''Second Hand Destiny'' () is a 1949 West German

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

Wolfgang Staudte Wolfgang Staudte (9 October 1906 – 19 January 1984), born Georg Friedrich Staudte, was a German film director, script writer and actor. He was born in Saarbrücken. After 1945, Staudte also looked at German guilt in the cinema. Alongside ...

and starring

Erich Ponto Erich Johannes Bruno Ponto (14 December 1884 – 14 February 1957) was a German film and stage actor. Career Erich Ponto was born in Lübeck as the son of a textile merchant. After his family had moved to Hamburg- Eimsbüttel, he attended the g ...

, Heinz Klevenow and

Marianne Hoppe Marianne Hoppe (26 April 1909 – 23 October 2002) was a German theatre and film actress. Life and work Born in Rostock, Hoppe became a leading lady of stage and films in Germany. She was born into a wealthy landowning family and was initial ...

. It is sometimes considered a

film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

.Spicer p. 460 At the time the director Staudte was mostly known for his work for the

East German East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

studio

DEFA DEFA (''Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft'') was the state-owned film studio of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) throughout the country's existence. Since 2019, DEFA's film heritage has been made accessible and licensable on the PR ...

. It was made between May and July 1949 at the

Wandsbek Studios The Wandsbek Studios are film production and television studios located in Wandsbek, a district of the German city of Hamburg. The complex was established in 1948 when Real Film, set up the previous year, acquired a site in Wandsbek for construc ...

of the

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

-based company Real Film. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

Albrecht Becker Albrecht Becker (14 November 1906 – 22 April 2002) was a German production designer, photographer, and actor who was imprisoned by the Nazi regime for the charge of homosexuality. Personal life Born in Thale, Germany, Becker trained as a ...

and

Herbert Kirchhoff Herbert Kirchhoff (1911–1988) was a German art director. Selected filmography * '' Nora's Ark'' (1948) * '' My Wife's Friends'' (1949) * '' The Last Night'' (1949) * '' Second Hand Destiny'' (1949) * '' Third from the Right'' (1950) * '' Harb ...

Synopsis

A man now working as a

clairvoyant Clairvoyance (; ) is the claimed ability to acquire information that would be considered impossible to get through scientifically proven sensations, thus classified as extrasensory perception, or "sixth sense". Any person who is claimed to ...

narrates in flashback how he has sunk from once being a happily married man to committing

uxoricide Uxoricide (from Latin ''uxor'' meaning "wife" and -cide, from ''caedere'' meaning "to cut, to kill") is the killing of one's own wife. It can also be used in the context of the killing of one's own girlfriend. It can refer to the act itself or ...

Main cast

References

Bibliography

External links

* 1949 films 1949 drama films German drama films West German films 1940s German-language films Films directed by Wolfgang Staudte Real Film films Films shot in Hamburg Films shot at Wandsbek Studios German black-and-white films 1940s German films Films scored by Wolfgang Zeller Film noir Films about uxoricide German-language drama films {{1940s-Germany-film-stub