Original Title: Die letzte Kompagnie. Historical war drama 1930; 78 min.; Director: Curtis Bernhardt; Cast: Conrad Veidt, Karin Evans, Paul Henckels, Erwin Kalser, Else Heller, Werner Schott, Philipp Manning, Ferdinand Asper, Martin Herzberg, Heinrich Gretler; Ufa-Klangfilm.
The Prussian troops retreat across the Saale river after the Battle of Jena. A captain and thirteen of his men take refuge in a mill, determined to hold off the advancing French forces, despite the overwhelming odds. The retreat is successful and the bridge across the Saale is destroyed. The French forces then storm the mill, discovering the bodies of the thirteen who have saved an army.
Summary
The Burk Company consists of just thirteen brave Grenadiers, who are admired by the ladies and fond of beer. They never falter in their courage! This was at Jena in 1806 when Napoleon routed the Prussians. It was a long time before they were finally defeated by Blücher at Leipzig and Waterloo. “The Burk Company must take the mill at Reinersdorf Moor,” came the orders. After a heated battle, the Captain Burk gathered his men together and only thirteen remained. Still, orders are orders and the mill must be taken, as it stands at the exit of the Wiegendorf Moorway, which the French must cross. The mill has now become a battleground! The elderly Miller couple must leave, as does Dore, the seventeen-year-old girl. “She has grown up with us, Captain!” “Hmm,” replies Burk. The girl’s large eyes are fixed on his face. She thinks he looks like the very devil himself! He was once a soldier, a soldier, a soldier. He had a lovely girl, he had a girl, yes he has. Now they are all alone. The Millers have cleared out the mill. The mill is now a battleground. It is the narrow passageway through which the enemy must come. Burk divides his thirteen men for a tenacious defense of the defile against thousands. An orderly has been sent to the headquarters: We need reinforcements! Thirteen men are not enough for a company! – The enemy must be stopped, no matter what. A trench is dug in the moor road. They all understand it is a hopeless situation. Yet, they clench their teeth. This night is spooky and silent. Each of our thirteen grenadiers knows their responsibility. No plaque or epitaph will adorn us, no poem or eulogy. The windows are still barricaded. Tomorrow is the start! Thirteen men! Then the girl returns, Dore. Good heavens! What’s happening? The mill is a war zone, indeed, but she doesn’t want to leave the country folk alone, she wants to take care of them – until the end. Of course she has to go back, says the captain. Now? That’s impossible! Nobody will find the way in the night! Alright, she should stay until dawn breaks. Despair hangs in the air as hope of reinforcements dwindles. The Prussians are retreating and two corps must cross the Saale before the bridge can be destroyed. Damn it! The French must be held off until the last Prussian corps has crossed the Saale! This is certain death for the thirteen defenders! Thousands will come against them! The captain stands before them: “Thousands of comrades will be saved if we hold the mill for just half an hour!” Everyone takes their posts. Look! The day breaks in the terrain. What is commanded is done! We reach out our hands, comrades ’til the end, thirteen of us! Now the girl must go! No, no, she wants to stay, she won’t leave! Burk grabs her and she clings to his neck: “Don’t send me away! Let me stay here…with you!” Burk breathes heavily. “That’s how it is! You’ve been running around like a machine all your life, and now when it’s time to die… Go, Dore! Go!” Dore doesn’t answer, she clings to him. And that’s her answer. – The battle begins! The shots crash into the mill, from which the infantry fire of the thirteen men erupts. Our mothers, our brides, they sometimes think of us… The comrades below the Saale river have yet to cross the bridge. The Prussian fire dwindles. We are nameless people on a lost mission today, the thirteen of us! The fire from the smoking, shattered mill is silent. The French advance. There they lie side by side, shoulder to shoulder, an officer and twelve grenadiers. Dead. And beside the officer, embraced in death, a young girl. With a deafening crash, the bridge over the Saale is blown up. Hundreds of thousands are saved. The French colonel and his officers salute the brave enemy.
-e-’s review in Film Kurier No. 65 (March 15, 1930)
The German film 100% in sound is currently showing at Ufa-Pavillon. It is a major sound film featuring the latest technological advances. It seems like only yesterday that sound films started to emerge. We have come a long way: the equipment works perfectly and recording and playback are seamless. Even the softest piano notes can be heard and sound effects are faithfully reproduced without overpowering the scene. The spoken word retains its impact and nothing is lost in translation due to the mechanics of sound. The possibilities presented by the silent classic remain without question. This carries through to the new genre of spoken films. One can sense it, as one did the day before, with the enchanting musical of D.L.S.: every new German sound film of worth advances the cause of sound films and advocates for their use.
It is a war drama. Remnants of a Prussian Grenadier Company, who fought in the Battle of Jena and Auerstadt in 1806, defend a mill which blocks the way to the great Saale Bridge. All night and half the morning, they hold out with a dozen men and their captain. At the Thermopylae, they succumb to the superior force, sacrificing a handful of them for the common good. Traveller, if you come to Germany today, you will still find their bravery remembered.
Joe May’s production team undoubtedly intends to experiment with great effort, again and again, to find the perfect balance: Joe May, who has proven himself in a thousand studio battles; a formidable array of authors and consultants; technicians of the extraordinary skills of Andrej Andrejowa, Günther Krampf; and they have taken on the young Kurt Bernhadt as director, whose name has meant a program since the proletarian film Nameless Heroes [Namenlose Helden, 1925, directed by Curtis Bernhardt].
It is important to find a line that connects the events of the past to the collective of today. To gain a majority of interest from the cinema audience, a basis must be provided. Democratically-minded Prussia is sought, as Ostwald Spengler attempted to deduce in his work on Prussianism and Socialism a decade ago. From the community of the doomed, the seed should be consciously hinted at that will provide life to future generations. The unknown soldiers are those who save Prussia from the misery of the double battle lost by the generals.
Researchers are now examining whether it was necessary to reject Napoleon’s offer of an alliance with Prussia to have free reign against England. They are looking into the role of the military party at the court, Queen Louise and Prince Louis Ferdinand, in the pre-history of the conflict. The question of war guilt has thus been set aside. One avoids aggressive cheerleading at the same time. It is not a battle in D minor, but rather an Eroica in A flat. Immortal sacrifices are made by those who succumb and nourish the field with their blood for future generations. The adversary is identified; not the French in general, but fate, which the last company overcomes by fulfilling their duty and sacrificing themselves. No other difficult theme has ever been approached with more tact and seriousness, which foresees every eventuality in advance.
This war drama is deliberately presented from the other side. It is the reverse of a weekend getaway. Journeys come to an end. The farm boys, conscripted under the Prussian system, poor souls, stand in rows with enlisted soldiers. Their leader joins them, because he is compassionate. There is no place for women – when the drumbeat sounds, the flute must be silenced. It is a film about men, a film for men. Not coincidentally, the only woman is the miller’s daughter, a bucolic idyll amidst the war atrocities, a deliberate concession to the export and film audience’s taste. When the Medusa turns her head away, miller girl Karin Evans has her moment of justice.
Impressionist paintings provide the setting for the action. A battlefield, with a romantic moorland, wherein Ralf the raven croaks his terror over the marshes, which sees men and horses and carriages sink into the night and terror, unforgettable. Master of optical architecture Andrej Andrejew is at work, bringing life to his creation and a wealth of deepest impressions. This is the perfect opportunity for Günther Krampf to capture camera compositions of people in half-light, twilight shadows and carefully illuminated heads. It is a subtle art form, wherein the strongest is the unreal, implemented in reality – as the order of the French army, cuirassiers, emerge ghostly from the fog, brought to plasticity by winding paths.
The melancholic atmosphere of the entire work prevents any dramatic intensification. From the beginning, it is evident that this house of Prussian grenadiers, these self-sacrificers, are destined to die. Tactfully, the final battle is kept to a minimum. The film captures the battle-field visions of Carl Hauptmann’s earlier works: The Dead Sing [the play Die Toten singen] The cast includes Conrad Veidt as Captain Burk in a lovingly crafted character mask, acting with restrained sympathy and simplicity. Twelve men of his company, speaking various dialects, comprise Heinrich Gretler, Paul Henckels, Ferdinand Asper, Martin Herzberg, Werner Scholl, Dr. Philipp Manning, Alexander Hiller, Ferdinand Hart, Karchow, and Horst von Harbou, as well as two civilians, Erwin Kaiser and Else Heller. The manuscript is based on an idea by Wilhelm and Kosterlitz of L. von Wohl and H. Goldberg, and the screenplay is written by Goldberg, Wilhelm, and Kosterlitz. Dr. Gerhardt Goldbaum and Erich Schmidt face the difficult task of sound engineering and succeed in creating a masterpiece with the tonal differentiation of the playback of trumpet signals and far-sounding calls over the battlefield.
The audience at the premiere welcomes the film with strong, heartfelt applause.
