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Star-Crossed Lovers
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Wikipedia article
'Star-Crossed Lovers'[http://www.defa.de/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=412&FilmID=Q6UJ9A002LA1 Official English-language title on DEFA Foundation's website.] (, 'King's Children'; also known as 'Invincible Love')'[http://www.berlinale.de/external/de/filmarchiv/doku_pdf/20116880.pdf Knigskinder]' on berlinale.de. is a 1962 East German romantic war drama film directed by Frank Beyer.
Plot
Magdalena and Michael are two children from working-class families in Berlin, who have sworn to marry each other. When they grow older, after the Nazis rose to power, Michael is arrested for being a member of the Communist Party. Magdalena joins the underground party to continue his work. Jrgen, a friend of the two who is now a storm trooper, tries to convince her not to become a communist. During the Second World War, Michael is sent a penal battalion on the Eastern Front, where he meets Jrgen again as a commanding officer. Michael overpowers him, defects to the Red Army and returns to the battalion once more to convince the soldiers to surrender, thus saving their lives. He reaches Moscow, where he sees Magdalena board a plane. He tries to call out for her, but she does not hear him. They will never meet again.
Cast
*Annekathrin Brger as Magdalena
*Armin Mueller-Stahl as Michael
*Ulrich Thein as Jrgen
*Manfred Krug as captain
*Marga Legal as Mrs. Seifert
*Betty Loewen as Hanna Bartels
*Monika Lennartz as Katya
*Gertraud Kreissig as Ursula
*Natalia Illina as Vera
*Talla Novikova as pilot
*Leonid Svetlov as Sasha
*Nikolai Lukinov as Red Army Major
*Walter Lendrich as Schrter
*Gnter Naumann as Herbert
*Fred Delmare as Albert
*Erik Veldre as Hans
Production
The work on 'Star-Crossed Lovers' began even before the principal photography of Beyer's previous pictures, 'Five Cartridges', was completed.Ingrid Poss. 'Spur der Filme: Zeitzeugen ber die DEFA'. . p. 180. Most of the crew of 'Five Cartridges', mainly writers Edith and Walter Gorrish, collaborated again to create the new picture, as well as actor Armin Mueller-Stahl. The producers employed the technique of a story board, which was pioneered by Beyer in his last film.Frank Beyer. 'Wenn der Wind sich Dreht'. . pp. 102-103. He also used several expressionist motifs during the shooting, to recreate the atmosphere of Germany in the 1930s.Miera Liehm, Antonin J. Liehm. 'The Most Important Art: Soviet and Eastern European Film After 1945'. . p. 265.
Reception
'Star-Crossed Lovers' won Frank Beyer a special Medal of Honor in the 13th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.'[http://www.film-zeit.de/Film/5403/KoeNIGSKINDER/Preis/ Knigskinder]' on film-zeit.de.
Daniela Berghahn considered the picture as a "prominent example" to the DEFA films that "transgressed the aesthetic boundaries of Social Realism."Daniela Berghahn. 'Hollywood behind the Wall: the cinema of East Germany'. . p. 39. Axel Geiss wrote that the film was a representative of "DEFA's most important tradition: the dealing with the Nazi past."Axel Geiss. '[https://books.google.com/books?id=JmdAAQAAIAAJ&q=k%C3%B6nigskinder+frank+beyer&dq=k%C3%B6nigskinder+frank+beyer&hl=en&ei=rz7STeb4Fc2WhQezvPD3CQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CC0Q6AEwATgK Zwischen Anspruch und Auftrag]'. Freie Universitt Berlin (1997). OCLC 43472006. Paul Cooke and Marc Silberman commented that the antifascist cause was shown by the picture to be ultimately more important than the romantic ideals.Paul Cooke, Marc Silberman. 'Screening War: Perspectives on German Suffering'. . p. 169.
At 1985, the film was withdrawn from circulation by the DEFA Commission, after Armin Mueller-Stahl and other members of the crew emigrated to West Germany.[http://www.filmportal.de/df/f4/Artikel,,,,,,,,EECF579386E9700FE03053D50B376921,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.html Copy of the Commission's protocol on filmportal.de.]
References
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