Jew Suss (1934 film)

Jew Süss
Directed by Lothar Mendes
Produced by Michael Balcon
Written by Lion Feuchtwanger (novel)
Dorothy Farnum, A.R. Rawlinson
Starring Conrad Veidt
Music by Jack Beaver, Bretton Byrd, Charles Williams
Distributed by Gaumont British
Release date(s) October 1934 (UK)
November 1, 1934 (US)
Running time 105 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Language English

Jud Süß is a 1934 British historical romantic drama film based on a script written by Dorothy Farnum and Arthur Rawlinson.[1] Directed by Lothar Mendes, the film stars German actor Conrad Veidt in the role of Joseph Süss Oppenheimer. British censors did not allow a film to openly criticize the persecution of Jews, since it would have appeared as an attack on German policy and led to a diplomatic incident. The film had little success in America or most of Europe, but a great political impact in Vienna, where it was banned. Unlike the 1940 version, the 1934 version is generally considered to be a faithful adaptation of Lion Feuchtwanger's 1925 novel.[2]It was intended to be a condemnation of anti-Semitism, not a justification of it. The 1940 version is considered by some to be an anti-semitic response to Mendes' philo-semitic film.[3]

References

  1. ^ Ian Wallace (1 January 2009). Feuchtwanger and film. Peter Lang. p. 153. ISBN 978-3-03911-954-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=awhkoV-hFqIC&pg=PA153. Retrieved 2 December 2011. 
  2. ^ Sadoul, Georges; Morris, Peter (1 September 1972). Dictionary of films. University of California Press. p. 170. ISBN 978-0-520-02152-5. http://books.google.com/books?id=_CL5zCKR2PgC&pg=PA170. Retrieved 2 December 2011. 
  3. ^ BBC

External links