Der große König (1942) User Reviews

Jackboots galore

[F Gwynplaine MacIntyre · 6/10 · 8 March 2003]

'Der Große König' ('The Great King') was a Nazi propaganda film which won the 1942 Coppa Mussolini prize as the best foreign film released in Italy that year. One assumes that Mussolini's film critics were not completely objective. And yet this movie has excellent production values and a gripping story which (despite its too-long running time) still make it an appealing film for those of us who aren't Nazis.

This film recounts the travails of Prussian king Friedrich the Second during the battle of Kunersdorf, when his army were decimated by the Austrian forces. Just when defeat seemed certain, Russia's czar Peter the Great sent reinforcements.

When this movie was made, the early victories of Hitler's army were long past ... and it was now starting to look as if Germany might lose the war after all. 'The Great King' was clearly made to inspire German audiences to continue the struggle against overwhelming odds. Despite its odious Nazi agenda, this film is still eminently watchable. The battle scenes are impressive, and Otto Gebühr gives a fine performance in the lead role as Friedrich. There's also a splendid turn by Paul Wegener as the leader of the Russian forces. Wegener was a stiff and very mannered actor, but he manages to turn those traits to his advantage here.

Gustav Fröhlich, best known for playing the idealistic youth in 'Metropolis', gives a splendidly earnest performance here as Sergeant Treskow, who violates orders to give a crucial command to his men ... with disastrous results. The propaganda message here is that good Germans shouldn't take the initiative and think for themselves: instead, they should follow the orders of their wise leaders who know what's best for them.

Even though this movie is Nazi agitprop, the Third Reich imagery isn't crammed down our throats here the way it is in 'Triumph of the Will'. You can enjoy this movie without feeling any urge to goose-step. But the story could have been told more effectively in a shorter running time. I'll rate 'Der Grosse Konig' 6 points out of 10.

Good old Fritz

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 22 December 2015]

When Josef Goebbels wanted to make a propaganda film he didn't do things by halves. All those extras you see in one of those cast of thousands worthy of a DeMille film from Hollywood are soldiers taken from the front and probably grateful for the chance to play 18th century soldiers instead of being 20th century ones.

The Great King is about Frederick the Great whose reign was probably the height of the Hohenzollern rule in Prussia. We should be exceedingly glad that Old Fritz as his subjects called him didn't have the resources of the modern German state that was united in 1871. As it was the man was a military genius who as we see in this film managed to snatch triumph out of defeat. For a while there it looked like the upstart state of Prussia was going to be overrun by all of Europe in the Seven Years War. Prussia's nominal ally was Great Britain, but the British had a lot of far flung adventures in places like India and North America where we were fighting The French And Indian War.

Otto Gebuhr who looked a whole lot like Frederick the Great made several film appearances as him. Kind of like character actor Frank McGlyn who was always being cast as Abraham Lincoln. The film was directed by Hitler's favorite director Veit Harlan who found a role for his wife Krista Soderburg as the wife of a Prussian soldier who learns too late the value of discipline. That was a message that Hitler wanted to send loud and clear to his audience, have faith in me because I'm the 20th Century version of Old Fritz.

Even the Nazis tell in the film that part of the reason for Prussia's triumph was some court intrigue in Russia after Empress Elizabeth died. That whole story is told in both the Elizabeth Bergner and Marlene Dietrich films on Catherine the Great. Suffice it to say in the film and in real life Frederick was shrewd enough to exploit matters.

The Great King is a great film, certainly the equal of any Hollywood production even if it is propaganda for the Third Reich.

Prophetic precursor to Downfall / Der Untergang

[Boris_and_Natasha · 7/10 · 14 December 2017]

Watching this film through a historical rear-view mirror reveals plenty of of prophecies. Nazis managed to predict their own end and most of the movies about it - including the famous rant from Downfall played by the star of Youtube - Bruno Ganz. The trick to understanding the movie is - reversing key scenes in the right chronological order. It is unbelievable that German propaganda and censorship allowed this reel (which makes Eisenstein's Ivan Groznyy look like an étalon of subtlety) into theaters of a war-waging Germany. The best documentary evidence of the utter stupidity of Nazi state, which failed due to the irrational stupidity of its leadership.

Hitler looks into the mirror of the past

[Philipp_Flersheim · 6/10 · 27 March 2023]

Hitler liked to gaze into the mirror of the past and see himself reflected in the guise of Frederick II of Prussia. This reflection is nowhere clearer than in Veit Harlan's 'Der große König'. Purportedly, the film sticks closely to actual history, but in fact it is a propaganda piece that distorts the past at every turn of the way. The aim was preparing the German population for a long and desperate war without allies, which is why for example the British contribution to the Prussian war effort of 1756-63 is not mentioned (in fact, about one-third of the Prussian costs of the Seven Years War war were borne by Britain. Another third was covered by debasing the coinage, and the rest by squeezing the Prussian population and looting occupied territories such as electoral Saxony). One relatively subtle piece of propaganda is provided by Kristina Söderbaum, who plays the daughter of a miller. She is initially heavily critical of the war and its leader but develops into a proper, good, German 'soldier's wife'. The way the film uses every chance to allow its main character Frederick II (Otto Gebühr) to engage in lengthy propaganda tirades is less subtle. In this context, I found one thing particularly striking: At one point, Frederick is faced with the political and military criticism of his brother prince Henry (Claus Clausen). He throws a tantrum that vividly reminded me of Bruno Ganz's famous tantrum in Hirschbiegel's 'Der Untergang' (2004). My first idea was that Ganz must have modelled his performance on Gebühr's in 'Der große König', but the link may be less direct. After all, Hitler was a passionate admirer of Harlan's film. It is entirely possible that he modelled his performance in the bunker under Berlin on Gebühr's, acting out his fantasy of being a reincarnation of Frederick II. Technically, 'Der große König' is a well-made film. The plot moves fast and is engaging enough, and the acting is good. There are some impressive mass scenes, and the photography in general is excellent. I am of course prepared to recognise all this, which is why I am rating the film - a disgusting piece of Nazi junk, after all - 6 stars.

Pompous, self-indulgent, melodramatic, operatic and therefore full of many condensed truths of life...

[J_J_Gittes · 10/10 · 26 June 2012]

Another Veit Harlan film seen on the big screen from a fine 35mm print, and I am more and more in awe of Harlan's cinematic sensibilities. His films seem made for the cinema and he is an incredibly visceral visual artist. Of course it helps having one of the best cameramen of your time at your disposal. Bruno Mondi's cinematography produces many special moments that had me in their grip from the beginning. If he shows close-ups of faces (think Hollywood of the 30s combined with Eisenstein) or makes one of his tremendous tracking shots (equally effective in enhancing the dynamics on the battle field or zooming in on people). His super-impositions, montage-sequences or the combination of both, like in the incredible closing images of Friedrich's eyes over a rotating windmill. Mondi can't go wrong, and enhances every acting performance – he must have been loved by his actors. Harlan shows his prowess in the combination of different modes of realism and abstraction (for example the Soviet-style montage-sequences) and his vision is never less than monumental while never forgetting that it's the monumentality of moments of human emotions that are at the center of his art. Lots of the scenes are goose-bump inducing, similar to the finale of Jud Süß (1940) when Ferdinand Marian's character gets punished by the evil townsfolk.

As for propaganda: it clearly shows that the film had been made under the Nazi dictatorship, in particular during some brief moments in speeches or dialog by Friedrich the Great. BUT - and this is a huge but - I would argue that the film includes much less war-mongering than could be expected, and one could hardly find a film as ambivalent or dialectical made with propaganda ideas in the (political) background, coming from the Soviet Union, England or the United States in 1942. The film as a whole is in my opinion not a piece of Nazi or militarist propaganda, but could actually also be said to have an anti-war message. At least I think it lets the audience decide what to make of the events and the people depicted.

What I took from it were horrible and cruel depictions of the evil that is war, focusing on an embittered, isolated and deeply flawed monarch who remains a controversial figure until the end. Otto Gebühr who played King Friedrich II. in over a dozen films from the early 20s onwards, culminating in this film, gives a masterful performance as the titular anti-hero, who can only let his true emotions come into play when he is alone. Positioned between what he sees as the duty to his people and the duty to his ideals, he loses everything he loves in the sacrifice for the Prussian nation. A tragic fate. In the end the film is an honest and depressing tale in the vein of old Shakespearean drama, where good and evil, right and wrong are often difficult to unravel.

Surely one of the best films of the decade from one of the best directors. Pompous, self-indulgent, melodramatic, operatic and therefore full of many condensed truths of life, Harlan depicts male characters that are ambivalent to the core. Maybe a forerunner of sorts of masculine angst-fueled films like Gibson's Braveheart, "The Great King" is an existentialist depiction of historical events that directly relates to the times when it was made. In the middle of all the shenanigans, Kristina Söderbaum, Harlan's wife, placed as a seemingly unnecessary addendum, but clearly showing the torment women had to go through in a society that left little space for them. Much could and should be written about such a film (and similar works), but this is only a short commentary born out of the moment.

For a glimpse into Harlan's aesthetics I recommend the first minutes of the film uploaded on YouTube where it isn't essential to understand the dialog.

The Great Boredom

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 18 June 2016]

"Der große König" or "The Great King" is a German movie from 1942 and everybody who knows a bit about history will realize that this was made during the years of World War II in Nazi Germany, so it falls under the category of propaganda film. It is the story of King Frederick II (aka "Frederick the Great") of Prussia and obviously the maker's intention here was to show us the genuine superiority when it comes to military battle and war in an effort to motivate the German population to hang in and believe in the "Endsieg". Of course, things turned out very differently in the years after, but this should not be a matter in this review. The film runs for two hours and was written and directed by Veit Harlan, the man who was also in charge of the infamous "Jud Süß". The cast includes some of the actors who worked on many propaganda films (especially Kristina Söderbaum), possibly Germany's leading female actor at this point. But there are also people like Paul Wegener, who is today mostly known for his early silent film and whose participation in films like this leaves a bit of a stain on his career, even if it is easy to believe that it was all about being a working actor than about promoting this film's message.

Then again, I personally must say the reason why I disliked this film was just the lack of really interesting characters, great acting and a convincing story and plot. I did not really care for the political message this film was trying to send to the world and the German population. I may be a bit biased as films about emperors or old kings have never been my preferred genre choice, often because they are much more about the costumes and art direction and set decoration instead of focusing on the characters in a fascinating manner. This is also true for this black-and-white movie. It dragged on really a whole lot occasions and I do not recommend the watch. Thumbs down.