Traumulus (1936)

The Dreamer (1936)

 

Directed by: Carl Froelich

Written by: Erich Ebermayer and Robert A. Stemmle

Based on: The Dreamer by Oskar Jerschke and Arno Holz

Produced by: Carl Froelich

Cinematography: Reimar Kuntze

Edited by: Gustav Lohse

Music by: Hanson Milde-Meissner

Production companies: Carl Froelich Film and Tobis Film

Distributed by: Tobis Film

Release date: 23 January 1936

Running time: 100 minutes

Country: Germany

Language: German

 

Starring:

 

Emil Jannings: Direktor Prof. Niemeyer

Hilde Weissner: Jadwiga, seine Frau

Harald Paulsen: Fritz, sein Sohn

Hildegard Barko: Olga, Dienstmädchen bei Niemeyer

Paul W. Krüger: Pedell Schimke

Hannes Stelzer: Kurt von Zedtlitz, Gymnasiast

Hans Joachim Schaufuß: Hans Klausing, Gymnasiast

Hans Richter: Graf Franz von Mettke, Gymnasiast

Rolf Müller: Emmerich Frommelt, Gymnasiast

Alexander Kraft-Hohenlohe: Erwin Putzke

Hilde von Stolz: Lydia Link, Schauspielerin

Herbert Hübner: Landrat von Kannewurf

Ernst Waldow: Assessor Mollwein

Otto Stoeckel: Polizeiinspektor Hoppe

Bruno Fritz: Obersekretär Tamaschke

Hugo Froelich: Schutzmann Patzkowski

Gaston Briese: Schutzmann Bellert

Max Rosen: Schutzmann Krebs

Walter Steinbeck: Major Kleinstüber

Walter Werner: Sanitätsrat Brunner

Karl Etlinger: Fabrikant Meier

Hans Brausewetter: Falk, Lawyer

Harry Frank: Oberlehrer Schwenk

Ernst Legal: Schladebach, Bäckermeister

Else Ehser: Frl. Wetterhahn, Schneiderin

Rolf Möbius: Bit part

Achim Schmidt: Bit part

Werner Vogt: Man

Peer Baedecker: Man

Peter Jäger: Man

Hermann Braun: Man

Eberhard Schott: Man

Walter Bienenstein: Man

Rudolf Klicks: Man

 

The Dreamer (German: Traumulus) is a 1936 German historical drama film directed by Carl Froelich and starring Emil Jannings, Hilde Weissner, and Harald Paulsen. It is based on the play of the same name by German playwrights Oskar Jerschke and Arno Holz. The film’s art direction was by Franz Schroedter, a leading set designer of the era. It premiered at Berlin’s Ufa-Palast am Zoo.

 

Plot summary

 

A small garrison town in northern Germany. Professor Niemeyer is the director of the local school of higher education for boys. He is nicknamed „Traumulus” („Traum“ being the German word for „dream“) by his students because of his traditional views and his unworldly demeanor. His values are those of the last century, and his ideas of decency, custom and morals are no longer understood, nor shared, by the current generation of high school students. His favorite student is Kurt von Zedlitz, a descendant of an old, respected family. Once again, the young man returns to the student dormitory via a rope ladder in the early morning hours. Kurt is teased by his classmates who suspect he might be having an affair in town.

 

Prof. Niemeyer has prepared a festival play for the ceremony taking place the next morning on the occasion of the inauguration of a monument in honor of Kaiser Wilhelm I. After attending church, Niemeyer meets his old adversary, the District Administrator von Kannewurf. The latter has heard the rumours that Niemeyer’s favorite student, Zedlitz, was spotted with alluring actress Lydia Link in the somewhat shady „Golden Peacock“ bar. Hoping to give Niemeyer the shock of his life, the district administrator rubs this latest gossip in his face.

 

Traumulus conducts an investigation, and Kurt von Zedlitz admits to his „misdeed“, conveniently omitting his subsequent visit to the lady’s apartment. In doing so, Kurt is following the example of Niemeyer’s son from his first marriage, Fritz Niemeyer, who leads an extremely relaxed lifestyle. Fritz Niemeyer’s stepmother Jadwiga, Traumulus’ second wife, regularly redeems Fritz’s debts. His easygoing relationship with his father’s much younger wife also gives rise to some speculation.

 

While the rehearsals for the Kaiser Wilhelm celebration are taking place on the market square, the members of the forbidden „Anti-Tyrannia” fraternity, mostly students and alumni of Niemeyer’s school, meet in the backroom of a local bakery. When District Administrator von Kannewurf gets wind of it, he has the place raided and the participants arrested. The arrestees include Kurt von Zedlitz who, ignoring the house arrest imposed by Traumulus, joined the meeting merely to suggest that the Anti-Tyrannia group should be dissolved. Prof. Niemeyer is shocked when he learns that his favourite student is among those arrested, as he thought he was under house arrest.

 

Niemeyer is deeply disappointed in Zedlitz, his world is collapsing. He showers the young man with reproaches and expels him from the school. Zedlitz is in shock himself, he cannot utter a single word in his own defence and storms out of the building in confusion. From then on, Kurt von Zedlitz seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth, and even District Administrator Kannewurf is beginning to worry, resulting in a renewed altercation with Niemeyer. The latter seeks consolation from his wife Jadwiga, but she shows no interest in his problem.

 

Finally, the old professor learns of Kurt’s pure intentions when attending the meeting in the bakery. But it is too late. He still doesn’t know that Kurt killed himself. Turning to the students, the professor quickly finds the strength for a forward-looking word: „He was no hero... so steel and harden yourselves and vanquish whatever holds you back.“