Mädchen in Uniform (1958 film)

Mädchen in Uniform
Film poster
Directed by	Géza von Radványi
Written by	Friedrich Dammann Franz Höllering Christa Winsloe (play)
Produced by	Artur Brauner Joseph Spigler
Starring	Lilli Palmer Romy Schneider Marthe Mercadier
Cinematography	Werner Krien
Edited by	Ira Oberberg
Music by	Peter Sandloff
Production companies	CCC Film Productions Emile Natan Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie
Distributed by	Gloria Film
Release date	28 August 1958 (1958-08-28)
Running time	95 minutes
Countries	France West Germany
Language	German

Mädchen in Uniform (Girls in Uniform) is a 1958 French-West German drama film directed by Géza von Radványi and based on the play (credited here as "Ritter Nérestan") by Christa Winsloe. It was entered into the 8th Berlin International Film Festival. It is a remake of the 1931 film. It was shot at the Spandau Studios in Berlin. The film's sets were designed by the art director Emil Hasler and Walter Kutz.

Plot

Manuela von Meinhardis, in the care of an unfeeling aunt after her mother dies, in 1910 is sent to a boarding school at Potsdam that is run under rigid Prussian discipline by the authoritarian headmistress. The only teacher to show her sympathy is Miss von Bernburg, who disagrees with the militaristic regime at the school and encourages the girls' self-expression through the arts. All Manuela's affection is poured out on the attractive Miss von Bernburg, who says that she belongs to all the girls and cannot have favourites.

For the annual play, performed before parents and the princess who is patron of the school, Romeo and Juliet is chosen and the previously shy Manuela emerges as a forceful Romeo. Unfortunately, the cook puts rum in the punch served to the girls at the party after the play, where a drunken Manuela proclaims publicly her love for Miss von Bernburg. Telling Miss von Bernburg she must resign, the headmistress confines Manuela to the sanatorium. When Manuela learns that Miss von Bernburg is leaving, in front of the whole school she threatens to throw herself down the staircase. After Miss von Bernburg begs her not to jump, she is seized by other girls and in a state of collapse put back in the sanatorium. There the headmistress visits her and, in an unprecedented show of humanity, holds her hand while at the same time asking Miss von Bernburg to stay.

Cast

• Lilli Palmer as Fräulein Elisabeth von Bernburg
• Romy Schneider as Manuela von Meinhardis
• Therese Giehse as Headmistress
• Margaret Jahnen as Miss Evans
• Blandine Ebinger as Fräulein von Racket
• Adelheid Seeck as Princess
• Gina Albert as Marga
• Sabine Sinjen as Ilse von Westhagen
• Christine Kaufmann as Mia
• Danik Patisson as Alexandra von Treskow
• Ginette Pigeon as Edelgard von Kleist
• Marthe Mercadier as Madame Aubert
• Edith Helou as Baroness von Ehrenhardt

Notes

• Petruta Tatulescu. Gender and Identity at Boarding Schools: Outcast Teachers in "Maedchen in Uniform" (1958) vs "Loving Annabelle" (2006). In: Cinej Cinema Journal 1/2011. P. 141–147. http://cinej.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/cinej/article/view/16/106

External links

• Mädchen in Uniform at IMDb