Germany's. Past and Present on the screen
By HERBERT G. LUFT
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, September 16, 1966-53
of the common soldier caught in
the whirlpool of National-Socialism.
Kirst's "The Officer Factory" ex-
poses the • rotten hierarchy of
Hitler's army, and his prophetic
"The Seventh Day" warns us that,
the strengthened "Fourth" Reich
may bring atomic war and the de-
struction of world civilization.
The scope of "The Night of the
Generals," on the surface, is much
more limited. The novel basically
deals with . a sex killer who is
a p p r eh end e d after 14 years
of sadistically murdering prosti-
tutes very much in the style of
"Jack The Ripper." Yet, German
author Kirst feels compelled to
comment that the fiend was the
sort of a hero whom only the
Third Reich could have produced.
The novel is an indictment of a
decayed clique of high officers,
debased and perverted, riding on
the crest of conquests and foreign
exploits until the downfall of the
war machinery causes the con-
spiracy of July 20, 1944, the Night
of the Long Knives, of the dis-
satisfied generals.
Lt.-Gen. Wilhelm Tanz, com-
mander of the SS Nibelungen
Division, a career officer rising
from the ranks of the "Freikorps,"
to the author symbolizes the Prus-
sian spirit of the fearless warrior time is today and the story as
who sees only two alternatives timely as the headlines of the fall
GREETINGS
HOLLYWOOD--"The Night . of
for himself, a cross on his chest of 1966. The renaissance of the
the Generals." the Samuel Spiegel
or another one over his grave. A National Socialist Party of Adolf
M & M
epic which has been in procluc-
career of organized mass murder Hitler has its real-life counterpart
tion for more than five months,
has destroyed the general's in- in a splinter party with all the
AUTO PARTS CO.
is based on the novel by German
hibitions and activated his latent ideological trappings of the old
author Hans Hellmut Kirst, whose
9105-27 Michigan
killer instinct, triggering his path- NSDAP (Nazi) organization,
"Gunner Asch" trilogy was a best-
LU 2-9300
ological desire to cut up the bodies
The
real
party
is
scheduled
to
seller in 20 languages and
of women who had been the ob- hold a national rally in the city
gained Kirst -a reputation as a
jects of his degenerated passion.
of Karlsruhe in the near future.
fierce critic of the Prussian mili-
■111
■
■ ■
Anatole Litvak, famed for his During the last national election, 1
tary of yesterday and today. While
"Mayerling," "D e c i s i on Before they drew a frightening 600,000
I-
l
oliday
Good
Cheer
"Gunner Asch" shows us the fate
Dawn," "Anastasia" and "The votes, approximately 8 per cent of I
Journey," directed the picture on the total ballot, not enough to elect
Mike's 9 Mile-
location in Warsaw, Paris and a _delegate to the Bundestag, but
NEW YEAR GREETINGS
Berlin.
Majestic Service
enough votes to win city councils
Gore Vidal who wrote the and mayoralties in smaller provin-
MADORA
10200 W. 9 Mile Rd..
screenplay to the Spiegel-Litvak cial cities, chiefly in Bavaria, Han-
LI 7-9170
epic is also the co-author with nover and Schleswig-Holstein.
Sportswear, Inc.-
Francis Ford Coppola of a more
1217 Griswold
"The Quiller Memorandum"
conventional anti-Nazi yarn, "Is deals with such a movement ap-
WO 5-0724
'
Paris Burning?" from the novel
pealing to the Fuehrer-PrinziP of
Hyman Blumenstein
by Larry Collins and Dominique
Happy New Year To All Our
the German Untertan, who in
Lapierre, -which recounts events
Friends and Customers
reality rallies to the grave site
.—.0......, ..........„--0........„--
in Paris of August 1944, when the
of
19
war
criminals
executed
by
citizenry. rose up in arms and
PARADISO CAFE
the Allies to pay homage to their
routed the German Wehrmacht
Fine American-Italian Foods
memory every year since 1946.
after five days of street fighting.
MAJOR'S CAFE
The new leader, in the scenario,
17630 Woodward, near 6 Mile
The late Paul Graetz produced the
"Fine Food for Fine People"
is called "Oktober," addressed as
TO 9-3988
still unreleased picture last year
$
Bring the Family
f
in Paris, with Rene Clement di- "Reichsfuehrer" and portrayed. by
REASONABLE PRICES
Swedish thespian Max von Sydow
268 Ookwood Blvd.
recting and Charles Boyer por-
who made his Hollywood debut as
traying a French doctor who risks
VI 3-2013
Christ in "The Greatest
NEW YEAR GREETINGS
his life driving a resistance leader The
„...„_______________
Story Ever Told."
through the German lines so that
* k *
N,
he can convince Allied Commander
Michigan Bakery
Senta Berger, an Austrian
Dwight D. Eisenhower to send his
Holiday Best Wishes
actress
who
was
elevated
to
an
Supply Co.
NEW YEAR GREETINGS
armies to the rescue of the city.
Israeli heroine in "'Cast A Giant
*
Established 1914
Manufacturers Steel
LOUIS TILE
Paris and the aftermath of war Shadow," returns to the father-
2434-20th
TA 5-2885
s also the subject matter of a land as the dubious link between
Company
COMPANY
Quiller's
search
and
his
high-
rather superficial melodrama,
2162 Cloy
CERAMIC TILE
' `Return From the Ashes," in placed quarry, the self-effacing in-
heritor of robes and rituals of
TR 5-5676
WA 4=1266
which Ingrid Thulin appears as
NEW YEAR GREETINGS I.
a
Adolf
Hitler. Against the new
concentration camp survivor of
I
leader,
depicted
by
Von
Sydow,
ewish descent, who returns to
I
Michigan Bag &
1 he French capital with scarred there are also Sir Alex Guinness
as
a
British
agent;
George
Sanders
i ace, eyes ringed with deep
Barrel Co., Inc.
Greetings to All
shadows and prematurely gre as a functionary in British intel-
Established 1914
ligence• Robert Helpmann
(of
air. The villains this time are
J. Berkowitz and Family
1 ot the Germans, but a scheming `Red Shoes" fame) as a German
TE 1 3755 I
"cover;" and Peter Carsten as an- !, 4825 Russell
olish adventurer portrayed by other
West German agent help
merman-born
actor
Maximilian
1334 E. Vernor
WO 3-7855
chell with Herbert Lam (himself ing to uproot the unholy move-
a refugee from Nazidom) depict- ment.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
While "Funeral in Berlin,"
i ng a French doctor in love with
simultaneously
before
the
cameras
he woman who has returned from
in the former capital of the
MENDELSON
he ashes.
Reich, re-hashes the defection of
Happy New Year
* * *
EGG CO.
Leon Askin, a Jewish actor who an official from the East to the
s tarted his career at the Max West, with Michael Caine as the
4100 Joy Rd..
TY 6-2772
F einhardt school in Vienna to "Iperess File" agent Harry Pal-
-
mer,
"The
Quiller
Memorandum"
v ork for many years at Louise
Michigan's Largest Restaurant and Bar
I )umont's renowned Duesseldorfer for a change deals with realities. .„
Equipment Outfitters
Some German newspapers
S chauspielhaus and came to the
SCHRIER . BROS., Props.
Happy Holiday
4403 Russell
i. J .S. in 1940 via Paris as director would like to classify "The Quiller
Memorandum"
as
another
Secret
0 f the Washington Civic Theater,
A. J. Marshall Co.
Agent film, others state frankly
5 h as the sorrowful part of a pig- their dismay that outsiders must
Since 1897
ish, pudgy and amorous Nazi of-
Bar - Restaurant - Institution
Happy New Year
:
fi ficer in the rather silly comedy deal with strong themes of the
Supplies
-
- o the Italian campaign, "What contemporary Germany, contem-
4400
Coss,
cor. Canfield
porary
Germ
an
y,
controversial
- D id You Do in The War, Daddy?"
TE 1-9450
T he German army could have stories German producers sweep
-
.. to een beaten easily if .their leaders I under the rug. -
149 W. 6 Mile near Woodward, Highland Park
-
A few - thoughtful journalists
h ad been as stupid as the char-
-
TO 9-9499
Best Wishes To All Our Friends
- -
a( ter portrayed by Leon Askin in have said that producer Ivan
and CuStomers For a Happy
C ti: e current feature, and in the Foxwell and director Michael
,,,
and Joyous New Year
Flogan's Heroes" television series Anderson show an honest ap-
proach
to
an
unpleasant
problem
which the fine actor is con-
LOUIS & LEINOFF
mned to appear perpetually as of today, an approach which puts
DELICATESSEN
German
film-makers
of
Westerns,
New Year Greetings
azi General Burkhalter.
Tray Catering — Carry Outs
(Krimis (criminal who-done-its)
* * *
15315 W. 7 Mile Rd.
While George Peppard intro- and Heimat films (hearts-and-
BR 3-5914
ces himself as a German hero flowers epics) to shame.
■
■
the multi-million dollar epic
■
■
►
■
■
■
■1■
■ ■ ■
12010 Farmington Rd., Livonia
425-8100
Tobruk," dealing with the North
rican campaign in World War
Best Wishes for a Joyous Holiday Season
his exploits in "The Blue Max"
ar e of a different nature. Peppard
.
in the First World War flying
Happy Holiday
m elee can be compared in char-
ac ter with the ambitious, sehem-
in,
fighter portrayed by Kirk
.
IN uglas in "The Champion" al- 1■10.141
•1141■
■
■
■
■
■
Resources over 100 Million Dollars '
■ ■0■
■
■
m, st 20 years ago. Only one
is
not aware at first that the ruth-
Hamtramck - Warren - Centerline - West Utica
le: is ace flyer is all evil. "The
New Year Greetings
Member Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
B1 ue Max," in which James Mason
es says the unlikely role of a Ger-
a.CULLitiLkitstsi_suzsi.os_o_o_w_suuts _sus_ -
-i rm n general and Ursula Andress
- .
- hi: even more unlikely wife.
* * *
Plumbing and Mechanical Contractors
"The Q u i 11 e r Memorandum,"
7361 Fenkell
Dl 1-5262
rrently before the cameras an
..
. lac ration in Berlin and in the
- stt adios of London, is of a differ-
- LIGHTING
CO ...
.1
Co. .. . . -n
. ii., t mold. A joint-production of
ilywood's Carthay Center and
Best Wishes For A Happy,
thur Rank of England, the mo-
- do n picture is based on the best-
Healthy and Prosperous New Year
sel ling novel by Adam Hall, with
- a screenplay by Harold Pinter,
- de; ling with a new neo-Nazi move-
• me nt in West Germany and in the
-
o
mer capital of the Reich. The
(Copyright, 1966, JTA. Inc.)
„
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Best Wishes For A Happy New Year
24200 Telegraph
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