Pillars of Society (1935) Poster

User Reviews

Review this title
2 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
8/10
It will blow you down...
dbdumonteil7 December 2008
Many German and French people know "Feurwek" (1954) starring Romy Schneider ,which,while not giving any credits to Ibsen and Sirk's writers,stole its main subject from it: a bourgeois notable sees his brother-in-law come back:he works in a circus.Shame and scandal in the family."Feuerwerk is a lite watered-down (and rather bland) version of "Stützen der Gesellschaft"

Made in Hitlerian Germany ,"Stützen der Gesellschaft " is the follow-up to "Das Mädchen vom Moorhof" .If the latter was sometimes hard on the greedy hypocrite peasants ,"Stützen" is an uncompromising put down of the bourgeoisie vitriolic style.The wealthy father,an abominable man treats his brother-in-law like a scapegoat and intends to marry his illegitimate daughter ,the Cinderella of the house ,to a less-than-handsome rich man.His wife is a hateful snub silly goose who despises his brother.So when the man of the circus comes to town ,it's only natural that the bourgeois's little boy and him (and the girl) hook up together.The storm (impressive for the time) becomes a transparent metaphor for the wreck of those so-called values which do not even respect the human being (the fishermen's plight).
7 out of 9 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
So was this the first version of Fire works?
cynthiahost20 June 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Another Douglas Sirk German Melodrama made before he fled to the United States,that mainstream classic film channels and home video distributors deny ,out of fear that it might create a misogamy against his Anti Nazi Hollywood career.Like Pron ,unfortunately,due to Hitler's legacy the films of 33 to 45 ,as well as other classic foreign genre's made under murderous dictatorships,is relegated to specialty.This wrong.Bad history needs to be represented the way good history does.If not your making it look like it's poisonous and your going to manipulate people to see it as bad that censorship will be promoted against it.Yes this was the first version of the film that would later be remade starring Romy.This firs version it's Susan Graff that plays the almost same role ,except under a different name for her character Dina Dorf, and she's illegitimate.This version is a bit more e complicated.Heinrich George plays Consul Bernick.He is a shipping magnate.Albrecht Schoenals portrays his half Brother,his wife's brother,Betty,played by Maria Khran.He seems to be the black sheep of the family.Originally from America.It's supposed to take place in the days of the west,but, you have cowboys hats that are not accurate .You have a black character who sings a civil war song," Way down up a Swanee river ,in German ,sos, it's not all accurate .Well, Schoenals plays a manager of a circus too.Once he comes and Betty sees him parading in town with the rest ,she's embarrassed.Then there's the consul young son,whom in th play was 3.Olaf,portrayed by Horst Teetzman.This version is older.He replaces Romy's brother and his friends who sneak to the circus.U.f.a obviously did not get a big budget to show what was happening in the circus,cause you never see it.Angry Dina against her step mother wishes decides to go to the circus cause she can't stand being in the house one minute,She and Albrecth met earlier.When it's founded out during a party set by Betty that her daughter and son went to the circus of Albrect it's scandal.Consul visits the circus to let his Half brothel know that Dina was his illegitimate daughter.A storm later comes and Dian decides to go with Albrecht ,but Olaf is punished ,locked inn his room.He manages to run out an into the ship too.But the storm is so bad that most of the people on the ship have to back to the shore on small boats.It s when later that Hierich discover his son missing in the storm that he searches for him.This was a true signature of Douglas Sirk,that you would see in his Hollywood films.Too bad mainstream corporate distributors and broadcasters in the United states have a bad attitude against these films. 06/20/13
0 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

See also

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews


Recently Viewed