User Reviews

A woman takes over the job of ferryman on a river, and saves her lover's life by sacrificing her own to drown Death when he comes for the lover. Of interest, though not quite as good as its minor cult reputation suggests (mainly due, at least in English-speaking countries, to William K. Everson writing about Wisbar's sort-of B movie remake of it, Strangler of the Swamp). There's nothing Hollywoodish about the original, which has the stark (and slightly ponderous) simplicity of a folk tale, and the same kind of unblinkingly realistic approach to supernatural events that Carl Dreyer's Vampyr (also starring Schmitz) takes. Wisbar is not Dreyer's equal, and as a last gasp of German Expressionism the production seems much less elaborate than that of pre-Nazi-era films; but there are certainly effective moments and an impressive overall atmosphere of peasant fatalism.

"Fahrmann Maria" was released in 1936 amid controversy: - critics were surprised that the film with a combination of dreams and reality should have escaped censorship. Maybe the fact that Hans Jurgen Nierentz, a favourite of the National Socialists, co-wrote the script. A Dr. Lemme, writing in the periodical "People and Race" believed that the film did not meet the "standards of racial hygiene" because Maria, a brunette, came to the village in "rags and tatters" and also because the character's national and ethnic origins were unclear. Lemme found it hard to believe that her German beau (Aribet Mog) could accept her as a lover.

Old ferryman (Karl Platen) needs one more fare before he can finally own his boat and be his own man and he collects the money from a wandering minstrel who is coming back to his village after years of being away. The old ferryman's joy is short - he dies while bringing over a tall, shadowy figure who then disappears. Proclamations go up stating that he died of natural causes and not as a result of the evil one which the villages seem to believe.

Suddenly a homeless girl, Maria, appears in the village (which cannot be reached except by ferry) and is given the job of ferry boat pilot. Shortly after taking over the job she hears a cry for help in the marshes and rescues a man from pursuing horsemen who cry out to come across in the ferry but Maria ignores them. She takes him to her cottage and cares for him as he talks about his homeland but the shadowy figure of death is always near and the same gaunt stranger who was present at the old ferryman's death now demands to ride the ferry so he can search the village for the injured stranger.

Such a beautiful, lyrical atmospheric film with a standout performance by Sybille Schmitz with her beautiful expressive face. In 1936 this film, apart from some scathing reviews, was really lost in the shuffle with other arty, high class films as Germany strove to imitate Hollywood with films like "Lucky Kids"(1936) etc.

Made in the Nazi years -Frank Wisbar had to leave Germany the following year,this movie is weird beyond comment;influenced by Fritz Lang ("Der Müde Tod" ) and Carl Dreyer ("Vampyr"),it shows an anti -militarism which seems at odds with the national zeitgeist epitomized by the likes of Leni Riefenstahl's propaganda movies :"I've got no homeland" says the heroine ;the long scene when the man is delirious is a strong condemnation of war and war myths.And the ending takes love over everything ,a much more optimistic view than Lang's and Dreyer's.

The river was often a symbol in the old myths : it is some kind of Styx,the other side of the river seems ominous and evil ,the riders some kind of horsemen of the Apocalypse .A man plays dice with Death and loses ,a scene which might have inspired Bergman for a famous scene in "the seventh seal".

But most of all,this is a Christian movie ;the heroine prays Jesus and it's the Lord her only guide across the swamp .The ending is inspired by that of "Der Müde Tod" (1921)but the director leaves no doubt:unlike Lang's heroes ,they survive in the material world.The presence of the fiddle player on the boat bears this out.

"Fährmann Maria" or "Ferryman Maria" or "Death and the Maiden" is a German movie from 1936, so this one already had its 80th anniversary last year. It was written and directed by Frank Wisbar and is one of his most known early career efforts as he went on to become one of (West) Germany's most successful filmmakers after the 2nd World War too. So you already have the reference to Nazi Germany, but this relatively short film (77 minutes without credits the version I watched) is not a propaganda film by any means and also does not include any NS ideology I would say. There mere talk about Heimat is not enough to create this connection. It is a black-and-white sound film of course, but at times you could see that it was still the relatively early days of silent film as there were long sequences without people talking. And it is not in color either, which was pretty much a given for that time as those German films that were in color were mostly the Söderbaum propaganda films shortly afterward. The lead actress is Sybille Schmitz and her male co-lead is Aribert Mog and sadly both faced tragic fates afterward in her careers and lives. However, I personally found Peter Voß' turn as death personified much more interesting than Mog I must say. In any case, Schmitz is the heart and soul of the film and with her stunning looks and talent (reminds me a bit of Kristen Stewart physically) it is certainly not a surprise that she was (and still is today) the most known cast member, especially when it comes to early German sound films. Her decline even inspired Rainer Werner Fassbinder for one of his most famous works decades later. But back to this film here. I will say that I was a bit generous with my ***/***** rating here because the story has some weaknesses to be honest. Like I said, the male central character was fairly bland and are we really supposed to believe death will just sink down in the swamp and be defeated? I don't know. The ending I am still undecided on. I am generally not a fan of happy ending that feel completely unrealistic and this is certainly one of them, for reasons I explained the previous sentence too. However, compared to today, there were many many more films back then with unhappy endings for central characters, so this is almost a bit of a change to what you could expect, even with the dark background and plot involving Voß' character. So yeah, eventually the nice soundtrack and Schmitz' strong turn let me come to the conclusion that the positive in here is still more significant than the negative. I recommend this movie. Go see it if you can.

This was one of the most eeriest German classic films Made under the third Reich.Sybil portrays and independent working girl searching for a job.It seems that the Grim reaper ,played by Peter Voss,killed the country's villages Ferryman.the Mayor,played by Eduard Wenk Hires her.the atmosphere of the bogs,in the village gives the whole fill a haunting feeling.the night scenes where Sybil realizes that the strange man in black is the grim reaper,trying to find her man,played by Aribert Mog,the male lead in Ecstasy that same year, to killed him and struggles against the grim reaper ,begging him that she take his place for Aribert,the film becomes more psychologically scarier. This ,of course, she defeat the grim reaper and get rid of him thus putting an end to death in which everyone live forever now!Now she can quit that job.Unfortunately, in real life ,the grim reaper would meet Sybil in real life and take her. 08/14/13