9/3/2023 0 Comments Lesbian tumblrAndre Sennwald of The New York Times called it a “masterpiece”. While it was never widely released in the United States, it did ultimately screen in over 1,000 theaters. Upon release, critics and audiences alike raved about the movie. She novelized the film, her way of taking ownership of the story once again, and published MADCHEN IN UNIFORM as a book in 1933. While Winsloe approved of the final film, she still felt a natural possessiveness towards her story. Artistic director Froelich suggested that the ending be changed from tragedy to something that would be more open-ended. It was inevitable that changes had to be made to Winsloe’s original story. Nonetheless, I liked this unusual play about girls in a Prussian boarding school and made the author’s acquaintance.” MADCHEN IN UNIFORM would be Sagan’s directorial debut and she would later produce the play for the Duchess Theatre in London. In her memoir, Sagan recalls MADCHEN IN UNIFORM “was an original play and true to life, but it was technically rough and amateurish in its dramaturgical structure. Winsloe’s play caught the eye of theater producer and actress Leontine Sagan. She was once married to a Baron then later became romantically involved with two other women writers, newspaper reporter Dorothy Thompson and Swiss author Simone Gentet. Upon the success of her play, Winsloe moved to Berlin and lived openly as a lesbian. Writing the play was her way of processing the trauma of her youth. Playwright Christa Winsloe based the story on her own experience at a Prussian boarding school. There is a kiss between Wieck and Thiele, an exchange of garments, a brief experimentation with gender identity and a passionate declaration of love. Even though it’s a toned-down version of the original play, Sagan’s film is still a notably frank expression of lesbian romance. The headmistress creates an environment that stifles Manuela and her fellow students who find themselves in a fairly delicate stage of their development. In the context of the story, these virtues are seen as old-fashioned and severe, something that the contemporary audience of Germany’s Weimar Republic would have agreed with. The school is run by a strict headmistress, played by Emilia Unda, who extols Prussian virtues of discipline, obedience, restraint and self-denial. Set in a Prussian all-girls boarding school, MADCHEN IN UNIFORM, which translates into “Girls in Uniform,” tells the story of new student Manuela (Hertha Thiele) and her attraction towards her instructor, Fraulein von Bernburg (Dorothea Wieck). Not a single man can be spotted throughout the whole movie. And, the cast was completely made up of women. It was directed by a woman, with an artistic director credit going to Carl Froelich. It was based on a play written by a woman. It’s the first feature film with a solely lesbian theme. MADCHEN IN UNIFORM was special in many regards. This was a flourishing time for queer representation and it ended abruptly with the emergence of the Nazi regime. PANDORA’S BOX (’29), starring Louise Brooks, featured a lesbian subplot. Marlene Dietrich gave the world the first cinematic lesbian kiss in MOROCCO (’30). Movies like DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHERS (’19) and MICHAEL (’24) were born out of that era and candidly depicted gay relationships. This German film came during a time between WWI and WWII when there was a thriving gay subculture in parts of Europe. Director Leontine Sagan’s MADCHEN IN UNIFORM (’31) wasn’t the first movie that featured lesbian characters but it was certainly a notable one.
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