Mädchen in Uniform
Mädchen in Uniform (Girls in Uniform) is a 1931 German feature-length film based on the play Gestern und heute (Yesterday and Today) by Christa Winsloe and directed by Leontine Sagan with artistic direction from Carl Froelich, who also funded the film. Winsloe also wrote the screenplay and was on the set during filming. The film remains an international cult classic.
Plot
Manuela von Meinhardis, whose mother had died when she was young and father serves in the military, is enrolled at an all-girls boarding school headed by the traditional and iron-fisted Fräulein von Nordeck zur Nidden. Manuela is immediately exposed to the strictness of the school when both receiving her uniform as well as having many of her possessions taken from her. While the other girls at the school receive Manuela with open arms, she still feels very out of place until she meets Fräulein von Bernburg, a teacher at the school. After witnessing Fräulein von Bernburg's compassion for the other girls, Manuela develops a passionate love for her teacher. The first spark of love begins with a goodnight kiss. While the teacher normally gives all the girls a goodnight kiss on the forehead, Manuela receives one on the lips.
There is a meeting between the various teachers in the school and the headmistress. Fräulein von Bernburg advocates for using compassion and love when dealing with the students, but is met with disagreement from the headmistress as well as the other teachers.
During class, the girls are reciting from an assigned reading. The called upon girls all knew their recitations except Manuela, who was unprepared. Following class, Fräulein von Bernburg called for Manuela to meet her in her room. Manuela expected to be disciplined for not knowing the assigned material, but instead Fräulein von Bernburg commented on the state of the clothes she came to the school with, noting that there were many holes in them. Fräulein von Bernburg proceeds to give Manuela one of her own petticoats. Then Manuela begins to cry. After much prying Manuela confesses her love for Fräulein von Bernburg and the teacher states that she loves Manuela as well but cannot give her special treatment as the other girls will be jealous.
The girls gather around Ilsa von Westhagen, another student, as she reads aloud a letter to her parents complaining about the conditions at the school. She has a worker at the school smuggle the letter out.
The girls for the school are preparing to put on a play, Don Carlos by Friedrich Schiller, for the birthday of the headmistress. Manuela plays Don Carlos, the lead male role. Ilsa is to play another major role in the play, but is barred from performing after her letter to her parents denouncing the school is returned due to a wrong address. Ilsa packs up to leave the school but Fräulein von Bernburg convinces her to stay. The girls put on the play for the headmistress and her guests, and it is a great success with a standout performance by Manuela.
After the play, the girls all meet for dinner and are served punch with alcohol in it by the kitchen workers. After much dancing and singing, the girls ask Manuela about her relationship with Fräulein von Bernburg. Manuela tells them of the petticoat that Fräulein von Bernburg gave her without knowing that the headmistress's assistant was in the room. Then in her drunken state she yells out that she is not afraid of anything or anyone - in the direction of the headmistress who had now entered the room.
After passing out, Manuela is brought to a room and no one is allowed to see her. She is scolded by the headmistress. The headmistress is then informed that the Princess is on her way to the school to speak to her. The students and teachers all line up for the arrival of the Princess. After observing all the students, the Princess asks to see Manuela. The Princess tells Manuela that she knew her mother and respected her. The Princess then states that Manuela looks a little pale and asks if she is sick at which the headmistress rushes her away and denies any paleness.
After the meeting with the Princess, the headmistress scolds Fräulein von Bernburg for being too close and compassionate with her students. She also tells her that she is never to speak to Manuela again. When Fräulein von Bernburg leaves the headmistress's office Manuela is waiting for her. Fräulein von Bernburg tells Manuela to meet her in her room. In her room, Fräulein von Bernburg tells Manuela that while she cares for her, she is to never speak to her again. Manuela responds by saying that she will die. Fräulein von Bernburg tells her not to say such things and sends her away. As Manuela leaves the room, the headmistress arrives to scold Fräulein von Bernburg for speaking to Manuela and says that she can no longer be a teacher at the school. Fräulein von Bernburg says that she could not anyway as she needs to stand for justice.
At this point, the girls are all looking for Manuela and cannot find her. Manuela has climbed up the main staircase and is ready to jump. Manuela is saved by the other students. The headmistress and Fräulein von Bernburg walk out of Fräulein von Bernburg's room to discover a commotion and are then told that Manuela tried to jump and kill herself. The movie ends with all the girls watching the headmistress as she walks down the stairwell and down the hall in silence.
Reaction
The film had some impact in the Berlin lesbian clubs, but was largely eclipsed by the ongoing cult success of Der blaue Engel (The Blue Angel) (1930). The film did however generate large amounts of fan mail to the stars from all over Germany and was considered a success throughout much of Europe. The goodnight kiss Thiele received from Wieck was especially popular: one distributor even asked for more footage of other kisses like it to splice into prints of the film.
From its premiere at the Capitol cinema in Berlin until 1934 the film is said to have grossed some RM6,000,000. Despite the collective nature of the filming for which cast and crew received only a quarter of the normal wage, none saw a share of the 6,000,000 marks and Thiele later hinted that the profits had been mostly retained by the producers.
The film was distributed outside Germany and was a huge success in Romania. During a 1980 interview Thiele said the school play scene caused a "longstockings and kissing" cult when the film was first shown there. It was also distributed in Japan, the United States (where it was first banned, then released in a heavily cut version), England and France.
Mädchen in Uniform won the audience referendum for Best Technical Perfection at the Venice Film Festival in 1932 and received the Japanese Kinema Junpo Award for Best Foreign Language Film (Tokyo, 1934).
Later, an alternate ending which subtly pandered to pro-Nazi ideals enabled continued screening in German cinemas, but eventually even this version of the film was banned as 'decadent' by the Nazi regime, which reportedly attempted to burn all of the existing prints, but by then several had been dispersed around the world. Sagan and many others associated with the film fled Germany soon after the banning. Many of the cast and crew were Jewish, and those who could not escape from Germany died in the camps. "You were only first aware that they were Jewish when fascism was there and you lost your friends," said Thiele, who left Germany in 1937. Assistant director Walter Supper killed himself when it became clear his Jewish wife would be arrested.
Despite its later banning, Mädchen in Uniform was followed by several German films about intimate relationships among women, such as Acht Mädels im Boot (Eight Girls in a Boat, 1932) and Anna and Elisabeth (1933), which also starred Wieck and Thiele but was banned by the Nazis soon after its opening night, along with Ich für dich, du für mich (Me for You, You for Me, 1934).
The film is said to have inspired the 1949 novel Olivia by Dorothy Bussy, which treats very similar themes, and which was made into a French film Olivia (1951) directed by Jacqueline Audry. There was a German remake in 1958, directed by Géza von Radványi and starring Lilli Palmer, Romy Schneider, and Therese Giehse.
Censorship and surviving version
- The film was almost banned in the US, but Eleanor Roosevelt spoke highly of the film, resulting in the film getting a limited release in the US in 1932-33. Prints of the film survived the war, but was heavily censored until the 1970s, and it was not shown again in Germany until 1977 when it was screened on television there.
- In 1978, Janus Films and Arthur Krim arranged for a limited re-release in the US in 35mm, including a screening at the Roxie Cinema in San Francisco. Also in 1978, the film was released in its surviving form by Janus Films on VHS with English subtitles.
- Versions were later released in the US (1994) and the UK (2000) by the British Film Institute. Even this version is probably missing some brief scenes. For a full understanding of what may have been censored, a viewing of the film might be followed with a reading of the 1933 novel by Christa Winsloe Das Mädchen Manuela/The Child Manuela (Virago Press, 1994).
Chat rooms • What links here • Copyright info • Contact information • Category:Root