The Ruler

Matthias Clausen (Emil Jannings) is the head of Clausen Works, an old and prosperous munitions firm. He falls in love with a secretary in the office (Marianne Hoppe), and his children conspire against him in order to protect their inheritance. Clausen disowns them and bestows the firm on the state, confident that one of his workers capable of carrying on his work will arise.

• Emil Jannings as Matthias Clausen
• Paul Wagner as Professor Wolfgang Clausen - his son
• Hannes Stelzer as Egert - his youngest son
• Hilde Körber as Bettina - his daughter
• Käthe Haack as Ottilie Klamroth - his married daughter
• Herbert Hübner as Direktor Erich Klamroth - her husband
• Maria Koppenhöfer as Paula Clausen - born von Rübsamen
• Marianne Hoppe as Inken Peters
• Helene Fehdmer as Mrs. Peters
• Max Gülstorff as Medical Doctor Geiger
• Harald Paulsen as Judicial Council Hanefeld
• Theodor Loos as Pastor Immoos
• Rudolf Klein-Rogge as Director Bodlfing
• Paul Bildt as Diener Winter
• Walter Werner as Private Secretary Dr. Wuttke
• Heinrich Schroth as Director Hofer
• Hans Stiebner as Director Weißfisch
• Peter Elsholtz as Engineer Dr. Ehrhardt
• Heinz Wemper as Foreman
• Ursula Kurtz as Miss Biel

Curt J. Braun and Thea von Harbou loosely adapted Before Sunset by Nobel Prize recipient Gerhart Hauptmann for the purposes of Nazi propaganda. Clausen's character is significantly changed from being destroyed by his family's greed in the book to renouncing his family and helping rebuild Germany in the film.{{sfn|Welch|1983|pp=135}}

Veit Harlan, who directed the film, stated that Joseph Goebbels and Walther Funk directly added Nazi slogans to the script and entirely rewrote Clausen's ending speech. Harlan wanted to leave the project as he felt the play was altered too much, but was kept on by Goebbels. Arnold Räther, the vice president of the Reich Chamber of Film, oversaw the production.{{sfn|Welch|1983|pp=135-136}}

The Ruler was approved by the censors on 15 March 1937, and premiered on 18 March with Goebbels in attendance.{{sfn|Welch|1983|pp=138; 275}} It was banned in Germany after World War II.{{sfn|Waldman|2008|p=127}}

Some newspapers objected to the anti-capitalist bent inherent in having a man leave his company to the state; the official release contained a postscript by Goebbels repudiating such intentions.{{cite book | author-link = Richard Grunberger | last = Grunberger | first = Richard | title = The 12-Year Reich: A Social History of Nazi Germany 1933–1945 | publisher = Holt, Rinehart and Winston | year = 1971 | isbn = 978-0-03-076435-6 | page = [https://archive.org/details/12yearreichsoc00grun/page/385 385] | url = https://archive.org/details/12yearreichsoc00grun/page/385 }} Writing for Night and Day in 1937, Graham Greene gave the film a mildly negative review, criticizing the acting and describing Jannings' portrayal as "the meaningless gaze of a sea-lion". Greene noted that he had enjoyed the "pleasantly savage opening", but that as the film continued it was increasingly necessary for the audience to assign emotions to Jannings' "marine" acting.{{cite journal |last= Greene|first= Graham|author-link= Graham Greene|date= 1 July 1937|title= We from Kronstadt/The Frog/Make Way for Tomorrow/Der Herrscher|journal= Night and Day}} (reprinted in: {{cite book |editor-last= Taylor|editor-first= John Russell |editor-link= John Russell Taylor|date= 1980|title= The Pleasure Dome|publisher= Oxford University Press|page= 151|isbn=0192812866}}) Meanwhile, the critic for The Brooklyn Daily Eagle concluded, "despite its Nazi propaganda influence, 'The Ruler' is nevertheless a skillfully produced photo-drama, distinguished by a powerful performance by Herr Jannings in the role of the sentimental industrialist".The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 18 October 1937, p8 And in England, The Evening Standard reviewer told readers, the film had "the marks of good direction, acting and camera-work. And the presence of Jannings is dynamic as ever."Evening Standard, 26 June 1937, p9

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|last=Waldman |first=Harry |title=Nazi Films In America, 1933-1942 |publisher=McFarland & Company |year=2008 |isbn=9780786438617}}
• {{cite book|last=Welch |first=David |author-link=David Welch (historian) |title=Propaganda and the German Cinema: 1933-1945 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |year=1983 |isbn=9781860645204}}

• Hake, Sabine. Popular Cinema of the Third Reich. University of Texas Press, 2001.
• Noack, Frank. Veit Harlan: The Life and Work of a Nazi Filmmaker. University Press of Kentucky, 2016.
• Rentschler, Eric. The Ministry of Illusion: Nazi Cinema and Its Afterlife. Harvard University Press, 1996.

• {{IMDb title|id=0028995|title=The Ruler}}

{{Thea von Harbou}}

{{Veit Harlan}}

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Category:1937 films

Category:Films of Nazi Germany

Category:1930s German-language films

Category:Films based on works by Gerhart Hauptmann

Category:Films directed by Veit Harlan

Category:1937 drama films

Category:Films with screenplays by Thea von Harbou

Category:1930s business films

Category:German films based on plays

Category:German drama films

Category:German black-and-white films

Category:1930s German films

Category:Tobis Film films

Category:Films scored by Wolfgang Zeller

Category:Nazi-era films restricted in Germany

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