Festspiel Trommler von Philippsburg (LFS01407 2)


Warning[1]

Abstract


Play "The Drummer of Philippsburg" on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of Philippsburg 1938.

Description


ZT: Der Trommler von Philippsburg. Bilder aus dem Festspiel von Hans Peter Moll. Ort der Handlung:

Philippsburg. Zeit: während des 30jähr. Krieges. 

ZT: Ein Wunderdoktor kommt... Szenen aus dem Festspiel: Wunderdoktor ruft Menschen zusammen. ZT: Es sind schlimme Zeiten, der Franzose will Udenheim haben. Szene aus dem Festspiel: Menschen ergreifen die Flucht. ZT: Kaspar Bamberger, der Kommandant, ist deutsch gesinnt. Szene aus dem Festspiel: Mann, nah. ZT: Der "Neue" gefällt ihm; als Trommler nimmt er ihn in seine Truppe auf. Szene aus dem Festspiel: Männer diskutieren, sitzen an einem Tisch und trinken, Trommler. ZT: Courage blitzt ab. Szene aus dem Festspiel: Mann streitet sich mit einer Frau. ZT: Der Trommler liebt die Tochter des Torwarts. Szene aus dem Festspiel: Mann hält Frau im Arm. ZT: Das Troßweib und ihr Komplize stellen dem Trommler nach. Szene aus dem Festspiel: Mann und Frau diskutieren. ZT: Die "Bischöflichen" sind Parteigänger der Reichsfeinde. Szene aus dem Festspiel: Papier wird verlesen. ZT: Wo ist der Festungsschlüssel? Szene aus dem Festspiel: Menschen diskutieren. ZT: Udenheimer Fischer bitten um Schonung ihrer Hütten. Szene aus dem Festspiel: Fischer laufen durch ein Stadttor, sprechen mit den "Franzosen". ZT: Courage bereut ihr verbrecherisches Spiel. Szene aus dem Festspiel: Verzweifelte Frau. ZT: Wegen Hochverrats vor dem Kriegsgericht. Szene aus dem Festspiel: Trommler vor dem Kriegsgericht. ZT: Der Trommler scheint verloren. Szene aus dem Festspiel: Reiter kommen durch das Stadttor. ZT: In letzter Stunde werden Betrug und Arglist aufgedeckt. Szene aus dem Festspiel: Frau vor dem Kriegsgericht. ZT: Bamberger spricht den aufrechten, deutschen Mann frei. Szene aus dem Festspiel: Kriegsgericht. ZT: Ende.

Metadata

Reference / film number :  LFS01407 2
Date :  1938
Coloration :  Black and white
Sound :  Mute
Running time :  00:07:47
Reel format :  16 mm
Genre :  Amateur movie
Archive :  Haus des Dokumentarfilms

Context and analysis


The drummer of Philippsburg, the symbol of the city and former imperial stronghold, goes back to the 600th anniversary celebrety in the year 1938. An attractive poster draw attention to the festive season. The design by Willy Klein, a Bruchsal sculptor and painter, was universally accepted: an imperial mercenary with a drum, a saber and a hat with feathers and ribbons - in times of war he had the task of recruiting young men as mercenaries. No one less than Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen's "Simplizissimus" was the godfather for the drummer. The fictional character, created by the most important writer of the 17th century, enters Hans Peter Moll's Theater Play "The Drummer of Philippsburg", which was performed at the 600th anniversary on central marketplace. In the radio station Stuttgart followed a broadcasting as a radio play. "Pictures from the play" - the opening credits of the almost 13-minutes long film informs about the time and place of the plot: Philippsburg during the War of 30 years. "A miracle doctor comes ...", so the first text panel: Simplizissimus, played by Heinrich Kiefer of the City Theater Lübeck,has left Lorraine to Philippsburg to find a regiment. The first picture shows him disguised as a wandering surgeon as he spreads miracle remedies at the fountain with a big gesture. With the text panels, the film uses a technique from silent films and thus also develops the claim to portray the play as a narrative in its continuity. A young woman tells Simplizissimus: "These are bad times; the Frenchman wants Udenheim", the title says. Udenheim is the old name of the fortress Philippsburg. Kaspar Bamberger, the imperial commander - presented by Karl Steiner of the Staatstheater Karlsruhe - poses for a close-up. He is "German-minded", as the title tells. Simplizissimus becomes his drummer. The camera view usually remains in half total: how "the new one" is watched by the troupe, as he finally steps as a drummer in front of the commander. But the camera eye is also approaching, if - as in the close-up of the commander - the image dramaturgy suggests it. In depicting the love intrigue that is intertwined with the story, the attitudes change in the half-close: the drummer and the "Troßweib", as they stand at the wooden bench and then wrestle next to the cannon with each other. Out of jealousy, the evil woman instigates an intrigue against Simplizissimus. The drummer loves Bärbel, the daughter of the goalkeeper. "The trophy woman and her accomplice are following the drummer": Here, too, the camera approaches in a close-up position, when she tries to charm her helper with a wild gesture. Meanwhile, the builder of the fortress, Prince-Bishop of Sötern, has pacted with the French: "The 'episcopal' are partisans of the enemies of the Reich," it says. It comes to a military conflict, and the Philippsburg fishermen "ask for the protection of their huts." Correctly 'set in scene', the sequence appears when the fishermen first determined step in a long shot through the city gate. Half close in view is then the conversation between commander Bamberger and the guild master of the fishermen: bowing again and again is the latter with his back to the camera, while a panning moves in between the comrades in the picture, standing behind him. The small sequence concludes by the fishermen again go towards the city gate. Not only with this scene, the "Pictures of the Play" claim to be "cinematic" - even in the next shot, when the bagwoman regrets her criminal game, this is visible: the picture with the trouser wife Courage and Bärbel wins before the background of the tent has its own intensity in the flat, before the two are in the shot-total from the side to see and the Courage is desperately on the ground.

Finally, drummers march past and clear the view of the background: on Simplizissimus, who is being charged with treason for court-martial. He should have conspired with the enemy. But "in the last hour" fraud and malice are revealed. The Courage comes riding through the city gate and steps before the court and the commander. Bamberger releases the upright German man. Bärbel's pure love has saved him.

Already in the morning, a host of mercenaries, mercenaries, captains, and sutlers had settled down on the small promenade near the chestnut trees with their citizens. In the "Pictures of the Play" this camp life becomes the backdrop for the film, which does not just film the drama. The claim to put the action in the limelight becomes clear again and again through its dissolution. The play was followed by a pageant attended by a few performers from the performance (see LFS_1407_1_Festzug).

Reiner Bader

Places and monuments


Philippsburg

Bibliography


GVOZDEVA, Katja; VELTEN, Hans Rudolf, Medialität der Prozession / Médialité de la procession. Performanz ritueller Bewegung in Texten und Bildern der Vormoderne, Heidelberg, Winter 2011.



  1. This film analysis is still in progress. It may therefore be incomplete and contain errors.