''Anna Susanna'' is an
East German
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Richard Nicolas
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong ...
. It was released in 1953.
Plot
During the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, a rich businessman named Brinkmann decides sink his ship, ''Anna Susanna'', so he would be compensated by the insurance. He orders its captain, Kleiers, to sabotage it while at sea. When Kleiers carries out his instructions, several sailors and passengers notice him. In a fight that ensues, the captain is killed, but not before he manage to shipwreck ''Anna Susanna''. Only a handful of people survive the incident. After they return home, they discover that Brinkmann's insurance fraud worked and he was compensated. They sue him at court and manage to have him indicted.
Cast
*
Günther Simon as Orje
*
Peter Marx as Fietje
*
Werner Peters
Werner Peters (7 July 1918 – 30 March 1971) was a German film actor. He appeared in 102 films between 1947 and 1971.
Biography
Peters was born in Werlitzsch, Kreis Delitzsch, Prussian Saxony, and died of a heart attack on a promotion tou ...
as Kuddel
*
Harry Hindemith
Harry Hindemith (16 June 1906 – 21 January 1973) was a German actor. He appeared in more than eighty films from 1944 to 1973.
Filmography
References
External links
*
1906 births
1973 deaths
German male film actors
{{Germany ...
as Emil
*
Herbert Richter
Herbert Richter (born 26 April 1947) is a retired East German track cyclist. He had his best achievements in the Cycling at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's team pursuit, 4000m team pursuit event, winning silver medals at the world championsh ...
as Kleiers
*
Alfred Maack
Alfred Maack (5 April 1882 – 14 February 1961) was a German stage and film actor. He appeared in more than fifty films from 1937 to 1958.
Selected filmography
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maack, Alfred
1882 births
1961 ...
as Peer Frensen
*
Maly Delschaft
Martha Amalia "Maly" Delschaft (4 December 1898 – 20 August 1995) was a German stage and film actress. After beginning in theatre, Delschaft switched to silent films. She appeared in mainly supporting roles during the Weimar and Nazi eras. After ...
as Kuddel's mother
*
Aribert Grimmer Aribert ( it, Ariberto) is a Germanic given name, from ''hari'' ("host") and ''beraht'' ("bright"). It may refer to:
* Aribert (archbishop of Milan)
* Prince Aribert of Anhalt (1866–1933), regent of Anhalt
*Aribert Heim (1914–1992), Austrian Sc ...
as Kuddel's father
*
Arno Paulsen
Arno Paulsen (1900–1969) was a German actor who appeared in around sixty films in the post-Second World War years. He also appeared frequently on stage and was also a voice actor dubbing foreign films for release in Germany. He appeared in a mix ...
as Jan Brödel
*
Werner Pledath
Werner Pledath (26 April 1898 – 6 December 1965) was a German actor who appeared in many films during a lengthy career. He generally played supporting roles such as in '' Five from the Jazz Band'' (1932).Youngkin p.465 Pledath specialized in pla ...
as Brinkmann
*
Fritz Wagner as Uwe Frahm
*
Hans Olaf Moser as Wesener
*
Klaus Dirks as Lütt Heini
*
Lothar Firmans
Lothar Firmans (1896–1964) was a German stage and film actor.Giesen p.216
Selected filmography
* ''Quax the Crash Pilot'' (1941)
* ''Front Theatre'' (1942)
* '' Aufruhr der Herzen'' (1944)
* ''Quax in Africa'' (1947)
* '' Marriage in the Shadow ...
as Van Diemen
*
Jürgen Grundling as Jochen-Jürgen
*
Friedrich Kühne
Friedrich Kühne (24 April 1870 – 13 October 1959), born Franz Michna, was a German film actor of the silent era. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1913 and 1957.
Selected filmography
* ''The Iron Cross'' (1914)
* ''Detektiv Br ...
as Kröger
Production
During 1952, as the government control over
DEFA
DEFA (''Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft'') was the state-owned film studio of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) throughout the country's existence.
Since 2019, DEFA's film heritage has been made accessible and licensable on the PRO ...
tightened, the studio produced only six films, all of them influenced by the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
and dedicated to the ideological struggle between capitalism and socialism. ''Anna Susanna'' was one of those.
[Sylvia Klötzer. ''Satire und Macht: Film, Zeitung, Kabarett in der DDR''. Böhlau Verlag (2005). . Page 28.] Although the film had a plot suiting the government's policy, the DEFA Board was very reluctant to allow Richard Nicolas, for whom the picture was his debut as a director, to make ''Anna Susanna''. Nicolas had threatened to resign if he would not be allowed to direct it, and was eventually granted permission. The film was also noted for being one of the first DEFA pictures to employ primitive special effects, such as building a miniature ship model that was wrecked in an aquarium.
Reception
Heinz Kersten quoted an East German official who told that "the times in which pictures like ''Anna Susanna'', that damaged the image of DEFA in the eyes of the people... should not return." The West German Catholic Film Service described it as "rather well-developed, thrilling crime film... but filled with typical criticism of the capitalist system."
Anna Susanna
' on the German Film Lexicon.
References
External links
* {{IMDb title, id=0045508, name=Anna Susanna
*
' original poster on ostfilm.de.
*
' on cinema.de.
*
Anna Susanna' on DEFA Foundation's website.
*
Anna Susanna' on PROGRESS' website.
1953 films
1953 drama films
German drama films
DEFA films
1950s German-language films
German black-and-white films
Seafaring films
Great Depression films
1950s German films