The Sovereign (1937)

Plot Summary

Der 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).

Full Cast & Characters

Emil Jannings

Matthias Clausen

Marianne Hoppe

Inken Peters

Hilde Körber

Bettina Clausen

Käthe Haack

Ottilie Klamroth

Herbert Hübner

Direktor Erich Klamroth

Maria Koppenhöfer

Klothilde Clausen

Paul Bildt

Diener Winter

Heinrich Schroth

Direktor Hofer

Max Gülstorff

Sanitätsrat Geiger

Harald Paulsen

Rechtsanwalt Hanefeld

Paul Wagner

Professor Wolfgang Clausen

Hannes Stelzer

Egert

Director & Crew

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