''The Marriage Swindler'' () is a 1938 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

Herbert Selpin Herbert Selpin (29 May 1904 – 1 August 1942) was a German film director, film editor, and screenwriter of light entertainment during the 1930s and 1940s. He is known for his final film, the partly suppressed 1943 propaganda film ''Titanic'', ...

and starring

Eduard von Winterstein Eduard Clemens Franz Anna Freiherr von Wangenheim (1 August 1871 – 22 July 1961), known as Eduard von Winterstein, was an Austrian-German film actor who appeared in over one hundred fifty German films during the silent and sound eras. He was ...

Viktoria von Ballasko Viktoria von Ballasko (24 January 1909, Vienna – 10 May 1976, Berlin) was an Austrian actress. She was born Viktoria Maria Franziska Ballasko. Partial filmography * '' Der Kaiser von Kalifornien'' (1936) - Anna, seine Frau * ''Kinderarzt Dr. ...

and

Kurt Waitzmann Kurt Waitzmann (30 January 1905 – 21 May 1985) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 50 films between 1937 and 1969. Selected filmography * '' Unternehmen Michael'' (1937) - Oblt. Weber * '' Urlaub auf Ehrenwort'' (1938) - Ge ...

. It is sometimes known by the

alternative title An alternative title is a media sales device most prominently used in film distribution. Books and films are commonly released under a different title when they are screened or sold in a different country. This can vary from small change to the ...

''Die rote Mütze'' (''The Red Cap''). 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 ...

Max Knaake Max Knaake (1886–1968) was a German art director.Greco p.186 Selected filmography * ''La Boheme'' (1923) * ''Curfew'' (1925) * '' Battle of the Sexes'' (1926) * '' The Sporck Battalion'' (1927) * '' Hurrah! I Live!'' (1928) * '' The Sinner'' (1 ...

and

Karl Vollbrecht Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl of Austria, last Austrian Emperor * Karl (footballer) (born 1993), Karl Cachoe ...

Synopsis

confidence trickster A scam, or a confidence trick, is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity, naivety, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibili ...

is released from prison and travels to a village where he blackmails and tricks women out of their savings, before eventually being caught.

Cast

as Franz Buschko *

as Marianne, seine Tochter *

as Mathias Schröder *

Harald Paulsen Harald Paulsen (26 August 1895 – 4 August 1954) was a German stage and film actor and director. He appeared in 125 films between 1920 and 1954. Career Paulsen first appeared on stage at age sixteen. He then studied under Leopold Jessner, who ...

as Häselich / Ullmann *

Hilde Körber Hilde Körber (3 July 1906 – 31 May 1969) was an Austrian film actress who worked largely in the German Film Industry. She appeared in 53 films between 1930 and 1964. She was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary and died in West Berlin, West G ...

as Melitta Dolechal *

Fita Benkhoff Fita Benkhoff (1 November 1901 – 26 October 1967) was a German actress. Life Benkhoff was born in 1901. She appeared in more than 100 films between 1933 and 1967. When the actress Louise Dumont separated from her husband in the 1920s, Be ...

as Frau Lindemann *

Elisabeth Flickenschildt Elisabeth Ida Marie Flickenschildt (16 March 1905 – 26 October 1977) was a German actress, producer and author. She appeared in dozens of German language films and television productions between 1935 and 1976. Flickenschildt was born in Hambu ...

as Frau Buschko *

Alfred Maack Alfred Maack (5 April 1882 – 14 February 1961) was a German stage and film actor. He appeared in more than fifty films from 1937 to 1958. Selected filmography References External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maack, Alfred 1882 births 1961 ...

as Paaschen, Bahnhofswirt * Heinrich Kalnberg as Vater Zierlein *

Friedrich Ettel Friedrich Ettel (8 June 1890 – 12 March 1941) was a Swiss film actor. Ettel was born in Zurich and died at the age of 50 in Berlin, Germany. Selected filmography * '' Ludwig II, King of Bavaria'' (1929) * '' Two People'' (1930) * '' Louise, Que ...

as Vorsteher Scharrelmann *

Ernst Behmer Ernst Behmer (22 December 1875 – 26 February 1938) was a prolific German stage and film actor who appeared in more than a hundred films during the silent and early sound eras. Behmer was born in Königsberg, East-Prussia, Germany (now Kali ...

as Pauluschkat *

Gerhard Bienert Gerhard Max Richard Bienert (8 January 1898 – 23 December 1986) was a German stage and film actor. Gerhard Bienert was born in Berlin, Germany and died in the same city in 1986 at age 88. Selected filmography * '' Duke Ferrante's End'' (1922) ...

as Assistant Obermeier * Hans Hemes as 1. Beamter *

Helmut Heyne Helmut is a German name. Variants include Hellmut, Helmuth, and Hellmuth. From old German, the first element deriving from either ''heil'' ("healthy") or ''hiltja'' ("battle"), and the second from ''muot'' ("spirit, mind, mood"). Helmut may refer ...

as Assistant Fiedler * Eva Klein-Donath as Frau Becker * Gerda Kuffner as Frau Niemeyer *

Waldemar Potier Waldemar, Valdemar, Valdimar, or Woldemar is an Old High German given name. It consists of the elements ''wald-'' "power", "brightness" and ''-mar'' "fame". The name is considered the equivalent of the Latvian name Valdemārs, the Estonian name ...

as Kellnerjunge Karl *

Arthur Reinhardt Arthur Reinhardt (17 April 1893 – 16 December 1973) was a German actor.Kay Weniger Kay Weniger (born 1956) is an Austrian writer of books on media issues. He published an eight-volume encyclopaedia on international film people. Biography ...

as 2. Beamter

Production

The film was directed by Selpin for the small studio A.B.C.-Film, and distributed by the major company

Tobis Film Tobis Film was a German film production and film distribution company. Founded in the late 1920s as a merger of several companies involved in the switch from silent film, silent to sound films, the organisation emerged as a leading German sound s ...

. It is based on a novel by Gertrude Von Brockdorff. Its neorealism and pessimistic tone were a sharp change from Selpin's recent work which had been dominated by musicals, comedies and society dramas and was extremely rare in the Nazi era when German cinema strove to be light and entertaining. The film had trouble with the

censors Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

, and its release was delayed. It has been described as "One of the finest German sound films ever made".Bergfelder & Street p. 122

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* 1938 films German drama films 1930s German-language films Films directed by Herbert Selpin Films based on German novels Films of Nazi Germany Tobis Film films German black-and-white films Films with screenplays by Fritz Wendhausen 1938 drama films 1930s German films Films scored by Werner Bochmann German-language drama films {{1930s-Germany-film-stub