Hitlers nützliche Idole

Another series of documentaries in the style of Guido Knopp and his Hitler's Henchmen and similar series. It is not as important whether the people examined were actually close to Hitler, but rather that they belonged to the elite during the Third Reich. Heinz Rühmann was the darling of the film audience, whose fame peaked during the war. Here we learn about his relationship with women and airplanes, which apparently dominated his life. Unfortunately, the documentary itself is not very clear and viewers who are not familiar with all the details have no chance to orient themselves in the relations of the commentators to the famous actor, and even less in the shown excerpts, which mix together feature films and civilian footage. Slightly better is the episode dedicated to Max Schmeling, the world boxing champion who won his heavyweight title in 1930. He came into the crosshairs of official imperial politics during his match against the black American Joe Louis. In the meantime, he married a Czech woman, Anny Ondra, who had been building a very strong place for herself in European cinema since the mid-1920s. The excerpts in this documentary are labeled with captions, and the contemporary witnesses are selected somewhat better. For Czech viewers, by far the most valuable is the footage from the Schmelings' civilian life, which are otherwise completely unknown and therefore neglected. Most striking among them are those from the post-war period, depicting the Schmelings as enthusiastic growers and breeders. (08/08/2011)