Jud Süss (1940) is the most notorious of the many Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda films produced in the 1930s and 1940s. It is unrelenting in its scurrilous depiction of Jews in general and Süss Oppenheimer in particular. In this historical costume drama, he’s portrayed as a conniving businessman who worms his way into the court by lending the Duke of Wurttenberg vast sums of money used to purchase trinkets for the Duke's mistresses. Becoming more powerful as time goes by, Oppenheimer convinces the Duke to disband his Parliament and declare himself absolute ruler. Of course, Oppenheimer is the power behind the throne, attempting to create a dictatorship. Oddly, this seems somewhat reminiscent of the the rise of Nazi Germany.
The film shares some of the same attributes of D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation: fine acting, interesting cinematography, excellent production values, and unabashed racial stereotyping and bias.
Some interesting asides – this film is base on a 1925 novel by Lion Feuchtwanger, which actually presents a sympathetic portrayal of Oppenheimer. An earlier British film adaptation in 1934 starred Conrad Veidt (the Nazi coronel in Casablanca), and is a condemnation of anti-Semitism. Restored and produced on DVD in 2008, it is banned in Germany, Austria, Italy, and France.
It’s impossible not to be disgusted and appalled by this film, or to ponder what kind of career the very talented director Viet Harlan would have had under different circumstances.
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