Der Postmeister

Der Postmeister (English: The Postmaster or The Stationmaster) is a 1940 Austrian-German drama film directed by Gustav Ucicky.^[1] Very loosely based on The Station Master, an 1831 short story from The Belkin Tales series by Alexander Pushkin, it was remade in 1955 as Dunja. An earlier adaptation was the French film Nostalgie (1938) with Harry Baur, directed by Victor Tourjansky.

Der Postmeister
Directed by	Gustav Ucicky
Written by	Gerhard Menzel
Based on	The Station Master by Alexander Pushkin
Produced by	Karl Hartl Erich von Neusser
Starring	Heinrich George Hilde Krahl Siegfried Breuer
Cinematography	Hans Schneeberger
Edited by	Rudolf Schaad
Music by	Willy Schmidt-Gentner
Production company	Wien Film
Distributed by	UFA
Release date	24 April 1940 (1940-04-24)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	Nazi Germany
Language	German

The film's sets were designed by art directors Kurt Herlth and Werner Schlichting. It was produced in Austria during its occupation by Nazi Germany, by the Wien Film company, and distributed by UFA.

At the Venice Film Festival, Der Postmeister won the Mussolini Cup for best foreign film. Released during the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, it depicts Russians in a sympathetic light, unlike their portrayals in such films as Frisians in Peril before or GPU after.^[2]

Plot

The daughter of a stationmaster falls in love with a cavalry captain. He persuades her to run away with him to St. Petersburg, but she realizes there that he never intended to marry her.

Cast

• Heinrich George as Der Postmeister
• Hilde Krahl as Dunja
• Siegfried Breuer as Rittmeister Minskij
• Hans Holt as Fähnrich Mitja
• Ruth Hellberg as Elisawetha
• Margit Symo as Mascha
• Erik Frey as Sergej
• Alfred Neugebauer as Gutsbesitzer
• Franz Pfaudler as Knecht Pjotr
• Leo Peukert as Oberst
• Reinhold Häussermann as Schneider
• Auguste Pünkösdy as Wirobowa

See also

• The Stationmaster (1925)