''The Flute Concert of Sanssouci'' () is a 1930 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

Gustav Ucicky Gustav Ucicky (6 July 1899 – 27 April 1961) was an Austrians, Austrian film director, screenwriter, and cinematographer. He was one of the more successful directors in Austria and Germany from the 1930s through to the early 1960s. His work cov ...

and starring

Otto Gebühr Otto Gebühr (29 May 1877 – 13 March 1954) was a German theatre and film actor, who appeared in 102 films released between 1917 and 1954. He is noted for his performance as the Prussian king Frederick the Great in numerous films. Early li ...

. It was part of the popular cycle of

Prussian film Prussian films were a cycle of historical films made in Germany during the Weimar (1918–1933) and Nazi (1933–1945) eras noted for their general glorification of Prussian history and its military. The films are set during the eighteenth and nin ...

s.Hoffmann p. 44 It was made at the

Babelsberg Studios Babelsberg Film Studio () (also known as Studio Babelsberg), located in Potsdam-Babelsberg outside Berlin, Germany, is the oldest large-scale film studio in the world, producing films since 1912. With a total area of about and a studio area of a ...

. 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 ...

Robert Herlth Robert Herlth (2 May 1893 – 6 January 1962) was a German art director. He was one of the leading designers of German film sets during the 1920s and 1930s.Reimer & Reimer p.146 Filmography * ''Masks'' (1920) * '' Island of the Dead'' (1921) * ' ...

and

Walter Röhrig Walter Röhrig (13 April 1897 – 1945) was a German art director.Stephens p.163 Selected filmography * ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (1920) * ''Masks'' (1920) * '' Parisian Women'' (1921) * '' Island of the Dead'' (1921) * '' Miss Julie'' (19 ...

Location filming 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 ...

took place around the

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 ...

area including at the

Sanssouci Palace Sanssouci () is a historical building in Potsdam, near Berlin. Built by Prussian King Frederick the Great as his summer palace, it is often counted among the German rivals of Versailles. While Sanssouci is in the more intimate Rococo style and ...

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

Plot

In 1756, a masked ball is being celebrated in the Dresden Palais of the Saxon Minister Heinrich von Brühl. The event serves as cover for confidential talks being held with the envoys of Austria, Russia and France with the aim of conspiring against the Prussian King Frederick II. The Prussian envoy, Major von Lindeneck, sees through the charade and succeeds in bringing a copy of the concluded secret treaty to the Prussian king. Friedrich consults with his generals, who urge caution. Initially stunned by the conspiracy, Friedrich develops a plan. To do this, he sends von Lindeneck back to Dresden. However, the latter is not very enthusiastic about this, as he thinks he has reason to doubt his wife Blanche's marital fidelity, and he now has to leave her alone. But loyalty to the king is more important to him and he carries out all the orders of the Prussian king. When the envoys of Austria, Russia and France ask for an audience with Friedrich, he gives a flute concerto to gain time. (This event is based on a famous picture by

Adolph von Menzel Adolph Friedrich Erdmann von Menzel (8 December 18159 February 1905) was a German Realist artist noted for drawings, etchings, and paintings. Along with Caspar David Friedrich, he is considered one of the two most prominent German painters of t ...

.) In the course of this concert he receives a telegram from Vienna which completely uncovers the plot. He ends the concert and orders the declaration of war to be handed to the envoys. He goes outside and announces that he has just given marching orders for the regiments. The Seven Years' War begins.

Cast

Friedrich II Frederick II, Frederik II or Friedrich II may refer to: * Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (1194–1250), King of Sicily from 1198; Holy Roman Emperor from 1220 * Frederick II of Denmark (1534–1588), king of Denmark and Norway 1559–1588 * Frede ...

Renate Müller Renate Müller (26 April 1906 – 7 October 1937) was a German singer and actress in both silent films and sound films, as well as on stage. One of the most successful actresses in German films from the early 1930s, she was courted by the N ...

as Blanche von Lindeneck * Hans Rehmann as Major von Lindeneck *

Walter Janssen Walter Janssen (7 February 1887 – 1 January 1976) was a German film actor and director. He appeared in more than 160 films between 1917 and 1970. Selected filmography * '' The Dancer'' (1919) * ''Destiny'' (1921) * '' Wandering Souls'' ( ...

as Maltzahn * Raoul Aslan as

Heinrich von Brühl Heinrich, Count von Brühl (, 13 August 170028 October 1763), was a Polish-Saxon statesman at the court of Electorate of Saxony, Saxony and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and a member of the powerful German von Brühl family. The incumbenc ...

Friedrich Kayßler Friedrich Martin Adalbert Kayssler, also spelled Kayßler (7 April 1874 – 30 April 1945), was a German theatre and film actor. He appeared in 56 films between 1913 and 1945. Biography Kayssler was born in Neurode in the Silesia Province ...

Count Karl-Wilhelm Finck von Finckenstein Karl Wilhelm Reichsgraf Finck von Finckenstein (11 February 1714 – 3 January 1800) was a Count of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, a Prussian diplomat, and later Prime Minister of Prussia. Family He was the son of Count Albrech ...

* Carl Goetz as

Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf (1708 – 12 January 1758) was the longest-standing valet and Friendship, companion of Frederick II of Prussia. The two young men met when the future Frederick II was still in prison for having attempted to run o ...

Aribert Wäscher Aribert Wäscher (1 December 1895 – 14 December 1961) was a German film actor. Selected filmography * '' The Black Tulip Festival'' (1920) * '' The Graveyard of the Living'' (1921) * '' Slums of Berlin'' (1925) * '' The Hanseatics'' (1925) * ' ...

as Poellnitz *

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

as Princess Amalie *

Theodor Loos Theodor August Konrad Loos (18 May 1883 – 27 June 1954) was a German actor. The son of a watchmaker and instruments manufacturer, he left secondary school prematurely and worked for three years at an export firm for music instruments in Leipz ...

as Menzel *

Hans Brausewetter Hans Brausewetter (27 May 1899 – 29 April 1945) was a German stage and film actor of the silent film, silent era. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1922 and 1945. He appeared in the 1923 film ''The Treasure (1923 film), The Treasu ...

as Correspondent *

Paul Biensfeldt Paul Biensfeldt (4 March 1869 – 2 April 1933) was a German-JewishSiegbert Salomon Prawer, ''Between Two Worlds: The Jewish Presence in German and Austrian Film, 1910-1933'', Berghahn Books (2007), p. 213 stage actor, stage and film actor. Sele ...

Johann Joachim Quantz Johann Joachim Quantz (; 30 January 1697 – 12 July 1773) was a German composer, flute, flutist and flute maker of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. Much of his professional career was spent in the court of Frederick the Great, where he s ...

Vladimir Sokoloff Vladimir Aleksandrovich Sokoloff (; December 26, 1889 – February 15, 1962) was a Russian actor of stage and screen. After studying theatre in Moscow, he began his professional film career in Germany and France during the Silent era, before em ...

as Russian Envoy *

Friedrich Kühne Friedrich Kühne (24 April 1870 – 13 October 1959), born Franz Michna, was a German film actor of the silent era. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1913 and 1957. Selected filmography * '' The Iron Cross'' (1914) * '' Detektiv Braun ...

as Schwerin *

Alfred Beierle Alfred Beierle (4 June 1885 – 16 March 1950) was a German stage actor, stage and film actor.Alpi p.346 Selected filmography * ''The League of Three'' (1929) * ''The Flute Concert of Sanssouci'' (1930) * ''The Tiger Murder Case'' (1930) * ''Oh T ...

as Wolf Frederick von Retzow *

Georg John Georg John (born Georg Jacobsohn; 23 July 1879 – 18 November 1941) was a German stage and film actor. Early life Georg Jacobsohn was born into a Jewish household in Schmiegel, Province of Posen, Imperial Germany. Career John began his c ...

as Ziethen *

Theo Lingen Theo Lingen (; 10 June 1903 – 10 November 1978), born Franz Theodor Schmitz, was a German actor, film director and screenwriter. He appeared in more than 230 films between 1929 and 1978, and directed 21 films between 1936 and 1960. Life and c ...

as Kent

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Flute Concert Of Sanssouci 1930 films 1930 drama films 1930s historical drama films 1930s German-language films Films of the Weimar Republic German historical drama films German black-and-white films Films directed by Gustav Ucicky Films set in 1756 Films set in the Kingdom of Prussia Biographical films about German royalty Depictions of Frederick the Great on film Prussian films Seven Years' War films UFA GmbH films Films shot at Babelsberg Studios 1930s German films Films scored by Willy Schmidt-Gentner German-language historical drama films