Red Storm Over The Village (Frisians in Peril) DVD (Frisennot)

FRIESENNOT dramatizes the plight of peaceful Germans from Friesland, who lived in an isolated village on the Volga River in central Russia for generations. Their slumbering, bucolic existence is shattered by the invasion of a cavalry detachment of the Red Army. A brutal Red Guard defiles, rapes, and kills a young village girl, and when drunken, carousing troops desecrate the village's house of worship, the outraged Germans revolt. The picture's main purpose was its overt, virulent, anti-Soviet propaganda: "You've returned to your homeland. Foreign soil has made you sick." This perfectly encapsulates the film's underlying values: Heimat, Blut und Boden, Volksgemeinschaft. Critical reaction was strong from the moment the picture premiered on November 19th, 1935. When it debuted in New York in 1936, one newspaper called it "one of the best made and most impressive talking pictures ever turned out in Germany or anywhere else."

Directed by Peter Hagen. With Friedrich Kayssler, V. Inkijinoff, Jessie Vihrog. 1941 reissue, retitled DORF IM ROTEN STURM (RED STORM OVER THE VILLAGE).

Germany, 1935, B&W, 96 Minutes, German dialogue, English subtitles. Digitally remastered from 35mm print for superb picture quality.

DVD Special Features:

• Historical Background Video Essay: THIRD REICH CINEMA: ANTI-SOVIET PROPAGANDA
  IN PETER HAGEN'S 'FRIESENNOT' by R Dixon Smith
• Original Promotional Materials Slideshows: FILM KURIER & TAGESZEITUNG w/Eng. Translations; Posters & Press Photos; Gaufilmstelle Presentation Censorship Card.