''My Four Years in Germany'' is a 1918 American silent war

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

William Nigh William Nigh, born Emil Kreuske (October 12, 1881 – November 27, 1955), was an American film Film director, director, screenwriter, writer, and actor. His film work sometimes lists him as either "Will Nigh" or "William Nye". Biography Nig ...

, based on the experiences of real life U. S. Ambassador to Germany James W. Gerard as described in his book. It is notable as being the first film produced by the four Warner Brothers, Harry, Sam, Albert and Jack, although the title card clearly reads "My Four Years In Germany Inc. Presents ...". The film was produced during the height of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and is generally considered a prime example of war

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

Cast

*Halbert Brown as Ambassador James W. Gerard *Willard Dashiell as Sir Edward Goschen * Louis Dean as Kaiser Wilhelm II * Earl Schenck as Crown Prince of Germany *George Riddell as Field Marshall von Hindenburg *Frank Stone as Prince Henry of Prussia * Karl Dane as Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg *Fred Hern as Foreign Minister von Jagow * Percy Standing as Under-Secretary Zimmermann *William Bittner as Grand Admiral von Tirpitz *Arthur C. Duvel as Field Marshal von Falkenhayn *Ann Dearing as Aimee Delaporte *A. B. Conkwright as Socialist *

as Socialist

Reception

Like many American films of the time, ''My Four Years in Germany'' was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. For example, the Chicago Board of Censors required cuts, in Reel 7, of the intertitle "Do you know where will be quarted tonight?", two scenes of officer entering cabin into which young woman runs and his exit, scene of young woman lying in bed with clothing disarranged after her criminal assault, scene of dead woman on ground, Reel 8, the intertitle "The first night we were quartered with the soldiers", and, Reel 10, scene of man drawing sword out of other man's body. The Chicago board's cuts totaled twenty feet of film.

Preservation

A copy of ''My Four Years in Germany'' is held in the Turner Entertainment film library.''Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress'', p. 123 c.1978 by The American Film Institute

References

External links

* * * Full movie a
Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:My Four Years in Germany 1918 films American silent feature films American World War I propaganda films American black-and-white films Warner Bros. films First National Pictures films Cultural depictions of Wilhelm II 1910s war drama films 1918 drama films Censored films American World War I films Films directed by William Nigh 1910s American films Silent American war drama films 1910s English-language films Cultural depictions of Wilhelm, German Crown Prince Cultural depictions of Paul von Hindenburg English-language war drama films