Cinematic Conversion in Frank Wisbar’s Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever?
During the 1950s, West German cinemas screened approximately 600 war films, nearly ten percent of the domestic production. Faulting these features for their avoidance of significant issues such as the causes of World War II, the Holocaust, or the Wehrmacht’s misdeeds and atrocities, previous comment...
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University of Zadar
2018-06-01
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| description | During the 1950s, West German cinemas screened approximately 600 war films, nearly ten percent of the domestic production. Faulting these features for their avoidance of significant issues such as the causes of World War II, the Holocaust, or the Wehrmacht’s misdeeds and atrocities, previous commentators have in the main focused on the failure of these films to engage the past in a thoroughgoing manner. As a response to this criticism, my essay will show how Frank Wisbar’s Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever? (1959), a feature film about the Battle of Stalingrad, provides a conversion narrative that corresponds to the needs of the Adenauer era. As this film looks back to its past, it simultaneously looks forward and promotes the values of a new and emerging democracy.Keywords: Battle of Stalingrad, war films, Adenauer era, 1950s West German Cinema, World War IIWest German war films of the 1950s attempted to negotiate a problematic past through a variety of narratives. Alfred Weidenmann’s The Star of Africa (1957), for instance, revisited the exploits of flying ace Jochen Marseille in the skies above North Africa, while Harald Reinl’s U47 Lieutenant Prien (1958) turned to the sea in its treatment of the famous submarine commander. Other military films like J.A. Hübler-Kahla’s Mikosch Arrives (1952) or Franz Peter Wirth’s Heroes (1958) avoided the time and setting of World War II altogether, opting for comic representations. But few films dealt more directly and explicitly with Germany’s failure than Frank Wisbar’s Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever? (1959). Wisbar’s war movie focused on what many considered to be the turning point of the war, the Battle of Stalingrad. Following the experiences of the fictional Lieutenant Wisse in the middle of a real historical event, Wisbar’s film explores the questions of German responsibility for the tragic defeat. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ee6601478c3647d0a5d9fe200bccae99 |
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| language | English |
| publishDate | 2018-06-01 |
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| spelling | doaj-art-ee6601478c3647d0a5d9fe200bccae992025-08-20T03:23:24ZengUniversity of Zadar[sic]1847-77552018-06-018210.15291/sic/2.8.lc.5498Cinematic Conversion in Frank Wisbar’s Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever?Mark GagnonDuring the 1950s, West German cinemas screened approximately 600 war films, nearly ten percent of the domestic production. Faulting these features for their avoidance of significant issues such as the causes of World War II, the Holocaust, or the Wehrmacht’s misdeeds and atrocities, previous commentators have in the main focused on the failure of these films to engage the past in a thoroughgoing manner. As a response to this criticism, my essay will show how Frank Wisbar’s Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever? (1959), a feature film about the Battle of Stalingrad, provides a conversion narrative that corresponds to the needs of the Adenauer era. As this film looks back to its past, it simultaneously looks forward and promotes the values of a new and emerging democracy.Keywords: Battle of Stalingrad, war films, Adenauer era, 1950s West German Cinema, World War IIWest German war films of the 1950s attempted to negotiate a problematic past through a variety of narratives. Alfred Weidenmann’s The Star of Africa (1957), for instance, revisited the exploits of flying ace Jochen Marseille in the skies above North Africa, while Harald Reinl’s U47 Lieutenant Prien (1958) turned to the sea in its treatment of the famous submarine commander. Other military films like J.A. Hübler-Kahla’s Mikosch Arrives (1952) or Franz Peter Wirth’s Heroes (1958) avoided the time and setting of World War II altogether, opting for comic representations. But few films dealt more directly and explicitly with Germany’s failure than Frank Wisbar’s Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever? (1959). Wisbar’s war movie focused on what many considered to be the turning point of the war, the Battle of Stalingrad. Following the experiences of the fictional Lieutenant Wisse in the middle of a real historical event, Wisbar’s film explores the questions of German responsibility for the tragic defeat.http://www.sic-journal.org/ArticleView.aspx?aid=498 |
| spellingShingle | Mark Gagnon Cinematic Conversion in Frank Wisbar’s Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever? [sic] |
| title | Cinematic Conversion in Frank Wisbar’s Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever? |
| title_full | Cinematic Conversion in Frank Wisbar’s Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever? |
| title_fullStr | Cinematic Conversion in Frank Wisbar’s Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cinematic Conversion in Frank Wisbar’s Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever? |
| title_short | Cinematic Conversion in Frank Wisbar’s Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever? |
| title_sort | cinematic conversion in frank wisbar s dogs do you want to live forever |
| url | http://www.sic-journal.org/ArticleView.aspx?aid=498 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT markgagnon cinematicconversioninfrankwisbarsdogsdoyouwanttoliveforever |