Figure 1.--Here the three Muller children (Joshua, Babette, and Bodo) are crossing into the United States from the Mexican border.

Watch on the Rhine" (1943), is an an important film based on Lillian Hellman's famous play of the same name. It is one of a series of films made before and during World War II. It painted an evil picture of the NAZIs, but Americans viewing the film had no idea how understated was the evil of the NAZIs. The film was was based upon Lillian Hellman's 1941 play concerning American complacency about what was happening in NAZI Germany in the yers before Pearl Harbor and the American entrance into World War II had fully awakened America to the grim realities of European politics. The film was directed by Herman Shumlin and starred Paul Lukas (who won an Academy Award for his performance) and Bette Davis. Lucile Watson plays a wealthy, acid-tongued matriarch of the internationally oriented upper-class society of Washington, D.C. in 1940.

Filmology

Watch on the Rhine" (1943), is an an important film based on Lillian Hellman's famous play of the same name. It is one of a series of films made before and during World War II. It painted an evil picture of the NAZIs, but Americans viewing the film had no idea how understated was the evil of the NAZIs. The film was was based upon Lillian Hellman's 1941 play concerning American complacency about what was happening in NAZI Germany in the years before Pearl Harbor and the American entrance into World War II had fully awakened America to the grim realities of European politics. The play came out as America was engaged in the great debate over isolatiionism and support for Britain in World War II. The film was made after Pearl Harbor and America's entry into the War--two very different envirinments. "Watch on the Rhine" was directed by Herman Shumlin and starred Paul Lukas (who won an Academy Award for his performance) and Bette Davis.

Cast

The film starred Paul Lukas abd Bette Davis. The children are played respectively by Donald Buka (Joshua), Janis Wilson (Babette) and Eric Roberts (Bodo). Lucile Watson plays a wealthy, acid-tongued matriarch.

Setting

The film is set in the internationally oriented upper-class society of Washington, D.C. in 1940 before America entered World War II. This was based on the play, although by the time the film was made Pear Harnor had been attacked (December 7, 1941) and America had entered the War. Americans knew about concentration camps, but did not fully understand what when on in these camps. The existence of death camps and the Holocaust was not understood.

Plot

The plot concerns Kurt Muller, a German agent of the anti-NAZI underground (Paul Lukas), who arrives in Washington from Europe with his American wife (Bette Davis) and their children--Joshua (about 18), Babette (about 13), and the precocious Bodo (a boy of about 11 or 12). After years of resistance and hiding in Europe, Kurt Muller, the underground agent, is able to get his wife and children to the safety of Mexico and thence to the United States where his mother-in-law, Fanny Farrelly (Sara Muller's socially prominent mother), receives them into her spacious and well-appointed house in Washington. Kurt has really come on a mission to raise funds for the resistance against Hitler and the Third Reich. In the course of events, a Romanian scoundrel, Teck de Brancovis (played by George Coulouris) discovers Kurt's true identity as an anti-Nazi agent and threaten to expose him to the NAZIs unless he pays a certain price. In the end Kurt decides he must return to his dangerous mission in Europe and his oldest son Joshua prepares to follow him as a demonstratation of his courage and emerging manhood. Kurt's younger son Bodo, a 12-year-old prodigy who delivers comically loquacious and stilted speeches like a high-school orator and who speaks several foreign languages, plays a child trying to behave like an adult who needs on occasion to be quietly restrained by his father and older brother.

Figure 2.--Here in "WAtch on the Rhine", the German-born children are arriving in the comfortable home of their American grandmother. The younger boy wears short pabts with long ztockings and a French-looking beret.

Costuming

The childrens' clothing is of some interest. Eventually the children become Americanized and dress like upperclass 1940s teenagers of Washington, D.C. But when they arrive in the USA, they still dress like children of central Europe where they have been brought up. Joshua wears a long-pants suit of European cut and design while Bodo, the 12-year-old, wears a single-breasted short pants suit with a somewhat rumpled shirt and tie and long dark stockings. The stockings seem to be the typical dark brown although one can't be sure since the film is black and white. Certainly long stockings were uncommon (but not completely unknown) for older boys in Washington, D.C., in 1940, but they were fairly common in Germany and other parts of central Europe where the temperatures were much colder. Bodo also wears a beret on the back of his head, another distinctly European detail of his dress. Later Bodo graduates to a long trousers suit and looks more like an American boy. The girl, Babette, wears dark ankle socks and what looks like a pleated dress under her overcoat. Her clothing seems less distinctly European than that of her brothers.

German Resistance

The German Resistance is a topic that HBC has not yet addressed. There are several aspecrs to the Resistance. We note some resistance in the clergy. The best known resistance was the White Rose. The Gestapo was concerned about the Swing Kids, but this was not an organized resistance. The most significant resistance was in the military. The Wehrmacht was reportedly prepared to arrest Hitler if the Allied had stood up to him at Munich. The military did utimately attemot to assassinate him (July 1944). The military resistance seems motivated not only by objections to NAZI attrocuties, but German defeats in the War. The major contribution the Resistance played was in funneling information to the Soviets and Western Allies.

Watch on the Rhine

"The Watch on the Rhine!" or "Die Wacht am Rhein!" is one of the most famous patriotic songs in German history. Max Schneckenburger wrote "The Watch on The Rhine" in 1840. It became very popular among Prussian and other German troops duting the Franco Prussian War (1870-71). The Rhine is obviously the great natural barrier between France and Germany. Today given German behavior in two world wars, it is difficult to understand the imporatnce of the Rhine in the German psyche. The Rhine is a river of mythic importance in German history. The poem "Watch of the Rhine" is a classic piece of German patriotic poetry. Hellman's use of it as the title is her attemp to paint the Germn underground resistance as the trur German patriots.

Created: February 7, 2004
Last updated: February 16, 2004