Fährmann Maria

Fährmann Maria (lit. Ferryman Maria) is a 1936 German horror film film directed by Frank Wisbar and starring Sybille Schmitz.

Fährmann Maria
Theatrical poster
Directed byFrank Wisbar
Produced byEberhard Schmidt
Written by
  • Frank Wisbar
  • Hans-Jürgen Nierentz
Starring
Music byHerbert Windt
CinematographyFranz Weihmayr
Edited byLena Neumann
Distributed byPallas Film (II)
Release date
  • January 7, 1936 (1936-01-07)
Running time
83 minutes
CountryGermany
LanguageGerman

Plot

After the old ferryman of a small village dies while transporting The Stranger, a homeless woman arrives and takes over his duties. The next evening, a wounded man appears and asks to be ferried across. She does more, hiding him from pursuers and nursing him back to health. Gradually, she falls in love.

But he was not meant to live, and soon The Stranger appears on the shore. This is, she quickly realizes, Death itself, and she refuses to conduct him across. The drifter, Mary, instead seeks to outwit the Grim Reaper when he then appears in the village. She hides in, naturally, a church, before leading him into the marsh she now knows. He sinks while she knows where solid ground is.

Cast

Production

The interior scenes were shot in Berlin studios from August to October in 1935 while the outdoor scenes were filmed in Lower Saxony (the Hamburg, Bremen and Hanover areas) near a farm called Tütsberg in the village of Heber, and also near Soltau.

Release

The film premiered at the Bernward Light Games in Hildesheim on January 7, 1936.[1]

Awards

The National Socialists had changed film inspection standards in 1934 (originally to increase the quality of film production by creating censorship standards) to also cover film awards, and as a result movies would be awarded extra consideration, and lower taxes, if they were deemed state-politically and artistically particularly valuable. Though Joseph Goebbels, Propaganda Minister for the Third Reich, dismissed it as "an experiment, but not a good one", the film still received an award for artistic value.[2]

Remake

After Wisbar emigrated from Germany to the U.S. following the November programs of 1938 (Kristallnacht) he worked odd jobs in cinema. In 1945, he remade Fährmann Maria as Strangler of the Swamp for Producers Releasing Corporation. The remake was far more horrific, in tune with attempts to revive the horror genre in the 1940s, than the atmospheric original.

References

Notes

  1. Hans-Jürgen Tast "Fährmann Maria". 80 years ago world premiere at the Hildesheimer Kino ; In: Sven Abromeit (Red.) Hildesheimer Calendar 2016. Yearbook for History and Culture , Hildesheim 2015, ISSN 1863-5393, ISBN 978-3-8067-8616-3 , pp. 133–143
  2. Hans-Jürgen Tast „Fährmann Maria“. Vor 80 Jahren Welturaufführung im Hildesheimer Kino; in: Sven Abromeit (Red.) Hildesheimer Kalender 2016. Jahrbuch für Geschichte und Kultur, Hildesheim 2015, ISSN 1863-5393, ISBN 978-3-8067-8616-3, S. 133–143

Bibliography

  • William K. Everson: Classics of the horror film (Citadel film books). Munich, 1979
  • Christa Bandmann / Joe Hembus: Classics of German sound films (Citadel film books). Munich 1980
  • Thomas Kramer: Lexikon of the German film. Stuttgart, 1995.
  • Friedemann Beyer: More beautiful than death. The life of Sybille Schmitz, improved edition. Munich, Germany
  • Brigitte Tast, Hans-Jürgen Tast: "The light so close to the shadow". From the Life of Sybille Schmitz Kulleraugen, Visual Communication No. 46. Schellerten 2015. ISBN 978-3-88842-046-7
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