Commerce, Culture, Continuity: Hans Steinhoff's ‘Mittelfilm’ Production of Stefan Zweig's Angst (1928).

Abstract Having been responsible for Der alte und der junge König, Robert Koch , and Ohm Krüger , Hans Steinhoff is generally regarded as one of the key directors of films produced during the Third Reich, and his output has been analysed extensively in the context of Joseph Goebbels's propaganda machinery. This approach ignores the fact that, prior to 1933, he was an established director of popular commercial films made with a medium-size budget for audiences in the German provinces. Using Steinhoff's screen version of Angst as point of reference, this paper examines the wider production conditions and commercial considerations behind the transformation of Stefan Zweig's famous short story into a product of mass entertainment for the cinema, and suggests that similar thoughts also governed the making of Hitlerjunge Quex (which – though he never joined the NSDAP – significantly contributed to Steinhoff's reputation as an ‘arch Nazi’ and holder of the ‘Goldenes Parteiabzeichen’). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]