Jana

Robert Land, a native of Kroměříž, rose up during the 1920s amongst the stalwarts of Weimar directors. He has worked with Lilian Harvey, Liane Haid, Marlene Dietrich, Lil Dagover, Magda Schneider, and other notable stars. He had no problem with the transition to sound film, it was "only" after 1933 that the race laws caught up with him and put a decisive end to his rising career. His last cinematic refuge was a trio of multilingual versions of Jana, The College Girl, and The Doll. After that, there was no place for him even in pre-protectorate Czechoslovakia. Unfortunately, his individual Czechoslovak projects were also accompanied by a campaign of incitement and thus became evidence of the difficult political conditions in the years before World War II. Both versions of Jana were marked with a special paradox. The Czech version, with Helena Busová, was perceived as too Sudeten German, and the German version, with Lena Marenbach, was perceived as too Czech. In Czechoslovakia, it bothered people that Land was a German (Nazi) and in the Reich that Land was a Czech (Jew). Helena Busová had her only lead role in this film, while Boháč made his debut here and Štěpánek began his era of romantic heroes. Wilhelm Tauchen was the only acting link between the two versions. From a historical point of view, it is very interesting to watch this Šumava melodrama with its combination of the folklore of a village, a fair, and the capital city. Formally, only the overuse of fade-out and fade-ins, which are chosen after every slightest plot twist, is rather annoying. Overall, this picture of Šumava as a valid part of Czech sound film of the 1930 to 1945 era is worth appreciating. (2011.02.16)