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The Benthin Family
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Wikipedia article
'Familie Benthin' is an East German film. It was released in 1950.
Plot
Theo and Gustav Benthin are two brothers who operate a smuggling network: Theo, a factory director in East Germany, illegally transfers goods to his brother on the other side of the border, and the latter sells them in West Germany. The two also employ another pair of brothers, Peter and Klaus Naumann. Theo is caught by the People's Police; Gustav cannot compete in the wild capitalist market without the cheap merchandise from the East and his business collapses. Peter Naumann moves to the Federal Republic, but there he finds only unemployment and is eventually to join the French Foreign Legion. Klaus remains in the East and finds a promising job as a steel worker.
Cast
*Maly Delschaft - Annemarie Naumann
*Charlotte Ander - Olga Benthin
*Hans-Georg Rudolph - Theo Benthin
*Werner Pledath - Gustav Benthin
*Brigitte Conrad - Ursel Benthin
*Harry Hindemith - Seidel
*Karl-Heinz Deickert - Klaus Neumann
*Ottokar Runze - Peter Naumann
Production
'The Benthin Family' was DEFA's first major "mission film", with a clear, state-directed political message, although pictures that presented narratives hostile to West Germany and to the West in general were already made, albeit with smaller budgets and less government attention.Joachim-Felix Leonhard (editor). 'Medienwissenschaft: Ein Handbuch Zur Entwicklung Der Medien Und Kommunikationsform. Volume 15.2'. Mouton De Gruyter (2002). . Page 1238.Dagmar Schittly. 'Zwischen Regie und Regime. Die Filmpolitik der SED im Spiegel der DEFA-Produktionen'. . Page 59.
Three directors - Slatan Dudow, Richard Groschopp and Kurt Maetzig - were instructed by Socialist Unity Party of Germany to work on the film. Later, none of them was willing to accept responsibility for the outcome.Ralf Schenk. 'Das zweite Leben der Filmstadt Babelsberg. DEFA- Spielfilme 19461992'. . Page 57.
Reception
East German cinema expert Joshua Feinstein wrote that 'The Benthin Family' "...seems to have been an unmitigated disaster."Joshua Feinstein. 'The Triumph of the Ordinary: Depictions of Daily Life in the East German Cinema, 19491989'. . Page 31. The SED newspaper 'Neues Deutschland' praised the film, noting that "its greatness lies in its realization of the greatness of our life today..." while contrasting them with "the other side... where the West German youth... are processed for service as mercenaries for the imperialists."Miera Liehm, Antonin J. Liehm . 'The Most Important Art: Soviet and Eastern European Film After 1945'. . Page 89. At 1952, the censure demanded that a scene in which a drunk worker appeared be removed before the film was allowed to be re-screened, since it did not comply with "depicting independent, intelligent members of the proletariat".
The German Film Lexicon defined 'The Benthin Family' as a "SED-commissioned agitation thriller with simplistic good-versus-evil plot... but interesting as a Cold War relic."'[http://www.zweitausendeins.de/filmlexikon/?sucheNach=titel&wert=58474 Familie Benthin]' on 2001.de.
References
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