Der Schinderhannes (1958)

The Hunsrück, during the Napoleonic occupation: When the Imperial Count of Cleve-Boost returns after fleeing the French troops and takes the farmers’ property from them, the robber chief Johannes Bückler, known as Schinderhannes, storms his castle with his men; meanwhile, the farmers reclaim their belongings. Carl von Cleve-Boost, the count’s son, disagrees with his father’s arrogant style of rule and is despised by him for it. Schinderhannes initially takes Carl hostage, but Carl then joins him of his own free will. In Mainz, during a reception for Napoleon, Schinderhannes sells his stolen goods to his friend Leyendecker, a merchant who also opposes French rule. At an inn, he also meets a singing girl named Julchen, who is promised to the gendarme Adam. A guest recognizes Schinderhannes, but he manages to escape. Schinderhannes and Julchen fall in love. They visit Schinderhannes’ father together. Gendarmes then arrive under Adam’s command and try to arrest his father, but Schinderhannes drives them off. Despite his men’s objections—they want to keep the proceeds from the sale of the stolen goods—Schinderhannes gives the money back to the farmers. When his men, including Carl von Cleve-Boost, are supposed to buy wine from the monastery cellar in Bernkastel, they instead try to steal it against Hannes’s orders and Carl’s wishes, and are arrested. Schinderhannes poses as the count at the monastery, but is exposed and arrested. The count’s son, however, escapes from his father and frees Schinderhannes on his own. When soldiers press Schinderhannes and his men, and they reach for their guns, Julchen, who is now pregnant, begins to doubt what he is doing and leaves him. A fierce battle breaks out between the soldiers and Schinderhannes’ men. Among those killed is Carl, who tries to shield Hannes from an enemy bullet; Schinderhannes and his men flee. During their escape, Schinderhannes finds Julchen again, just after she has given birth to a son. But their joy is short-lived: Schinderhannes and Julchen are arrested after Schinderhannes’ companion Benzel betrays them, and Schinderhannes is eventually sentenced to death in Mainz. He is allowed to spend his final hours with Julchen. Meanwhile, the elderly Leyendecker avenges Schinderhannes’ betrayal by strangling the traitor Benzel through a ruse. Shortly before the sentence is carried out, Leyendecker himself dies of a heart attack. The final consolation for Schinderhannes and his gang is that they are executed together—and that more people have come to see it than attended Napoleon’s reception.