The Kaiser's Lackey
23 votes
Diederich Heßling is scared of everything and everyone. But as he grows up, he comes to realize that he has to offer his services to the powers-that-be if he wants to wield power himself. His life motto now runs: bow to those at the top and tread on those below. In this way, he always succeeds: as a student in a duel-fighting student fraternity and as a businessman in a paper factory. He cajoles the obese district administrative president Von Wulkow and wins his favor. He slanders his financial rivals and hatches a plot with the social democrats in the town council. On his honeymoon with his rich wife Guste, he finally finds a chance to do his beloved Kaiser a favor. And when a memorial to the Kaiser is unveiled in the town where Diederich lives and works, he delivers the address. He stands behind the lectern in the pouring rain, saluting his Kaiser. The crowd is dispersed. Everything is laid in ruins...
Status: Released
Released Date: 1951-08-31
Runtime: 109 mins
Director: Wolfgang Staudte
Spoken language: Deutsch
Genres: Drama, History, Comedy
Original title: The Kaiser's Lackey
Production Companies: DEFA
Production Countries: East Germany
Cast
Werner Peters
Paul Esser
Blandine Ebinger
Renate Fischer
Carola Braunbock
Emmy Burg
Sabine Thalbach
Friedel Nowack
Friedrich Maurer
Erich Nadler
Gertrud Bergmann
Ernst Legal
Raimund Schelcher
Eduard von Winterstein
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