This documentary explores the mystery of an inexplicable episode in the life of the otherwise highly esteemed Austrian film director G.W. Pabst (1885-1967). He was well known as a supporter of worker's causes and leftist movements up until 1939 and had directed any number of socially responsible films such as the 1931 Kameradschaft about the hard lot of mine workers. In 1933, at the beginning of the Nazi era in Germany, he left Germany and Austria and spent the next six years in France, the U.S., and Switzerland. In 1939, after announcing that he was on the verge of seeking American citizenship, he returned to Austria and made films under the Nazi regime for reasons which are unclear even to this day. The confusion prompted by this move was amplified by his 1948 film The Trial, which denounced anti-Semitism and won that year's Venice Film Festival "Best Director" honors. Among those interviewed in this attempt to unravel this mystery are film scholars, the director's son Michael, and various wartime actors and directors.
by Clarke Fountain
synopsis
