The Sovereign
1937Der Herrscher (The Sovereign) was based on Before Sunset, a play by Gerhart Hauptmann. The great Emil Jannings stars as Mathias Clausen, a self-made businessman who is forced to do a great deal of soul-searching when his wife unexpectedly dies. Determining to start life anew, he falls in love with his secretary Inken (Marianne Hoppe) and impulsively takes a vacation to Italy. Clausen's selfish grown children, not wishing to share their father's affections -- nor his money -- with his new wife-to-be, go to court demanding that Clausen be declared mentally incompetent. Upon finding this out, Clausen flies into a rage, leaving the audience to wonder whether or not he really as gone off his trolley. Der Herrscher was directed by Veit Harlan, more famous (or notorious) for his viciously anti-Semitic Jud Suess (1940).
Acted in
Emil Jannings
as Matthias Clausen
Marianne Hoppe
as Inken Peters
Hilde Körber
as Bettina Clausen
Käthe Haack
as Ottilie Klamroth
Herbert Hübner
as Direktor Erich Klamroth
Maria Koppenhöfer
as Klothilde Clausen
Paul Bildt
as Diener Winter
Heinrich Schroth
as Direktor Hofer
Max Gülstorff
as Sanitätsrat Geiger
Harald Paulsen
as Rechtsanwalt Hanefeld
Paul Wagner
as Professor Wolfgang Clausen
Hannes Stelzer
as Egert
Rudolf Klein-Rogge
as Direktor Bodlfing