Every day until March 31, 2024 I will be watching and reviewing a movie that is 90 minutes or less.
Title: Mädchen in Uniform
Release Date: 27 November 1931
Director: Leontine Sagan
Production Company: Deutsche Film-Gemeinschaft
Summary/Review:
Manuela (Hertha Thiele) is a new student at a strict boarding school for girls in Germany run by the severe headmistress Mother Fräulein von Nordeck zur Nidden (Emilia Unda). Nonetheless, she finds camaraderie and support from her free-spirited fellow students and the young teacher they all love, Fräulein von Bernburg (Dorothea Wieck). Manuela’s love for von Bernburg grows into romantic infatuation, and she causes scandal when she admits her feelings to the whole school.
This movie is remarkable for being open about it’s lesbian topic matter as well as presenting homosexuality in a positive light, as the headmistress is rebuked for her prejudice. But it also stands out for being a film with an all-female cast and director as well as it’s anti-authoritarian message. All things that the Nazi regime would try to crush when it came to power two years later. Fortunately, copies of this film and Different From Others survive as landmarks of LGBTQ+ filmmaking.
Rating: ****
Panorama of the Mountains 