The Old and the Young King

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The Old and the Young King
Film poster
German	Der alte und der junge König
Directed by	Hans Steinhoff
Written by	Thea von Harbou Rolf Lauckner
Produced by	Alfred Greven
Starring	Emil Jannings Werner Hinz Leopoldine Konstantin
Cinematography	Karl Puth
Edited by	Willy Zeyn
Music by	Wolfgang Zeller
Production company	Deka Film
Distributed by	Neue Deutsch Lichtspiel-Syndikat Verleih Sascha Film (Austria)
Release date	29 January 1935 (1935-01-29)
Running time	100 minutes
Country	Nazi Germany
Language	German

The Old and the Young King (German: Der alte und der junge König) is a 1935 German historical drama film directed by Hans Steinhoff and starring Emil Jannings, Werner Hinz and Leopoldine Konstantin.^[1]

The film's sets were designed by the art directors Fritz Maurischat and Karl Weber. It was produced by a subsidiary of Tobis Film. Location shooting took place around Potsdam, including at the Garrison Church. Interiors were shot at the Grunewald and Johannisthal Studios. It premiered at the Ufa-Palast am Zoo.

Part of the tradition of Prussian films of the Weimar and Nazi eras, the film ostensibly deals with the intense conflict between Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I and his son and heir, Crown Prince Friedrich – the future King Friedrich II "The Great". This well-known incident of 18th century German history drew much contemporary attention and subsequently inspired a number of works of art and entertainment, including various stage and screen productions.

However, in its specific presentation of this historical theme, the film was a work of Nazi propaganda aimed at extolling the Führerprinzip, i.e. blind obedience to the Leader^{[citation needed]} (the King in the film's plot, Hitler in the reality for which the film was a parable); complaints of "encirclement" and the need for Lebensraum also feature.^[2]

For that reason, the film was banned by the Allied military government following the Nazi defeat in 1945. However, after the foundation of the Federal Republic of Germany the FSK ("Voluntary Self Regulation of the Movie Industry") reviewed it on 4 August 1958 and ruled that, unlike other films made under the Nazis, the propaganda element in it was not so blatant as to justify its inclusion in the list of "Forbidden Films" (de:Vorbehaltsfilm).