User Reviews

The documentary is about the life of Gustaf Gruendgens, the greatest German stage actor of all. You can compare him to Lawrence Olivier, if there is any comparison possible. He was theater intendant in Berlin during the National Socialism. Hitler wanted him for this Job, because he wanted people to belief: If a man like Gustaf Gruendgens works for the Nazis, they can´t be this bad after all. A lot of people said, he used the Nazis, to get his career going and that he was one himself. The first thing may be right, but he was no Nazi. He was hiding Jewish friends in his house and used his influence to protect others from concentration camps. He even joined the army for a while, in order to get a away from this job. His interpretation of Hamlet was this good, that people came to theater every day and were disappointed when missing one of his performances. After the war he was a Russian POW. In those prison camps, Gruendgens directed and acted in different stage plays. In the 1950´s he became theater intendant in Hamburg. There he brought Goethe´s Faust I back to the stage, with him playing the evil Mephisto. This adaption of Faust became this successful, that it was redone for television an banned on film. Due to this film, we are still able to enjoy his great theatrical skills, the character of Mephisto also became the role of his life and made him immortal. Shortly after that, he died in Manila. Some consider him having committed suicide.