The Sinner (1951 film)

The Sinner
The Sinner
Directed by	Willi Forst
Written by	Willi Forst; Georg Marischka; Gerhard Menzel;
Produced by	Rolf Meyer
Starring	Hildegard Knef; Gustav Fröhlich; Änne Bruck;
Cinematography	Václav Vích
Edited by	Max Brenner
Music by	Theo Mackeben
Production; company	Junge Film-Union Rolf Meyer;
Distributed by	Herzog-Filmverleih
Release date	18 January 1951;
Running time	100 minutes
Country	West Germany
Language	German

The Sinner (German: Die Sünderin) is a 1951 West German romantic drama film directed by Willi Forst and starring Hildegard Knef, Gustav Fröhlich and Änne Bruck.^[1] It was shot at the Bendestorf Studios and on location in Naples, Rome and Positano. The film's sets were designed by the art director Franz Schroedter.

Plot[edit]

It is a love story between the prostitute Marina and the unsuccessful artist Alexander, who suffers from a cancer which makes him blind and ill. They are happy for a short period in Italy. Despite Marina's loving care, Alexanders health gets worse and they together commit suicide in the end.^[2]

Scandal[edit]

It was one of the first German films to break several taboos: nudity, suicide and euthanasia. In the Germany of the 1950s, this caused a lot of negative reactions both by politicians and the Roman Catholic Church.^[2]^[3] The opposition reached the degree of banning the film and scandalizing it, which paradoxically made it one of the landmarks in the German film history. Despite or because of the scandal, Die Sünderin proved to be the breakthrough role of Hildegard Knef.

Cast[edit]

Hildegard Knef as Marina
Gustav Fröhlich as Alexander
Änne Bruck as Marina's mother
Wera Frydtberg as a colleague
Robert Meyn as Marina's stepfather
Jochen-Wolfgang Meyn as Marina's stepbrother
Andreas Wolf as a doctor

Notes and references[edit]

^ Holloway, Ron (2002-02-02). "Hildegard Knef". The Guardian. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
^ ^a ^b "The Scandal surrounding The Sinner [Die Sünderin] (1951)". German History in Documents and Images (GHDI). Retrieved 4 March 2016.
^ Robert von Dassanowsky (10 October 2005). Austrian Cinema: A History. McFarland. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-7864-3733-7.

External links[edit]

The Sinner at IMDb

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[obituary-1] Holloway, Ron (2002-02-02). "Hildegard Knef". The Guardian. Retrieved 2016-03-06.

[ghdi-2] "The Scandal surrounding The Sinner [Die Sünderin] (1951)". German History in Documents and Images (GHDI). Retrieved 4 March 2016.

[Dassanowsky2005-3] Robert von Dassanowsky (10 October 2005). Austrian Cinema: A History. McFarland. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-7864-3733-7.

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