The Beaver Coat (1937)
Directed by: Jürgen von Alten
Written by: Georg C. Klaren
Based on: “The Beaver Coat” by Gerhart Hauptmann
Produced by: Hans von Wolzogen
Cinematography: Georg Krause
Edited by: Erich Palme
Music by: Leo Leux
Production company: Fabrikation Deutscher Filme
Distributed by: Panorama-Film
Release date: 3 December 1937
Running time: 98 minutes
Country: Germany
Language: German
Starring:
Heinrich George: Amtsvorsteher Baron von Wehrhahn
Ida Wüst: Auguste Wolff
Rotraut Richter: Adelheid Wolff
Sabine Peters: Leontine Wolff
Heinz von Cleve: Konstrukteur Dr. Fleischer
Ernst Waldow: Forstadjtant a.D. Motes
Ewald Wenck: Julius Wolff
Eduard Wenck: Rentier Krüger
Blandine Ebinger: Mrs. Krüger
Albert Florath: Agust Wulkow, skipper
Renée Stobrawa: Almine Wulkow
Fritz Odemar: Prince August Sigismund
Arthur Schröder: Theerbrügge's adjutant
Walter Bluhm: Schreiber Glasenapp
Carl Heinz Charrell: Amtsdiener Mitteldorf
Hilde Seipp: singer
S. O. Schoening: table neighbor of the office head
Walter Werner: office head
Günther Vogdt: Heines, hunting assistant
Walter Bechmann: Herr von den Daimler-Werken
Ernst Stimmel: general manager
Oskar Höcker: policeman
Charles Willy Kayser: Fürsten's second adjutant
Gustav Mahncke: concierge
Anita Düwell: Mr. Motes' lady
Gerti Kammerzell: Dame mit Herrn Motes
Jac Diehl: waiter at “Ochsen”
Dorothea Thiess: Hebamme
Willi Sande-Meyer: attendee of the inauguration of the Baron von Wehrhahn
Renée Carstennsen: Elschen Krüger
Wolfgang Dohnberg: Herr von den Daimler-Werken
The Beaver Coat (German: Der Biberpelz) is a 1937 German comedy film directed by Jürgen von Alten and starring Heinrich George, Ida Wüst, and Rotraut Richter. It is an adaptation of Gerhart Hauptmann's play The Beaver Coat. The German premiere took place on 3 December 1937.
Plot
In the late 19th century, in a German principality: Baron von Wehrhahn takes up his post as head of the Köckeritz district office. He eagerly pursues alleged enemies of the state and therefore has Dr Fleischer spied on, whom he suspects of organising secret political meetings. In doing so, Wehrhahn overlooks the crimes that are actually being committed: the laundress Auguste Wolff repeatedly commits petty theft and also sells the animals that her husband Julius has illegally shot in the forest. Her daughters Leontine and Adelheid are maids in the homes of wealthy citizens. Adelheid is employed by Krüger, with whom Dr Fleischer also lives as a lodger. When she is asked to bring wood into the house late at night in the rain and cold, she refuses and quits her job. This leads Auguste to discover the firewood lying unattended by the road and steal it. Adelheid also tells her that Mr Krüger has bought a beaver fur jacket. Auguste steals this too and sells it to the boatman Wulkow.
Krüger reports the thefts to Wehrhahn. However, Wehrhahn dismisses Krüger and does not believe him, as he considers him to be a friend of his lodger Dr Fleischer and therefore also politically unreliable. Auguste and Adelheid fake the discovery of a fur hat on the railway line so that Wehrhahn believes the thief has left the city by train. And so Auguste, who is considered by everyone to be a righteous and kind woman, remains unmolested for the time being.
Meanwhile, Leontine and Dr Fleischer grow closer. She is torn: on the one hand, she disapproves of her mother's thefts, but on the other, she does not want to betray her and send her to prison. She wants to be honest with Fleischer, but still has to conceal her complicity. This inner conflict drives her to attempt suicide by drowning herself in the river, but she is rescued by Fleischer and Wulkow. Shaken by this event, Auguste decides to lead an honest life from now on. She returns the fur coat to Krüger, who decides not to press charges.
Wehrhahn believes that Dr Fleischer is secretly building a weapon and planning an assassination attempt on the prince. However, when the prince travels to Köckeritz despite Wehrhahn's warnings, the misunderstanding is cleared up: the engineer Dr Fleischer was not building a weapon, but a new type of carburettor, and his alleged accomplices are in fact employees of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft, to whom he wanted to sell his patent. And so, the story ends on a conciliatory note with the wedding of Leontine and Dr Fleischer.
