''The Comedians'' (german: Komödianten) is a 1941 German

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

drama film directed by G. W. Pabst and starring Käthe Dorsch,

Hilde Krahl Hilde Krahl (10 January 1917 – 28 June 1999) was an Austrian film actress. She appeared in 70 films between 1936 and 1994. She was born Hildegard Kolačný in Brod, Austria-Hungary (now Slavonski Brod, Croatia) in 1917, and she died in Vien ...

and

Henny Porten Frieda Ulricke "Henny" Porten (7 January 1890 – 15 October 1960) was a German actress and film producer of the silent era, and Germany's first major film star. She appeared in more than 170 films between 1906 and 1955. Biography Frieda Ulrick ...

. It is based on the novel ''Philine'' by Olly Boeheim. The film is set in the eighteenth century, and portrays the development of German theatre. The film was shot at the

Bavaria Studios Bavaria Studios are film production studios located in Munich, the capital of the region of Bavaria in Germany, and a subsidiary of Bavaria Film. History The studios were constructed in the suburb of Geiselgasteig in 1919 shortly after the Firs ...

in Munich with sets designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

Julius von Borsody.

Plot

Karoline Neuber attempts to improve the lot of actors, who are looked down upon as vagabonds. When the Duchess refuses to let her son marry an actress, she defends them with such vehemence that she is driven from the country and finally dies in solitude.

Cast

* Käthe Dorsch as Karoline Neuber *

as Philine Schröder *

as Amalia, Duchess of Weißenfels *

Gustav Diessl Gustav Diessl (30 December 1899 – 20 March 1948) was an Austrian artist, and film and stage actor. Biography Diessl was born Gustav Karl Balthasar Diessl in Vienna. In 1916, he was an extra on different stages in Vienna but was soon recruited ...

as Ernst Biron, Duke of Kurland *

Richard Häussler Richard Häussler (26 October 1908 – 28 September 1964) was a German actor and film director. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1936 and 1964. He also directed seven films between 1951 and 1957. He was born in Munich, Germany and d ...

as Armin von Perckhammer * Friedrich Domin as Johann Neuber *

Ludwig Schmitz Ludwig Schmitz (January 28, 1884 – June 28, 1954) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than forty films during his career including the 1951 comedy '' The Heath Is Green''. He was part of the popular comedy duo Tran and Helle along with ...

as Müller,

Hanswurst Hanswurst or Hans Wurst (German for "Johnny Sausage") was a popular coarse-comic figure of German-speaking impromptu comedy. He is "a half doltish, half cunning, partly stupid, partly knowing, enterprising and cowardly, self indulgent and merry f ...

*Sonja Gerda Scholz as Feigin *

Lucy Millowitsch Lucy Millowitsch (8 November 1905 – 21 June 1990) was a German stage-actress, screen star, stage director/producer, theatre co-owner/manager and dramatist. Later she teamed up with her brother to run the Cologne Millowitsch Theatre, which be ...

as Lorenz *

Bettina Moissi Bettina Moissi (born 15 October 1923) is a German stage and film actress. She played the female lead in the 1948 film '' Long Is the Road'', the first German film to portray the Holocaust. Biography Moissi was born in Berlin in October 1923, the ...

as Victorine * Walter Janssen as Koch, actor *Alexander Ponto as Kohlhardt, young lover * as Count Paul, brother of Duchess of Weißenfels * as Studiosus Gotthold * as Professor Gottsched * Arnulf Schröder as Klupsch, Councilman of Leipzig *

Karin Evans Karin Evans (1907–2004) was a South African-born German stage and film actress. Evans was born in Johannesburg to one British and one German parent. In 1923 she moved to Berlin to study theatre, and began performing in the stage productions of M ...

as Vera

References

External links

* 1940s biographical drama films 1940s historical drama films German biographical drama films German historical drama films Films of Nazi Germany German black-and-white films Films directed by G. W. Pabst Films based on German novels Films set in the 18th century Films about theatre Bavaria Film films Films shot at Bavaria Studios 1940s German films {{1940s-Germany-film-stub