The German playwright Gerhart HAUPTMANN was a busy playwright who is considered the most important representative of naturalism in German-language literature. His play ROSE BERND premiered on October 31, 1903 and was still an excellent film material in the 1950s. In between, Gerhart HAUPTMANN was awarded the NOBEL PRIZE for literature in 1912.
After the great success with DIE RATTEN / THE RATS (Golden Bear 1955), Maria SCHELL once again played a character of the great playwright, this time under the direction of Wolfgang STAUDTE, who, together with Helmut KÄUTNER, is considered one of the most important directors in the West German film industry of the 1950s and 1960s.
The young Rose Bernd (Maria SCHELL) works as a maid on the farm of large landowner Christoph Flamm (Swiss actor Leopold BIBERTI) and his wife Henriette (Austrian actress Käthe GOLD), who is in need of care. The fun-loving young woman is literally being bullied by the men around her. The muscular excavator operator Arthur Streckmann (Italian actor Raf VALLONE) blatantly wants sex from her, even though he is also in a relationship with the attractive Marie Schubert (Christa KELLER). Rose's own father (Arthur WIESNER) puts her under severe pressure with his religious ideas. She finally gives in to the stalking of the large landowner who once took her and her father in as expellees. Even if she blames herself for it because of the friendly Henriette Flamm. In order to escape this encirclement, Rose wants to marry August Keil (GERMAN FILM PRIZE 1957 for Hannes MESSEMER), whom she does not love. But before that a catastrophe occurs...
This film is incredibly sad, but is one of the most beautiful films of the 1950s. The cameraman Klaus von RAUTENFELD delivers beautiful images from the area between Ammersee and Starnberger See. The interior shots were taken in the BAVARIA studios in Munich.
This extremely beautifully filmed film was shown in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 1957 and was able to attract more than 6.8 million cinemagoers to West German cinemas.
Absolutely recommended!
