Also known as:"La Ville Doré" (France),"La Citta' D'Or" (Italy),"Den Gyllene Stade" (Sweden) Length of entire film: 106 minutes. Filmed from July 25, 1941 until November 1941 in the Ufa-city Babelsberg and Prague and environs. On August 7, 1942, the film received the following distinction: Jugendverbot [forbidden for the youth] (censorship number B [Berlin] 57464). In 1945, it was banned by the Allied Military Governments in Germany. On November 27, 1954, it was re-allowed for screening for audiences older than sixteen years of age (censorship number 05275). Other credits: Script: also Werner Eplinius, after the play"Der Gigan" "The Gian"] by Richard Billinger 1937 Music: after melodies of Smetana Verleih: Prisma Cast: Kristina Soederbaum as Anna Jobst, Eugen Kloepfer as Melchior Jobst, Rudolf Prack as Thomas, Paul Klinger as Christian Leidwein, Kurt Meisel as Toni Opferkuch, Lieselotte Schreiner as maid Maruschka, Annie Rosar as Donata Opferkuch, Hans Hermann Schaufuss as Nemerek, Dagny Servaes as Lili Tandler, Ernst Legal as Pelikan, Inge Drexel as Julie, Walter Lieck as bridegroom, Frieda Richard as Miss Amend. Additional actors: Valy Arnheim, Joseph Dahmen, Ernst Rotmund, Konrad Cappi, Else Eher, Hugo Flink, Robert Forsch, Karl Harbacher, Emmerich Hanus, Maria Hofen, Josef Holzer, William Huch, Jaromir Krejci, Maria Loja, Josef Reithofer, Max Rosenhauer, Franz Schöber, Hans Sternberg, Rudolf Vones, Harry Hardt, Walter Schramm-Duncker, Josef Hustolis, Loius Ralph, Franz Schöber, Fritz Eysenhardt. Actress Kristina Soederbaum was the wife of the director Veit Harlan See Film and Video departmental files for documentation and a summary of the film. See Stories 2483 through 2488 on Film ID 986 and 987 for entire film. The LOC source number may also be FPD 8953-8964 (dupe negative).
Reel 4 Anna lives with her German father Mayor Jobst at a rural estate near Budweis in the Sudetenland. Her mother, of Czech origin, killed herself because of an unfulfilled desire to return to her native town of Prague. Already engaged to a young peasant from the village, Anna is attracted to the engineer Christian Leidwein from Prague and travels to the 'Golden City' to visit him. While staying with the family of her mother and working in their tobacco store, she is seduced and made-pregnant by cousin Toni Opferkuch. Her changing morals are accompanied by her changing appearance -- jewelry, make-up, and urban clothing. After realizing that Toni only pursued her for financial reasons, Anna returns to her father to beg his pardon. She arrives just in time to disturb his planned marriage with his Czech housekeeper. Thus, Anna commits suicide with the words:"Father forgive me for not loving the homeland as much as you did" This feature film based on the 1937 play"Der Gigan" "The Gian"] by Richard Billinger depicts a dichotomy between the simple, honest, and healthy countryside of the Germans living in Sudetenland and the decadent, sinful, and corrupt big city of the Slavic Czechs. The notion of"Heima" [place where one feels at home] is apotheosized as the place where one is born and should live until death - any relocation presents unavoidable disaster and finally death. The real danger of Rassenschande [race defilement] by uncontrolled female sexuality is evoked here, for the only possible reaction is suicide. Goebbels himself insisted on suicide as punishment and prevention of racially inferior offspring instead of accepting a lost daughter back into the family. It is difficult to recognize the Nazi elements of the film because Nazi ideology is masked in a love-story. After passing censorship on August 7, 1942 the dramatic film premiered to the public on November 24, 1942 with the distinction"kuenstlerisch besonders wertvol" [artistically especially valuable] and was an enormous success in Germany, France, and Finland. At its first screening at the Biennale Venice on September 3, 1942, this second color movie of the Nazi state gained an International Film Chamber Award for Color Movies. Krista Soederbaum received the Volpi Cup for Best Actress."Die Goldene Stad" was one of the most successful films of the Nazi era and gained a revenue of 43 Mio RM.
Germans and Czechs in the Sudetenland