''The Blue Swords'' (german: Die blauen Schwerter) is a 1949 East 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 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

Wolfgang Schleif Wolfgang Schleif (14 May 1912 – 21 August 1984) was a German film director, screenwriter and film editor. Life and career Wolfgang Schleif studied philosophy, psychology and pedagogy at the University of Leipzig. In 1934 he passed the State ...

and starring

Hans Quest Hans Quest (1915–1997) was a German actor and film director. Selected filmography Director *''Wenn der Vater mit dem Sohne'' (1955) *''The Happy Wanderer'' (1955) *''Charley's Aunt'' (1956) *'' Wenn Poldi ins Manöver zieht'' (1956) *'' Ein Man ...

Ilse Steppat Ilse Paula Steppat (30 November 1917 – 21 December 1969) was a German actress. Her husband was noted actor and director Max Nosseck. Biography She began her cinematic career at the age of 15 playing Joan of Arc. Steppat appeared regularly on ...

and

Alexander Engel Alexander Engel, birth name: Kurt Engel (4 June 1902 – 25 July 1968) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 70 films between 1932 and 1968. He was born in Berlin, Germany and died in Saarbrücken, West Germany. He chose the sta ...

. It sold more than 3,299,432 tickets.List of the 50 highest-grossing DEFA films.
/ref> The film portrays the life of

Johann Friedrich Böttger Johann Friedrich Böttger (also Böttcher or Böttiger; 4 February 1682 – 13 March 1719) was a German alchemist. Böttger was born in Schleiz and died in Dresden. He is normally credited with being the first European to discover the secret of th ...

, an

alchemist Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscience, protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in Chinese alchemy, C ...

of the early eighteenth century who was held prisoner by the

Elector of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony (German: or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356–1806. It was centered around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. In the Golden Bull of 1356, Emperor Charles ...

in order to discover the secret of

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

production. Failing to accomplish this, which he knows to be impossible, he instead works to develop

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...

. The title refers to the symbol of

Meissen Meissen (in German orthography: ''Meißen'', ) is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrecht ...

, a pair of crossed swords. His story had previously been turned into a 1935 film ''

The King's Prisoner ''The King's Prisoner'' (german: Der Gefangene des Königs) is a 1935 German historical comedy film directed by Carl Boese and starring Michael Bohnen, Paul Kemp, and Susi Lanner. It is based around the development of Meissen porcelain durin ...

'', released during the Nazi era. The sets were 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 ...

s Karl Schneider and

Erich Zander Erich Zander (11 April 1905 – 15 April 1991) was a German field hockey player who competed in the 1928 Summer Olympics and in the 1936 Summer Olympics. In 1928 he was a member of the German field hockey team, which won the bronze medal ...

. It was shot at the

Babelsberg Studios Babelsberg Film Studio (german: Filmstudio Babelsberg), located in Potsdam-Babelsberg outside Berlin, Germany, is the second oldest large-scale film studio in the world only preceded by the Danish Nordisk Film (est. 1906), producing films since ...

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

Cast

as Johann Böttger *

as Frau von Tschirnhausen *

as Herr von Tschirnhausen *

Herbert Hübner Herbert Hübner (6 February 1889 – 27 January 1972) was a German stage and film actor. He appeared in more than 150 films between 1921 and 1966. He was born in Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland) and died in Munich, Germany. Selected fil ...

as Nehmitz * Willy A. Kleinau as August der Starke *

Marianne Prenzel Marianne () has been the national personification of the French Republic since the French Revolution, as a personification of liberty, equality, fraternity and reason, as well as a portrayal of the Goddess of Liberty. Marianne is displayed in ...

as Katharina *

Paul Wagner Paul Alan Wagner (born November 14, 1967) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher, who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1992–1997), Milwaukee Brewers (1997–1998), and Cleveland Indians (1999). Amateur career Wagner at ...

as König Friedrich I. *

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 Kreisamtmann von Wittenberg *

Klaus Miedel Klaus is a German language, German, Dutch language, Dutch and Scandinavian given name and surname. It originated as a short form of Nikolaus, a German form of the Greek given name Nicholas. Notable persons whose family name is Klaus *Billy Klau ...

as Laskari *

Rolf Weih Rolf Weih (1906–1969) was a German film actor. Selected filmography * '' Flachsmann the Educator'' (1930) * '' Comrades at Sea'' (1938) * '' Alarm at Station III'' (1939) * '' In the Name of the People'' (1939) * '' The Governor'' (1939) * ''Ala ...

as Leutnant Menzel *

Albert Bessler Albert Bessler (15 February 1905 – 4 December 1975) was a German film actor. He appeared in 40 films between 1942 and 1975. He was born in Hamburg, Germany and died in West Berlin, West Germany. Partial filmography * '' Front Theatre'' ( ...

as Finanzminister * Siegfried Dornbusch as Köhler *

Hans Emons Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi ...

as Wildenstein * Hans Fiebrandt as Gehilfe von Dünnbrot *

Harry Gillmann Harry may refer to: TV shows * ''Harry'' (American TV series), a 1987 American comedy series starring Alan Arkin * ''Harry'' (British TV series), a 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons * ''Harry'' (talk show), a 2016 American daytime talk show ...

as Hauknecht im "König von Portugal" * Sonja Hartke as Maitresse *

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 Wirt "König von Portugal" *

Margarete Schön Margarete Schön (born Margarethe Schippang; 7 April 1895 – 26 December 1985) was a German stage and film actress whose career spanned nearly fifty years. She is internationally recognized for her role as Kriemhild in director Fritz Lang's ''Die ...

as Frau Zorn

References

Bibliography

* Séan Allan & Sebastian Heiduschke. ''Re-Imagining DEFA: East German Cinema in its National and Transnational Contexts''. Berghahn Books, 2016.

External links

* 1949 films 1940s biographical films German biographical films East German films 1940s German-language films Films directed by Wolfgang Schleif Films set in the 1700s German historical films 1940s historical films German black-and-white films Films shot at Babelsberg Studios 1940s German films {{1940s-Germany-film-stub

Cast

See also

References

Bibliography

External links