"Der Untertan" is adapted from a novel by Heinrich Mann. As a novelist Heinrich may be overshadowed by his younger brother Thomas Mann but his novels gave rise to some excellent movies. Apart from "Der Untertan" his novel "Professor Unrat" was adapted in "The blue angel" (1930, Josef von Sternberg).
Director Wolfgang Staudte was a prominent German director after the Second World War. His film "Die Mörder sind unter uns" (1946) was one of the first German movies about this war.
"Der Untertan" portrays the period in Germany sometimes called "Wilhelminism". These period lasted from about 1890 - 1914, the beginning of the First World War, and was characterized by a militaristic society as symbolized in the person of emperor Wilhelm II.
Within this society main character Diederich Hessling (Werner Peters) plays a character who is hypocritical to the extreme. He obeys his superiors unconditionally and treats his inferiors as dirt. He is very nationalistic with his mouth but avoids military services with the help of acquaintances from his student corps.
All in all, the name Hessling can be understood to mean "hässlich" (nasty).
In portraying the character of Hessling lead actor Werner Peters is delivering a great performance. Peters is not very well known. The biggest chance of knowing him is maybe from "Nachts wenn der Teufel kam" (1957, Robert Siodmak).
At the time of release "Der Untertan" was not well received. Produced in the Soviet zone of occupied Berlin it was thought to be a piece of Communist propaganda. Now that we can look at the period in question from a greater distance in time the film turns out to be a rather accurate description of the "Wilhelminism".
To understand the reception in the '50s it maybe helpful to watch films such as "Labyrinth of lies" ( 2014, Giulio Ricciarelli) or "Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer" (2015, Lars Kraume). These films illustrate the great aversion against looking back in the Germany of the fifties.
To end with some cinematographic details that may be details but certainly enhanced the appreciation of the film by me.
Especially the earlier scenes relating to the student corps episode are shot with innovative camera angles. For example a drinking bout is shot through the bottle of the beer glasses.
In some scenes Hessling is wearing a very strange sort of mask. Only gradually it dawned on me that the function of this mask was to keep the ends of his mustache pointing upwards, just like his big idol emperor Wilhelm II.
In various scenes the rooms are decorated with paintings showing provocative nude women. In my opinion another hint at the hypocrisy of the main character, who was of course very prudish with his mouth.
Certainly not a detail is the brilliant ending. Hessling makes a very patriotic speech at the event of the unveiling of a statue for Wilhelm II in his hometown. The speech is interrupted by heavy thunder and lightning. In the last images of the film we see the statue again, surrounded by the rubble caused by war.
