From the SA MANN BRAND Werberatschlag (cinema owner's guide to promoting the film):

In the midst of the busy bustle of the final preparations for the forthcoming premiere of SA MANN BRAND, we were successful in having Franz Seitz, Director of this Bavaria film, free for a short interview.

The film was screened at the Ministry of Propaganda in Berlin and was approved by the Censor without any cuts. And Franz Seitz from the start of our discussion showed a knowing, understandable satisfaction over this fact;  felt that this, in a way, was confirmation that his creation was on the right path.

The actual coronation of his work, up to now, he believes to be SA MANN BRAND – incidentally the 98^th film in the long years of film work that he has shot. 

“For a long time I took the liveliest part in Germany's contemplation of the Nation. And when the national movement finally struck out for decisive blows and achieved its glorious victory with youthful impetuosity, this immediately sparked the thought in me to now artificially design in a large film work what our brown soldiers had in the long years of tough fighting suffered and gone through. And it didn't leave me alone until I finally had the guarantee that I could put this idea into practice.”

“The later work then made ample compensation for the many difficulties that had to be overcome before it even happened. I will never be able to forget how miraculous it was when, in the huge night shots, the game became, so to speak, and an immediate reality took shape and life. I will never forget how the many hundreds of brown shirts that we had called to the film studio were involved, that they only existed on a film set, but did not actually have to carry out a nightly victory march through the former communist district."

"In fact, if the great experience of this work could only be felt to a small extent by the audience from the screen, then I can say that I would see it as the most beautiful success of my work...! “

-jth-

BELOW, a behind–the-scenes shot taken on 12 May 1933 at the Munich film studios of Emelka-Geiselgestieg, when the then Bavarian State Minister and German Reichstag member Hermann Esser visited the film set of SA Mann Brand to witness the historic filming of the first SA feature–length motion picture in Germany. This rare German press photograph is in our Collection, and was acquired in August 2019:

A Nazi Scandal over this poster!

The Völkischer Beobachter reported on 13 June 1933 a scandal at the film's premiere, at the Gloria-Palast in Munich : "Friday evening on the occasion of the first screening of the film SA MANN BRAND an incident occurred. The SA-Gruppenführer Beckerle informed the public that a Polish artist had designed the advertising posters for the film. In view of the fact that the cinema owner refused to destroy the posters, he (Beckerle) demanded that the SA- and SS- members vacate the premises. Those present followed this request immediately. Then the event was canceled."

quoted in Gerhard Stahr, Volksgemeinschaft vor der Leinwand? Der nationaloszialistische Film und sein Publikum. p. 126-127.

In fact, the graphic artist of this poster, was Willy Engelhardt, who was born in Bodenheim, the Rhineland, not in Poland. The graphic artist of the other poster for this film, Otto Ottler, was born in Munich, not Poland. Ergo, the rumour was false. How many posters were destroyed by SA or SS men because of this scandal cannot be determined.

The cinema owner's promotion booklet ("Werberatschlag") sent by the film studio included this image of a movie theater's façade being decked out with huge film imagery ("Aussenfront") and exhorted cinema owners to do the same:

A suggested newspaper dot matrix sketch from the Werberatschlag, showing a key scene from the film:

Below, the actual scene from the film which is depicted in the newspaper matrix sketch above in a rare film lobby card still in our Collection:

Below, a "Rosskarte" of the actor Heinz Klingenberg, who played the title role of Brand in the film. This one, from our Collection, autographed -- a very rare card!  Also, a cinema ticket for the film screening in the Yorkville Theatre in upper Manhattan, USA, in the 1934 American premiere season off  the film. We have a second one of these super–rare  original cinema tickets for sale in our Poster Store.

Also shown:  We have subsequently acquired the German Film Censorship Office censorship card, issued in Munich, on 9 June 1933; along with the special "Prädikat" card, issued 3 days later; which awarded the film the distinction of being both "national building' and "artistically valuable." The film thus was allowed to be distributed at a tax–reduced fee to cinemas; which encouraged them to bring the film to their screen.

All items shown on this page from our Collection.

The review of the film in the Film-Kurier Tageszeitung, Berlin, on 15 June 1933, after the premiere at the Ufa-Palast-am-Zoo cinema, can be found here, translated into English.

Finally, below is shown both sides of the the Haus Bergmann Farb–Filmbilder card for the actor Emil Lohkamp, who played the title role in the film. This card was one from a set sold over time by a cigarette manufacturer. One card was packaged in each pack of cigarettes and customers collected them all and glued them in a movie star album called "Films in the New Germany" to complete the set.