Lützows wilde verwegene Jagd (1927)

Set in 1813, the film is inspired by Theodor Körner’s patriotic poem of almost the same name, Lützow’s Wild Hunt, also written in 1813 and consisting of six stanzas. It tells of the freedom fighters’ struggle against the Napoleonic occupiers under the military and intellectual leadership of Major Lützow and Körner. On the one hand, it recounts Körner’s brief but intense love for the Viennese actress Toni Adamberger, who is trying to make a name for herself at the Burgtheater, and, in an episode, his encounter on the battlefield with the “heroic maiden” Eleanore Prochaska, a simple girl from the people modeled on Joan of Arc. On the other hand, however, the story focuses mainly on the German people’s struggle for freedom against Napoleon Bonaparte in that year, 1813. At the center of the military action is Körner’s service in Lützow’s Free Corps during that decisive year, which was also the year of his death. The film emphasizes his heroic commitment to the larger cause of liberating Germany from foreign rule. Supporting figures include leading intellectual and cultural figures of the time, such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Ludwig van Beethoven, as well as Napoleon’s political opponents: the rulers Emperor Francis I of Austria, Prince Metternich, and King Frederick William III. Considerable attention is given to the psychological portrayal of the story’s two main characters.