Jud Süß (1940)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Veit Harlan

Writers:

Lion Feuchtwanger (novel) and
J.R. George (novel)

Release Date:

7 February 1941 (Denmark)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In this notorious Nazi propaganda historical costume melodrama, a conniving, ambitious Jewish businessman...

Plot Keywords:

Jew | Propaganda | Nazi Propaganda | Anti Semitism | Demagogy

Cast

Ferdinand Marian	...	Joseph Süß Oppenheimer
Werner Krauss	...	Rabbi Loew / Levy, Oppenheimers Sekretär
Heinrich George	...	Karl Alexander, Herzog von Württemberg
Kristina Söderbaum	...	Dorothea Sturm / Faber
Eugen Klöpfer	...	Landschaftskonsulent Sturm
Hilde von Stolz	...	Herzogin von Württemberg
Malte Jäger	...	Aktuarius Faber
Albert Florath	...	Obrist Röder
Theodor Loos	...	Von Remchingen
Walter Werner	...	Herr Fiebelkorn
Charlotte Schultz	...	Frau Fiebelkorn
Anny Seitz	...	Minchen Fiebelkorn
Erna Morena	...	Frau des Konsistorialrats
Jakob Tiedtke	...	Konsistorialrat
Else Elster	...	Luziana

Also Known As:

Jew Süss

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Norway:16 (1941) | Finland:K-16 | Germany:(Banned) | Sweden:(Banned) | Portugal:(Banned) (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

Terra-Filmkunst

Trivia:

Veit Harlan's anti-Semitic curtain-raiser for the Final Solution is still (2008) banned on the free market in Germany, but may be shown for educational purposes.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Aktuarius lays the dead body of Dorothea on the doorsteps and puts his head on her chest, her right eyelid clearly moves for a few seconds.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Das Leben geht weiter (2002) (TV)

revealing in more ways than just one

Constantly having to hear that he is a dirty Jew, makes up for almost all evil the central character of this film displays. The attacks are nauseating and primitive and the stupidity behind them is enough to make one sympathize with the Jew. The attacks are most revealing and could only work as propaganda on a population of morons. Similar propaganda, although not involving Jews, is made today against communists and all other groups not joining the holy American world of business and it is here that this film becomes much more interesting and revealing. If the unfortunate attacks on Jews in this film would have been let out and the rest was left, then we would have a most intelligent film attacking business and everything that goes with it. The main character teaches the stupid duke how he can turn power into money and money into power. He teaches what capitalism is at the core, namely this ability to freeze the efforts of the people in currency which can be transformed back to efforts, back and forth at will. Without the possibilities of these transformations, there could be no power. The film also reveals how people who are used to business are most helpful lackeys to power, since there deeply rooted habit of legalized theft (= business) makes them reliable tools for any immoral dealings that could be wished for on the side of power. I give this film at least 6 stars (if not more), because I find it harmless to non-morons that will never buy the racism, which, incidentally, even contradicts itself in that there is a black servant in a smaller role, who also helps the people against the Jew (a smart move by the director, who thereby reveals that maybe he is not a true racist). This film cannot make somebody a racist, who is not a moron to begin with.