''The Great Love'' (German: ''Die große Liebe'') is a 1942 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. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by Rolf Hansen and starring

Zarah Leander Zarah Leander (; 15 March 1907 – 23 June 1981) was a Sweden, Swedish singer and actress whose greatest success was in Germany between 1936 and 1943, when she was contracted to work for the state-owned UFA GmbH, Universum Film AG (UFA). Althou ...

Viktor Staal Viktor Staal (17 February 1909 – 4 June 1982) was an Austrian film actor. Selected filmography * '' Everything for the Company'' (1935) * '' Eva, the Factory Girl'' (1935) * '' Das Einmaleins der Liebe'' (1935) * '' The World's in Love'' (1935 ...

and

Grethe Weiser Grethe Weiser (; 27 February 1903 – 2 October 1970) was a German actress. Biography Born in Hanover, she spent her childhood in Dresden. She escaped from her dominant and sometimes violent father by marrying a Jewish confectionery manufactu ...

. It premiered in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...

and went on to become the most commercially successful film in the history of the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

Erwin Leiser Erwin Leiser (May 16, 1923 – August 22, 1996) was a Swedish director, writer, and actor. He is best known for his 1960 documentary film ''Mein Kampf'', based on Nazi footage from secret archives and depicting Nazi atrocities. He subsequently ...

, ''Nazi Cinema'' p61 It was shot at the

Tempelhof Studios The Tempelhof Studios are a film studio located in Tempelhof in the German capital of Berlin. They were founded in 1912, during the silent era, by German film pioneer Alfred Duskes, who built a glass-roofed studio on the site with financial back ...

with

location shooting Location shooting is the shooting of a film or television production in a real-world setting rather than a sound stage or backlot. The location may be interior or exterior. When filmmaking professionals refer to shooting "on location", they are ...

taking place in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

and

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

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

Walter Haag Walter Haag (1898–1978) was a German art director. He worked on more than sixty films during his career including the 1940 historical melodrama ''The Heart of a Queen''.Hull p.179-80 Selected filmography * '' The Private Life of Louis XIV'' (19 ...

Story

The attractive Oberleutnant Paul Wendlandt is stationed in

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

as a

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

fighter pilot. While in Berlin to deliver a report he is given a day's leave, and on the stage of the cabaret theatre "Skala" sees the popular Danish singer Hanna Holberg. For Paul it is love at first sight. When Hanna visits friends after the end of the performance, he follows her, and speaks to her in the

U-Bahn Rapid transit in Germany consists of four systems and 14 systems. The , commonly understood to stand for ('underground railway'), are conventional rapid transit systems that run mostly underground, while the or ('city rapid railway') are c ...

. After the party in her friends' flat he accompanies her home, and chance throws them further together when an air raid warning forces them to take cover in the

air raid shelter Air raid shelters are structures for the protection of non-combatants as well as combatants against enemy attacks from the air. They are similar to bunkers in many regards, although they are not designed to defend against ground attack (but ...

. Hanna reciprocates Paul's feelings, but after a night spent together Paul has to return immediately to the front. There now follows a whole series of misunderstandings, and one missed opportunity after another. While Hanna waits in vain for some sign of life from Paul, he is flying on missions in North Africa. When he tries to visit her in her Berlin flat, she is giving a Christmas concert in Paris. Nevertheless, their bond grows in strength and arouses the jealousy of the composer Rudnitzky, who is also in love with the singer. Paul asks Hanna in a letter to marry him. However, when he is finally able to visit her, he is called away again on the night before the wedding. Hanna, disappointed, leaves for Rome, where she has to make a guest appearance. Even when Paul manages to get three weeks' leave and follows Hanna to Rome, the wedding has still to be postponed: Paul feels so strongly that he is needed at the front that he goes back even though he has not been ordered to do so. Hanna does not understand this, and there is an argument, after which Paul thinks he has lost her forever. Germany invades the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and Paul and his friend Etzdorf are sent to the Eastern Front. When Etzdorf is killed, Paul writes a farewell letter to Hanna, to make the dangers of his missions easier to bear. Only when he himself has been shot down and wounded and is sent to a military hospital in the mountains does he see Hanna again, who is still prepared to marry him. The last shots of the film show the happy couple, confident in the future, looking skywards where squadrons of German bombers fly past.

Musical numbers

*''Davon geht die Welt nicht unter'' ("It's Not the End of the World") *''Blaue Husaren (Heut' kommen die blauen Husaren)'' ("Today the Blue Hussars Are Coming") *''

Ich weiss, es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehen "Ich weiß, es wird einmal ein Wunder gescheh’n" ("I Know Some Day a Miracle Will Happen") is a song composed by Bruno Balz and Michael Jary, which was originally recorded by Swedish actress and singer Zarah Leander. It first appeared in the 19 ...

'' ("I Know a Miracle Will Happen") *''Mein Leben für die Liebe - Jawohl!'' ("My Life for Love - Jawohl!") All the songs were composed by

Michael Jary Michael Jary (Maximilian Michael Andreas Jarczyk; 24 September 1906 – 12 July 1988) was a German composer who was born in Laurahütte, Siemianowitz and died in Munich. Early years Jary's father worked at the Königshütte (Chorzów tod ...

, with lyrics by

Bruno Balz Bruno Balz (6 October 1902 – 14 March 1988) was a German songwriter and schlager writer. From the time he wrote the music for the first German sound film until his retirement in the 1960s, Balz was responsible for the lyrics to over a thousand ...

and sung by Zarah Leander. ''"Davon geht die Welt nicht unter"'' and ''"Ich weiß, es wird einmal ein Wunder gescheh'n"'' were two of the biggest hits of the

National Socialist Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequen ...

period, and because of their political subtexts were much approved of and promoted by the authorities. After 1942, as the military situation became more and more unfavourable to Germany, they became a staple element of the prevalent informal propaganda geared to "seeing it through". Nowadays, "Ich weiss, es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehen" and "Davon geht die Welt nicht unter" are idioms in German language.

Cast

as Hanna Holberg *

as Paul Wendlandt *

as Käthe, Hanna's dresser *

Paul Hörbiger Paul Hörbiger (29 April 1894 – 5 March 1981) was an Austrians, Austrian theatre and film actor. Life and work Paul Hörbiger was born in the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen, Hungarian capital Budapest, then part of Austria-Hungary, the ...

as Alexander Rudnitzky, composer *

Wolfgang Preiss Wolfgang Preiss (27 February 1910 – 27 November 2002) was a German theatre, film and television actor. The son of a teacher, Preiss studied philosophy, German, and drama in the early 1930s. He also took private acting classes with Hans Schle ...

as Oberleutnant von Etzdorf * Hans Schwarz jr. as Alfred Vanloo, artist *

Leopold von Ledebur Leopold von Ledebur (18 May 1876 – 22 August 1955) was a German stage and film actor. Selected filmography * ''Carmen'' (1918) * '' The Serenyi'' (1918) * ''Midnight'' (1918) * '' The Foolish Heart'' (1919) * ''The Golden Lie'' (1919) * '' T ...

as Herr von Westphal *

Julia Serda Julia Serda (6 April 1875 – 3 December 1965) was an Austrian stage and film actress.Grange p.120 She was married to the actor Hans Junkermann. Biography Julia Serda was born on 6 April 1875 in Vienna. She became fascinated by the stage at a ...

as Jenny von Westphal *

Victor Janson Victor Arthur Eduard Janson (; 25 September 1884 – 29 June 1960) was a German stage and film actor and film director of Latvian ethnicity. Selected filmography Actor * '' Your Dearest Enemy'' (1916) * '' When Four Do the Same'' (1917) * ''Carm ...

as Mocelli, theatre director *

Agnes Windeck Agnes Windeck (; 27 March 1888 – 28 September 1975) was a German theatre and film actress. She appeared in more than 50 films between 1939 and 1973. She was born in Hamburg and started her career at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in 1904. S ...

as Hann's mother *

Paul Bildt Paul Hermann Bildt (19 May 1885 – 13 March 1957) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 180 films between 1910 and 1956. He was born in Berlin and died in Zehlendorf, West Berlin. Selected filmography * '' Devil in Silk'' (19 ...

as Head waiter *

Erich Dunskus Erich Adolf Dunskus (27 July 1890 – 25 November 1967) was a German film actor. He appeared in 170 films between 1927 and 1966. He was born in Pillkallen, East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom o ...

as man with dog *

Olga Engl Olga Engl (30 May 1871 – 21 September 1946) was an Austrian-German stage and motion picture actress who appeared in nearly 200 films. Biography Engl was privately educated in an Ursuline monastery and began her acting career at the Prague C ...

as old lady in block of flats *

Karl Etlinger Karl Franz Etlinger (16 October 1879 – 8 May 1946) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 110 films between 1914 and 1946. Selected filmography * '' The Eternal Curse'' (1921) * '' The Poisoned Stream'' (1921) * '' The Films o ...

as man with admission tickets *

Ilse Fürstenberg Ilse Fürstenberg (12 December 1907, in Berlin – 16 December 1976, in Basel) was a German actress, working on stage, screen, television and as voice actress. Selected filmography * ''The Blue Angel'' (1930) - Raths Wirtschafterin / Maid * '' M ...

as air raid shelter attendant *

Grete Reinwald Grete Reinwald (25 May 1902 – 24 May 1983) was a German stage and film actress. As a child, due to her sweet, appealing features she modeled for many monochrome, hand-tinted and autochrome postcards. Her siblings Hanni Reinwald and Otto Rein ...

as mother in air raid shelter *

Ewald Wenck Ewald Wenck (28 December 1891 – 3 April 1981) was a German actor. He appeared in more than 230 films and television shows between 1919 and 1978. Selected filmography * '' We Stick Together Through Thick and Thin'' (1929) * '' Spoiling th ...

as Berlin taxi driver *

Just Scheu Just or JUST may refer to: Arts and entertainment * "Just" (song), 1995, by Radiohead * ''Just!'', Australian author Andy Griffiths' children's story collections * ''Just'', a 1998 album by Dave Lindholm * "Just", a 2005 song on ''Lost and Found ...

as Alfred Vanloo's brother *

Erna Sellmer Erna Elisabeth Dorothea Sellmer (19 June 1905 – 13 May 1983) was a German film actress. She was best known in the English-speaking world for her role as housekeeper Frau Gerber in the 1970s Swiss-Canadian television series '' George'' about a ...

as ticket collector

National Socialist propaganda

In its blend of entertainment and propaganda elements the film is paradigmatic for National Socialist cinema in much the same way as ''

Wunschkonzert ''Wunschkonzert'' (''Request Concert'') is a 1940 German drama propaganda film by Eduard von Borsody. After '' Die große Liebe'', it was the most popular film of wartime Germany, reaching the second highest gross. Background The popular music s ...

'', after ''Die große Liebe'' the next most popular film of the National Socialist period. While on the one hand the suspensefully presented love story, with its images of the North African desert, Paris and Rome, as well as the extravagant show numbers, constitutes an invitation to dream, yet on the other hand "Die große Liebe" urges adjustment to the realities of war at all levels. Not love, but war, is the real theme of the film. This is despite omitting any background for, or events in, the war. The film does not just contain original material from the ''"

Die Deutsche Wochenschau , ) is the title of the unified newsreel series released in the cinemas of Nazi Germany from June 1940 until the end of World War II, with the final edition issued on 22 March 1945. The co-ordinated newsreel production was set up as a vital ins ...

"'' with pictures of German attacks on the English channel coast: the war determines the whole action of the film. The lesson that Hanna Holberg, and with her the entire public, has to absorb, is the insignificance of individual striving for happiness in times in which higher values - here, the military victory of Germany in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

- come to the fore. The film does not gain its political impact by simply urging renunciation or "going without" in difficult times, but by setting off individual happiness against duties which go far beyond the requirements of ordinary military duties. Paul is not concerned about behaving with military correctness, but about his desire to make his contribution to Germany's military victory. He renounces Hanna, not because of military orders recalling him to the front but in order to serve the national cause and if necessary to sacrifice his life for Germany. In the process Hanna learns that waiting and renunciation in war have not only to be accepted as fate, but constitute the really "great love". She learns to bravely send him back to his squadron, singing, "The World's Not Going To End Because of This." The film owes by far the greatest part of its attractiveness to Zarah Leander's performance. When she was selected for the role she had already established a strong profile as an expressive portrayer of self-aware, mature, emotionally stable women, whose plans and lives were thrown into disarray by unexpected blows of fate. The director Rolf Hansen, working with her here for the second time, had the good idea of teaming her up with a weak and relatively insignificant male lead, who was scarcely capable of playing against the weight of her presence. The suffering laid upon Hanna Holberg by her unfulfilled love gained by the fact that she was profoundly misunderstood, an important additional element that deeply impressed the public. In order to impress also by its modernity, the film took the risk of making - for the time - an unprecedentedly realistic representation of day-to-day wartime life, and shows rationing of food, air raid warnings and hours spent waiting in air raid shelters. Admittedly it never shows these things without taking care always to point out how to maintain at all times care for others and good humour, however difficult the circumstances. All levels of society are depicted as pitching in together, with the heroine coming to know those of much lower social level in the course of the film.

, ''Nazi Cinema'' p63 Hanna learns thereby to overcome her snobbishness, manifested in her singing for wounded soldiers.Cinzia Romani, ''Tainted Goddesses: Female Film Stars of the Third Reich'' p74 The depiction of Zarah Leander was also unusual, in that in this film she wore ordinary day clothes, lived in a normal Berlin rented flat and even travelled on the U-Bahn.

Production and reception

The interior scenes for "Die große Liebe" were filmed from 23 September 1941 to early October 1941 in the Tobis-Sascha-Studio in

- better known as the Rosenhügel Film Studios - and in the

Carl Froelich Carl August Hugo Froelich (5 September 1875 – 12 February 1953) was a German film pioneer and film director. He was born and died in Berlin. Biography Apparatus builder and cameraman From 1903 Froelich was a colleague of Oskar Messter, one of ...

sound studio in Berlin-

Tempelhof Tempelhof () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. It is the location of the former Tempelhof Airport, one of the earliest commercial airports in the world. The former airport and surroundings are now a park call ...

. The exterior scenes had been filmed in Berlin and Rome by the middle of March 1942. The film was submitted to the Film Censor's Office on 10 June 1942 (Prüf-Nr. B. 57295) when it had a length of 2,738 metres or 100 minutes and was classified as suitable for minors and for public holiday viewing. It was distributed by the UFA-owned Deutsche Filmvertriebs GmbH (DFV). On 18 April 1944 it was re-submitted, now with a length of 2,732 metres (B. 60163), and was re-classified as before. The premiere took place on 12 June 1942 in Berlin, in the Germania-Palast cinema on the Frankfurter Allee and the

UFA-Palast am Zoo The Ufa-Palast am Zoo, located near Berlin Zoological Garden in the City West, New West area of Charlottenburg, was a major Berlin cinema owned by Universum Film AG, or Ufa. Opened in 1919 and enlarged in 1925, it was the largest cinema in German ...

cinema. ''Die große Liebe'' became the greatest commercial film success of the Third Reich. It was seen by 27 million spectators and took 8 million

Reichsmark The (; sign: ℛ︁ℳ︁; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945, and in the American, British and French occupied zones of Germany, until 20 June 1948. The Reichsmark was then replace ...

s, having cost 3 million to produce (equivalent to and million euros). The Film Censor's Office pronounced it "politically valuable", '"artistically valuable" and "valuable for the people" - a combination of accolades also granted, for example, to

Gerhard Lamprecht Gerhard Lamprecht (6 October 1897 – 4 May 1974) was a German film director, screenwriter and film historian. He directed 63 films between 1920 and 1958. He also wrote for 26 films between 1918 and 1958. Life and career Lamprecht was fasci ...

's nationalist hero biography "

Diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine ...

" (also 1942). After the end of World War II the Allied Control Commission forbade the film to be screened.Cinzia Romani, ''Tainted Goddesses: Female Film Stars of the Third Reich'' p82 In 1963 however it was submitted to the FSK, who approved its re-release subject to cuts, which were however disregarded by the distributors: the film was shown with a preliminary warning but with no cuts. Further cuts were made in 1980 for release on home video, approved by the FSK for audiences age 6 and up. The original version of "Die große Liebe" was submitted to the FSK in 1997 and approved for release to audiences over the age of 18. This completely uncut version, running 100 minutes (approximately 97 mins in the PAL video format) is commercially available as a video and DVD in Germany. Distribution rights are now the property of Transit-Film GmbH.

References

*Helmut Regel, ''Zur Topographie des NS-Films'' in ''Filmkritik'', 1966, 10 (Jan.), pp. 5–18 *Jens Thiele, Fred Ritzel, ''Politische Botschaft und Unterhaltung – die Realität im NS-Film. Die große Liebe (1942)'' in Werner Faulstich, Helmut Korte, ''Fischer Filmgeschichte: 2: Der Film als gesellschaftliche Kraft 1925-1944'', Frankfurt/M. (Fischer) 1991 *Stephen Lowry, ''Pathos und Politik. Ideologie in Spielfilmen des Nationalsozialismus'', Tübingen (Niemeyer) 1991 *Barbara Schrödl: ''Mode und Krieg. Der Kleidkörper in nationalsozialistischen Filmen der späten 1930er und frühen 1940er Jahre'' in Petersen, Christine d. ''Zeichen des Krieges in Film, Literatur und den Medien''. Kiel 2004, pp. 231–255.