Theodor Körner

Roughly twenty minutes of this historical biography is lost. According to the introduction on the Kafka Goes to the Movies DVD set, some scenes had deteriorated while others may have been cut to play for younger audiences. What remains is more of a curiosity than a satisfying film.

The first half of Theodor Korner consists of mostly domestic scenes. Korner's early life, school days, stage work, and engagement. These scenes are presented typically for the time. They are shot like a play with actors entering and exiting around a stationary camera.

The second half of the film consists of the battle scenes. Unfortunately, the majority of the missing scenes are in this section. Even Korner's death scene is missing as a title saying, "A Heroic Death" is followed by "(scene missing)." The impression the battle scenes leave in the viewer is of majestic horses galloping here and there but never getting anywhere. Some of the framing is questionable. In one scene a horseman runs his horse into a tree and falls off it. In a battle scene, the distant camera seems to be searching for the action.

I cannot fairly judge a film that is missing a third of its length, and what might be its most exciting sections. As it is, I can only recommend Theodor Korner to die hard students of German history or devotees of early cinema.