Der Biberpelz (1937)

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.