Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 8,802
"Casablanca" - Cleaned For German Viewers…
On August 29, 1952, ten years after its creation, the famous film "Casablanca" with Humphrey Bogart (as "Rick Blaine"), Ingrid Bergmann ("Ilsa Lund"), Claude Rains ("Capitaine Renault") and Paul Henreid ("Viktor László") is shown for the first time in west German cinemas.
But what the Germans get to see has practically nothing to do with the original version!
Without exception, all scenes with "Major Strasser" (played by Conrad Veidt) ...
... and other Nazis have been completely cut out!
Also the scene when the Germans sing “Die Wacht am Rhein” in “Rick's Café” ...
... and then being sung down by French patriots with the Marseillaise ...
German cinema-goers don't get to see them!
In addition, the plot has been almost completely rewritten:
Victor László becomes "Victor Larsen", a Norwegian atomic physicist who discovered the mysterious "Delta Rays".
Captain Renault is renamed "Monsieur Laporte" and is now a member of Interpol.
In this 25-minute shortened version, "Casablanca" was more of a harmless romance than a film against the Nazis and the collaborating French Vichy regime.
At its core, the romance between Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) and Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) remained - as a melodramatic love story that even Wehrmacht veterans and former SS men could enjoy with a clear conscience.
Such an absurd treatment can hardly be imagined today.
The "Warner Bros. Studios" film distribution company was responsible for the mutilation of the classic movie. The German branch stated that "Casablanca" was "no longer up-to-date" in its original version and "not suitable for demonstration in Germany".
It was by no means about "educating" the Germans, but simply about profit!
"Warner Bros." feared that German viewers would not spend any money to watch an "anti-German" movie!
This calculation paid off - the Germans streamed into the cinemas and believed for almost a quarter of a century they had seen the real, the three-time Oscar-winning movie!
It was not until October 5, 1975 - 23 years after the censored film came into German cinemas - the German television dared to broadcast the uncut and newly dubbed original version, which can now also be seen in cinemas ...
In the officially anti-fascist GDR, the movie was also given a wide berth for a long time - it was never shown in the cinema there!
It was not until September 6, 1983 that the second program on GDR television showed the synchronized original version ...
On August 29, 1952, ten years after its creation, the famous film "Casablanca" with Humphrey Bogart (as "Rick Blaine"), Ingrid Bergmann ("Ilsa Lund"), Claude Rains ("Capitaine Renault") and Paul Henreid ("Viktor László") is shown for the first time in west German cinemas.
But what the Germans get to see has practically nothing to do with the original version!
Without exception, all scenes with "Major Strasser" (played by Conrad Veidt) ...
... and other Nazis have been completely cut out!
Also the scene when the Germans sing “Die Wacht am Rhein” in “Rick's Café” ...
... and then being sung down by French patriots with the Marseillaise ...
German cinema-goers don't get to see them!
In addition, the plot has been almost completely rewritten:
Victor László becomes "Victor Larsen", a Norwegian atomic physicist who discovered the mysterious "Delta Rays".
Captain Renault is renamed "Monsieur Laporte" and is now a member of Interpol.
In this 25-minute shortened version, "Casablanca" was more of a harmless romance than a film against the Nazis and the collaborating French Vichy regime.
At its core, the romance between Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) and Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) remained - as a melodramatic love story that even Wehrmacht veterans and former SS men could enjoy with a clear conscience.
Such an absurd treatment can hardly be imagined today.
The "Warner Bros. Studios" film distribution company was responsible for the mutilation of the classic movie. The German branch stated that "Casablanca" was "no longer up-to-date" in its original version and "not suitable for demonstration in Germany".
It was by no means about "educating" the Germans, but simply about profit!
"Warner Bros." feared that German viewers would not spend any money to watch an "anti-German" movie!
This calculation paid off - the Germans streamed into the cinemas and believed for almost a quarter of a century they had seen the real, the three-time Oscar-winning movie!
It was not until October 5, 1975 - 23 years after the censored film came into German cinemas - the German television dared to broadcast the uncut and newly dubbed original version, which can now also be seen in cinemas ...
In the officially anti-fascist GDR, the movie was also given a wide berth for a long time - it was never shown in the cinema there!
It was not until September 6, 1983 that the second program on GDR television showed the synchronized original version ...
