''Venus on Trial'' (german: Venus vor Gericht) is a 1941 German

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 ...

directed by Hans H. Zerlett and starring Hannes Stelzer,

Hansi Knoteck Johanna Knoteck, known as Hansi Knoteck (2 March 1914 – 23 February 2014), was an Austrian film actress. Selected filmography * '' Count Woronzeff'' (1934) * '' Hubertus Castle'' (1934) * '' The Gypsy Baron'' (1935) * ''The Saint and Her F ...

, and Paul Dahlke. The film was part of the Nazis' campaign against '

degenerate art Degenerate art (german: Entartete Kunst was a term adopted in the 1920s by the Nazi Party in Germany to describe modern art. During the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, German modernist art, including many works of internationally renowned artists, ...

', and depicts the trial of a young artist who has resisted the trend towards it.Hake p. 59–60 The film was made by

Bavaria Film Bavaria Film is a German film production and distribution company. It is one of Europe's largest film production companies, with some 30 subsidiaries. History The studios were founded in 1919, when Munich-raised film producer Peter Ostermayr ...

at their

Emelka 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 Fir ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

. The film's sets were designed by the art directors

Max Seefelder Max Seefelder (1897–1970) was a German art director.Drewniak p.40 He designed the sets for around 80 films during his career. Selected filmography * '' The Tunnel'' (1933) * ''The Master Detective'' (1933) * '' Inheritance in Pretoria'' (1934) ...

Hans Sohnle Hans Sohnle (17 September 1895 – 24 March 1976) was a German art director.Chandler p.270 He frequently collaborated with Otto Erdmann on set designs. Selected filmography * '' The Loves of Käthe Keller'' (1919) * ''The Woman in Doctor's Garb ...

and

Wilhelm Vorwerg Wilhelm Vorwerg (1899–1990) was a German art director who designed the sets for over fifty films including a number of Rialto Film's series of Edgar Wallace adaptations in the 1960s.Bergfelder p.256 Selected filmography * '' In the Name of th ...

Plot

The film is set in the 1920s. Peter Brake, a sculptor, believes modern art to be decadent. He creates a neoclassical-style statue of

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

, which he then buries in a Bavarian field in order to protect the identity of Charlotte, the woman who modelled for it. When it is dug up, experts believe that ''Venus vom Acker ('Venus of the Fields')'' is an ancient statue made by

Praxiteles Praxiteles (; el, Πραξιτέλης) of Athens, the son of Cephisodotus the Elder, was the most renowned of the Attica sculptors of the 4th century BC. He was the first to sculpt the nude female form in a life-size statue. While no indubita ...

. Peter is unable to prove that he is the creator of the statue, as the only person able to verify his claim is the model. He tries to keep her out of the matter, as she is now a respectable housewife. Ultimately, however, she decides to come forward as a witness.

Cast

Role as propaganda

The character of Peter Brake may be loosely based on Arno Breker, whose work was endorsed by the Nazi authorities. The filmmakers used sculptures that had been seized by the government, including Ernst Kirchner's ''Das Paar ('The Couple')'', Otto Freundlich's ''Kopf (Head),'' and Marg Moll's ''Tanzerin (Dancer),'' as props''.'' The art experts who misidentify Brake's sculpture are all coded as effete, homosexual or Jewish, etc. Susan Felleman suggests that the film's attempt at propaganda were weak, finding that its portrayals of a 'decadent' Berlin nightlife and the character of Benjamin Hecht (a Jewish art dealer) significantly more interesting than those Brake and his circle.

References

Bibliography

External links

* 1941 films 1941 comedy-drama films German comedy-drama films Films of Nazi Germany German black-and-white films 1940s German-language films Films directed by Hans H. Zerlett Films about fictional painters Nazi propaganda films Films set in 1930 Bavaria Film films Films set in the 1920s Films set in Bavaria 1940s German films {{1940s-Germany-film-stub