Marriage in the Shadows

Marriage in the Shadows (1947)

Ehe im Schatten

Set during the rise of the Nazi regime, Elisabeth Maurer and Hans Wieland enjoy successful careers as actors in Berlin. Confident in her career, Elisabeth, who is Jewish, ignores the advice of a colleague to leave Germany in the face of increasing anti-Semitism. Believing that he can protect her if she becomes his wife, Hans convinces Elisabeth to marry him. In the following years, as Hans's career thrives, Elisabeth awaits the end of the Nazi terror which bars her from public life. When the situation worsens in 1938 with the Kristallnacht pogrom, Elisabeth decides to leave the country, but Hans, who still believes he can protect her, convinces her to stay with him.

Date of release
1947-10-03
TMDB
7.2 / 10 (6)
Runtime
1h 39m
Genres
Drama
Director
Kurt Maetzig

Casting

Interesting facts

Marriage in the Shadows is 1947 German melodrama film directed by Kurt Maetzig and starring Paul Klinger, Ilse Steppat and Alfred Balthoff. It was produced in the Soviet zone in what later became East Germany and was released by DEFA. The film was described as an "attempt to confront the German people about the morals of the past", being the first film to confront the people about the persecution of the Jews and the atrocities conducted during World War II.

Production

The screenplay was based on the life and suicide of actor Joachim Gottschalk and his family in 1941. However, Kurt Maetzig said of the film, "almost everything in the film is based on what I myself, or my family and friends, have experienced." Indeed, the character of Kurt Bernstein, portrayed by Alfred Balthoff, is strongly based on Maetzig. Maetzig's mother had committed suicide to avoid being caught by the Gestapo.

The film was shot at the Johannisthal Studios in Berlin and on location around the city. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Otto Erdmann and Kurt Herlth.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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