''Don't Lose Heart, Suzanne!'' () is a 1935 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

Arzén von Cserépy Arzén von Cserépy (1881–1958) was a Hungarian screenwriter, film producer and director who was based in Germany. He ran his own production company Cserépy-Film until it was merged into the larger UFA empire. von Cserépy became associate ...

, and starring Jessie Vihrog,

Veit Harlan Veit Harlan (22 September 1899 – 13 April 1964) was a German film director and actor. Harlan reached the high point of his career as a director in the Nazi era; most notably his antisemitic film '' Jud Süß'' (1940) makes him controversial. W ...

, and

Willi Schur Willi Schur (22 August 1888 – 1 November 1940) was a German actor and singer. He appeared in roughly ninety feature films in a variety of supporting roles. Selected filmography * '' Berlin-Alexanderplatz'' (1931) * '' Who Takes Love Seriously ...

Plot

The film takes place in the film milieu towards the end of the Weimar Republic against the background of the world economic crisis. The title character Susanne is an unemployed extra who, through an assistant director, finds a supporting role in the kitsch film Love Me in Honolulu. The producers are Jews who are portrayed as greedy and lustful and at the same time run an illegal casino. When a visitor commits suicide, the film producers kidnap Susanne and another actress as a distraction. Georg, Susanne's fiancé, frees the women. Together, they try to prove the guilt of the producers. When the National Socialists seize power, the producers are arrested and Susanne and Georg become a married couple.

Background

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 ...

s Erich Grave and Karl Vollbrecht. The film offered support to the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

anti-Semitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

stance by a negative portrayal of the two Jewish film producers. It received strong official backing, and a gala premiere was arranged for its release by

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...

. To Goebbels' surprise and disgust, the first night audience booed, once the screening was over. The incident was largely hushed-up, and the film's director

went back to his native Hungary in disgrace and never made another German film. The film was a success, however, for the young actress Hilde Krüger. Following this film, she was given the patronage of Goebbels. She was to appear in twenty more films, and went on to be a spy for Germany.Verführungskunst war ihre Waffe
Spiegel online, Retrieved 24 July 2016.

Cast

References

External links

* 1935 drama films German drama films Films of Nazi Germany Films directed by Arzén von Cserépy Films about filmmaking Nazi propaganda films German black-and-white films 1930s German films 1930s German-language films German-language drama films {{1930s-Germany-film-stub