NAZI PRODUCTION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22142, 22 June 1935, Page 11 (Supplement)

NAZI PRODUCTION

YOUNG PRINCE'S TRAGEDY DOCTRINE OF RUTH! ESSNESS The most remarkable film made iti Germany under the regime is now being screened in England. 'J.his is "The Old and the Young King," with Emil Jnnnings, too long eclipsed, making a smashing return to popularity in the role of the tyrannical old Fred-erick-William I. of Prussia. '•The Old and the Young King" is almost entirely authentic, but could not have- been more highly flavoured with Hitlerite propaganda if it had been pure fiction. We meet the old King—narrow, brusque, uncultured, rather stupid, reviewing his army and slaving at the machinery of State with the passion of a small boy playing with mechanical toys, playing practical jokes, boisterously enjoying himself with his regiment of seven-footers (one in the I'll in is actually Bft. Tin.) and drilling his family like his Grenadiers.

II is son, Frederick, loves books, music and the arts, habitually speaks French, detests the army and the dull routine of government. Humiliated by his father—who is represented in the

film as gruffly affectionate, but actually hated his son, if contemporary observers are to be trusted —Frederick plans to run away to England. A gallant young officer friend, Lieutenant Katte, helps him. The King learns of the plot and proposes to execute his son as a traitor. Instead, he has the boy's best friend, Katte, beheaded before his eyes, by way of teaching him to appreciate the pleasures and duties of statecraft. It. is a matter of history that this improbable plan * worked. Frederick submitted and, taking the lesson to heart, throws himself into the brilliant career that wins him the title of "the Great." A powerful, flawlessly-acted story, made doubly interesting and significant by its glorification of iron military discipline and Prussian ruthlessness. "My father murdered my best friend!" cries the embittered Prince. "A king does not murder," replies a courtier in effect. "The ruler's will is law, and whoever offers resistance must be removed."