 20th century) at a time when the award was under Goebbels' jurisdiction.
Harlan was charged during the post-war "de-Nazification" purges with the political crime of having actively supported the Nazis with his work as a director, but he successfully defended himself by arguing that the Nazis controlled his work and that he should not be held personally responsible for its content.
In Sweden, the film was banned in early 1941. The company Nordisk Tonefilm had sought to distribute it in the country. During the war the movie was never screened in public in Sweden, although the German embassy arranged screenings for special invitees.[4]
The film was shown in Budapest, Hungary, in July 2008, by Sandor and Tibor Gede in public showings[5][6] illegally, without the permission and consent of the copyright owner[7][8]. The exclusive copyright owner is the German Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau Foundation. A controversial and apparently fascistic Hungarian web portal is distributing the DVD version (also illegally) in Hungary.
The film has been available for sale on VHS in the United States at least since 1983 (the copyright date on a commercially marketed video cassette). In 2008, a digitally restored subtitled DVD became generally available online with commentary by Eric Rentschler, the Chair of Harvard's Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures and author of "The Ministry of Illusion". Sale of the DVD is prohibited in Germany, France, Italy, and Austria [9].
[edit] See also
Der Ewige Jude (The Eternal Jew) on another example of a historical documentary and anti-Semitic Nazi film propaganda
List of German films 1933-1945
Nazism and cinema
[edit] References
1.^ Tegel, Susan Nazis and the Cinema, Hambledon Continuum/Continuum Books, London ENGLAND, 2007
2.^ The Ministry of Illusion, Eric Rentschler, p. 154, 250