Manuela is a spirited and independent teenager sent to a boarding school when her mother dies. The Prussian principal runs the school with an iron hand, believing that discipline and hunger strengthen a girl’s character. Like the rest of the girls, Manuela develops a crush on Elizabeth Von Bernburg, a young teacher who believes it’s important to be the children’s trusted friend. Manuela’s mistake is to announce her love in front of guests and students at a party following a school play. How will the principal discipline Manuela, and how will Fraulein Von Bernberg, Manuela, and the other girls react to the principal’s decisions? –IMDb

Director

Leontine Sagan

Filmmaker Leontine Sagan only made two films during her long career; her first Maedchen in Uniform (1931) is her best known. She is one of only three women to have directed a German film before 1960 — the other two were Thea von Harbou and Leni Riefenstahl. Maedchen, based on the play Gestern und Heute by Christa Winsloe, is also interesting in that it featured an all-female cast as it told the tale of a boarding school student and her teacher; it was filled with homoerotic overtones that while overlooked by critics of the day who viewed the film as a critique of the authoritarian Prussian education system, quickly made it a lesbian cult classic. Sagan was born in Austria, but spent her childhood in South Africa; she returned to Austria in 1910. Prior to becoming a director, Sagan studied at the Max Rheinhart School in Berlin before launching a highly successful career as an actress and theatrical director in Germany and Austria. In 1932, Sagan emigrated to… read more

Carl Froelich

Carl Froelich (5 September 1875 in Berlin – 12 February 1953, also in Berlin) was a German film pioneer and film director. From 1903 Froelich was a colleague of Oskar Messter, one of the advance guard of German cinema, for whom initially he worked on the construction of cinematographic equipment. As cameraman for Messter’s weekly newsreels he filmed among many other things the aftermath of a train accident on the Berlin elevated railway on 28 September 1908, one of the worst transport disasters of the time. In 1913 Froelich made his directorial debut with Richard Wagner. In 1920 he founded his own production company, Froelich-Film GmbH, among the productions of which were Kabale und Liebe (1921) and Mutter und Kind (1924). During these years he often filmed with the actress Henny Porten, who made her screen debut in one of his earliest films, and with whom between 1926 and 1929 he shared ownership of a production company. In 1929 Froelich made the first German sound film, Die Nacht… read more

Carl Froelich (5 September 1875 in Berlin – 12 February 1953, also in Berlin) was a German film pioneer and film director. From 1903 Froelich was a colleague of Oskar Messter, one of the advance guard of German cinema, for whom initially he worked on the construction of cinematographic equipment. As cameraman for Messter’s weekly newsreels he filmed among many other things the aftermath of a train accident on the Berlin elevated railway on 28 September 1908, one of the worst transport disasters of the time. In 1913 Froelich made his directorial debut with Richard Wagner. In 1920 he founded his own production company, Froelich-Film GmbH, among the productions of which were Kabale und Liebe (1921) and Mutter und Kind (1924). During these years he often filmed with the actress Henny Porten, who made her screen debut in one of his earliest films, and with whom between 1926 and 1929 he shared ownership of a production company. In 1929 Froelich made the first German sound film, Die Nacht gehört uns (“The Night Belongs To Us”). In 1930 he took over two glasshouses in Berlin-Tempelhof, which had been used as studios in the days of silent film, and had them converted to sound film studios. Here he produced many films, including Rolf Hansen’s short film Das Schönheitsfleckchen (1936) (“The Beauty Spot”), the first German drama film in colour. In 1931 he was advisor, as “senior artistic director”, to Leontine Sagan’s famous boarding-school film and later lesbian classic, Mädchen in Uniform (“Girls in Uniform”) (1931). By 1933 Froelich was one of Germany’s most noted film artists, producing successful films with the stars of the period, among others Hans Albers, Heinz Rühmann, Ingrid Bergman and Zarah Leander.

Froelich became a member of the National Socialist Party in 1933 and took over the direction of the Gesamtverbandes der Filmherstellung und Filmverwertung (“Union of Film Manufacture and Film Evaluation”). In 1937 he was awarded a professorship and in 1939 was appointed president of the Reichsfilmkammer, an office which he retained until the end of the war in 1945. The Reichsfilmkammer was subordinate to the Reichskulturkammer, which as a National Socialist trade organisation regulated and controlled access to all artistic professions. He was one of the few filmmakers that received the title “Filmprofessor” from Goebbels. After the end of the war Froelich was arrested and in 1948 de-Nazified. His studio had been badly damaged during the war and did not resume production. Only two more films were made under his direction before his death: Drei Mädchen spinnen and Stips. —wikipedia

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