Friedrich Schiller – The Triumph of a Genius
Directed: Herbert Maisch
Screenplay: Lotte Neumann (under the pseudonym C. H. Diller) and Walter Wassermann
Based on: “Passion” by Norbert Jacques
Music: Herbert Windt
Release date: 17 December 1940
Running time: 98 minutes
Country: National Socialist Germany
Language: German
Budget: 1,935,000
Box office: 2.6 million
Starring:
Horst Caspar: Friedrich Schiller
Hannelore Schroth: Laura Rieger
Heinrich George: Duke Charles Eugene
Lil Dagover: Countess Franziska von Hohenheim
Eugen Klöpfer: Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart
Paul Dahlke: Sergeant Riess
Paul Henckels: Hofmarschall von Silberkalb
Herbert Hübner: General Rieger
Dagny Servaes: Frau Rieger
Hildegard Grethe: Elizabeth Schiller, Schillers Mutter
Friedrich Kayßler: Johannes Kaspar Schiller, Schillers Vater
Walter Franck: Fremder
Hans Quest: Eleve Hoven
Hans Nielsen: Georg Friedrich Scharffenstein
Fritz Genschow: Eleve Karpff
Franz Nicklisch: Eleve Petersen
Ernst Schröder: Eleve Zumsteg
Wolfgang Lukschy: Eleve Boigeol
Just Scheu: Hauptmann der Militärakademie
Günther Hadank: General Augé
Hans Leibelt: Prof. Abel
Ferdinand Terpe: Grand Duke’s Court Chamberlain
Heinz Welzel: Andreas Streicher
Bernhard Minetti: Franz Moor
Albert Florath: Pastor Moser
Loriot: Page am Hof des Herzogs
Edmund Lorenz: Schorsch Rieß
Friedrich Schiller – The Triumph of a Genius (German: Friedrich Schiller – Der Triumph eines Genies) is a 1940 German film, based on the novel Passion by Norbert Jacques. The film focuses on the early career of the German poet Friedrich Schiller.
Plot
In the 18th century, Württemberg suffers under the harsh rule of Duke Karl Eugen of Württemberg. The poet Schubart dares to openly criticise him, but is soon arrested under false pretences and imprisoned in Hohenasperg Fortress.
At the same time, the young Friedrich Schiller’s inner resistance to the military drill of the military academy, where he is studying medicine on the Duke’s orders, grows.
During the parade march on the birthday of Karl Eugen’s wife, Countess Franziska von Hohenheim, Schiller causes a stir when he sends a love poem to his sweetheart Laura Rieger. Her mother intercedes with the countess to spare Schiller.
At the graduation ceremony, Schiller explains to Karl Eugen that he takes a philosophical tone in his medical work because every science, including medicine, has its limits, and that he follows his heart when writing his works. An angry Karl Eugen orders Schiller to spend another year at the academy. The efforts of Schiller’s father, who works as a gardener for Karl Eugen, are unsuccessful. When Laura intercedes on Schiller’s behalf with the countess, she promises to help, but this is equally fruitless.
Meanwhile, Schiller secretly begins writing his protest play Die Räuber (The Robbers). Even the extra year at the academy does not break Schiller’s will, and he emerges victorious from a dispute with Karl Eugen over whether geniuses are made or born.
When Schiller proudly tells Laura that his play is finished, she tells him, to his dismay, that Schubart has been arrested.
During an appeal, the Duke, who has heard about the resistance of Schiller and his fellow students and announces that he will not tolerate rebellion, suggests that Schiller take a trip to Asperg. There, to his horror, Schiller encounters a broken Schubart. Believing that Karl Eugen wants to have Schiller imprisoned, General Rieger has Schiller detained in Asperg, but the Duke immediately revokes this order.
In the meantime, Laura has forwarded the manuscript of Die Räuber to Court Marshal Silberkalb. Schiller is initially disappointed by this betrayal, but learns from Laura that she still has the manuscript. Schiller immediately has it printed anonymously. In order not to attract attention, Schiller now devotes himself entirely to medicine so that he can take his exams and finally leave the academy. After his exams, Schiller enters the service of General Augé’s regiment, who tells the delighted Schiller that he considers the author of Die Räuber to be a genius.
At the inn, Schiller and his friends, who are celebrating the publication of The Robbers, receive a letter from theatre director Dalberg in Mannheim and are delighted to learn that the play is to be performed.
The performance is a success. Duke Karl Eugen flies into a rage and summons Schiller to his presence. When Schiller stands by his views, he has no choice but to leave Württemberg to avoid imprisonment on the Asperg.
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