The Journey to Tilsit

{{Infobox film

| name = The Journey to Tilsit

| image =File:The Journey to Tilsit.jpg

| caption =

| director = Veit Harlan

| producer = Helmut Eweler
Franz Tappers

| writer = Hermann Sudermann (novella)
Wolfgang Schleif
Veit Harlan

| starring = Kristina Söderbaum
Philip Dorn
Anna Dammann
Albert Florath

| music = Hans-Otto Borgmann

| cinematography = Bruno Mondi

| editing = Marianne Behr

| studio = Majestic-Film

| distributor = Tobis Film

| released = {{Film date|1939|11|02|df=yes}}

| runtime = 90 minutes

| country = Nazi Germany

| language = German

| budget = 1.012 million ℛℳ{{sfn|Noack|2016|p=144}}

| gross = 2.537 million ℛℳ{{sfn|Noack|2016|p=146}}

}}

The Journey to Tilsit (German: Die Reise nach Tilsit) is a 1939 German drama film directed by Veit Harlan and starring Kristina Söderbaum, Philip Dorn and Anna Dammann.{{cite news |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/354178/The-Trip-to-Tilsit/overview |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610042823/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/354178/The-Trip-to-Tilsit/overview |url-status=dead |archive-date=2011-06-10 |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=The New York Times |date=2011 |title=New York Times: The Trip to Tilsit (1939) |access-date=2011-07-17}}

Synopsis

Elske faithfully loves her fisherman husband Endrik as he is seduced by a foreign schemer, Madlyn. Madlyn persuades him to murder Elske and run off with her. He lures Elske into the boat as a prelude to drowning her. Though he is unable to carry it out, she realizes his intent. When they reach the shore, she flees to the city of Tilsit, and he follows to plead for forgiveness. They return, and a storm blows up while they are in the boat. Endrik gets ashore, believing Elske to have drowned. He reacts with anger to Madlyn, but learns that Elske did survive.

Cast

Kristina Söderbaum as Elske Settegast
Philip Dorn as Endrik Settegast
Anna Dammann as Madlyn Sapierska
Albert Florath as Lehrer
Ernst Legal as Herr Wittkuhn
Manny Ziener as Frau Papendieck
Charlotte Schultz as Frau Wittkuhn
Eduard von Winterstein as Erwin Bohrmann
Clemens Hasse as Junger Mann aus der Straßenbahn
Jakob Tiedtke as Gastwirt
Paul Westermeier as Ausrufer
Wolfgang Kieling as Klein Franz
Joachim Pfaff as Klein Jons
Heinz Dugall as Klein Wittkuhn
Babsi Schultz-Reckewell as Mariechen
Lotte Spira as Frau im Café
Eduard Wenck as Dorfbewohner
Alfred Karen as Besitzer des Pelzgeschäfts
Heinz Müller as Dicker Mann auf dem Jahrmarkt
Ferdinand Robert as Gast im Cafe in Tilsit
Betty Waid as Alte Frau aus dem Dorf
Max Wilmsen as Begleiter, der Frau im Cafe
Bruno Ziener as Ober im Cafe

Motifs

Elske, as is typical for Kristina Söderbaum's roles, is a model of patient, virtuous and old-fashioned wifehood and of pure and healthy Aryan stock, stemming from her country living, whereas her rival is Lithuanian, promiscuous, and city-dwelling, an obvious product of "asphalt culture".Cinzia Romani, Tainted Goddesses: Female Film Stars of the Third Reich p 84–86 {{ISBN|0-9627613-1-1}} Her victory reflected a need to avoid temptation to adultery, when many families were separated.Cinzia Romani, Tainted Goddesses: Female Film Stars of the Third Reich p 20 {{ISBN|0-9627613-1-1}}

Production

The film is a sound remake of the 1927 silent film Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, which was based on Hermann Sudermann's 1917 short story "The Excursion to Tilsit", from the collection with the same title. Harlan maintained it was a true film, whereas Sunrise was only a poem, and it did avoid the symbols and soft focus of that film for more realism. It was shot at the Johannisthal Studios in Berlin and on location in Tilsit, where the action takes place.Cinzia Romani, Tainted Goddesses: Female Film Stars of the Third Reich p86 {{ISBN|0-9627613-1-1}}

Premiere

Magda Goebbels ostentatiously left the premiere, owing to the accidental resemblance between it and her own situation, where Joseph Goebbels carried on with the Czech actress Lída Baarová. (It was similarly resolved, with the actress being sent back to Czechoslovakia, and Hitler himself informing Goebbels that there would be no divorce.)

Citations

References

{{cite book |last=Noack |first=Frank |title=Veit Harlan: "des Teufels Regisser" |trans-title=Veit Harlan: The Life and Work of a Nazi Filmmaker |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |location=Lexinton |year=2016 |orig-year=2000 |isbn=9780813167008 }}