Der Choral von Leuthen (1933)

Directed by: Carl Froelich

Arzén von Cserépy

Produced by: Carl Froelich

Written by: Johannes Brandt

Friedrich Pflughaupt

Ilse Spath-Baron

Music by: Marc Roland

Cinematography: Franz Planer

Hugo von Kaweczynski

Edited by: Oswald Hafenrichter

Gustav Lohse

Distributed by: Ufa Film Company

Release dates: 3 February 1933

Running time: 91 min

Country: Germany

Language: Hungarian

German

Starring:

Otto Gebühr: King Frederick II of Prussia

Olga Tschechowa: Countess Mariann

Elga Brink: Countess Charlotte von Mudrach

Harry Frank: Captain Hans von Wustrow

Paul Otto: Prince Heinrich

Hans Adalbert Schlettow: Duke Moritz von Dessau

John Mylong: Gen. Seydlitz (as Jack Mylong-Münz)

Hugo Froelich: Gen. von Möllendorf

Werner Finck: Christian - candidate of theology

Josef Dahmen: Georg - Soldier

Veit Harlan: Paul - Soldier

Walter Janssen: Field Marshal Graf Daun

Paul Richter: Duke Karl von Lothringen

Anton Pointner: Pandur colonel Rawitsch

Otto Hartmann: Coronet

Plot:

Der Choral von Leuthen is set in 1757 when Frederick the Great, against the advice of his generals, decided to fight the Austrians at Leuthen. Though outnumbered, the Prussians won the battle, at which point the surviving Prussian soldiers spontaneously sang a hymn, the 'Chorale of Leuthen', written the previous century during the Thirty Years War. Otherwise known in German as 'Nun Danket aile Gott' - in the English-speaking world this hymn goes under the title 'Now Thank We all our God' - it became closely associated with the Prussian victory. It also belonged to the concluding part of the solemn military ceremony known as the Grosser Zapfenstreich (the great military tattoo), which symbolized 'the Holy Trinity of God, the Prussian king and the Fatherland'.