Zwei Welten (1929)

Genres - Drama, Romance  |   Sub-Genres - War Romance  |   Countries - Germany  |  
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson

Zwei Welten deals with a romance between a Christian and a Jew -- quite a chancy topic for a 1930 German film, especially when certain anti-Semitic forces were beginning to gain a political foothold in Berlin. During WWI, the daughter of a Jewish clockmaker falls in love with a wounded Austrian officer. Her father's hatred of the officer is fueled by the fact that the Austrian was responsible for the death of the clockmaker's son. Though their love is undimmed, the hero and heroine decide at last that neither can ever truly be a part of the other's world. Director E. A. DuPont handles his story with taste and decorum, refusing to offer easy answers or a pat solution. Perhaps DuPont exercised too much control, inasmuch as the actors behave more like automatons than people. The most "human" characterization is offered by Maria Paudier in the stock role of a warm-hearted Vienesse actress. Thanks to political pressure, Zwei Welten was banned in several German provinces, and DuPont was fired by his producer -- but not before he directed a French-language version of the same film, Les Deux Mondes, and an English version, Two Worlds.

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Keywords

family-disapproval, love, romance