Knock-Out: ein Junges Mädchen, ein Junger Mann DVD (Max Schmeling)1935

World-heavyweight-champion-boxer Max Schmeling shines in Knock-Out, a delightful musical-comedy drama that also stars Schmeling's wife, Czech actress Anny Ondra. Schmeling portrays chief electrician Max Breuer in a Berlin revue theatre. When a fellow employee objects to Breuer's interest in Marianne (Ondra), Breuer knocks him senseless in a wildly hilarious melee amidst a chorus-line boxing routine. Breuer meets a fight manager played by Otto Wernicke and is signed as a prize fighter. The training sequences are impressively and realistically staged. Breuer is lured away by a rival manager, who bills him under a pseudonym-none other than Max Schmeling!-and sends him to challenge the Irish champion. Will Schmeling prevail and win the fight? The vehicle is tailored to Schmeling's fame, as evidenced by the chorus girls performing a musical boxing parody that is as well-choreographed as it is amusing. Anny Ondra's comedic skills are charming, but it is her husband's picture, even though she received top billing. Schmeling was craftily exploited by Dr. Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry as a cinematic emblem of Aryan supremacy.

Directed by Karl Lamac and Hans H. Zerlett. Starring: Anny Ondra, Max Schmeling, Otto Wernicke.

Germany, 1935, B&W, 82 mins. German dialogue, switchable (optional) English subtitles (including song lyrics).

Transferred from original 35 mm print and digitally restored for superb quality.

DVD Special Features:

• Historical Background Slide Show:
  • Third Reich Cinema: Max Schmeling Delivers the Big Punch in Knock-Out
• Original Promotional Materials Slide Shows:
  • Illustrierter Film-Kurier w/English Translation
  • Illustrierter Film-Kurier (Austrian Version)
• Biographies:
  • Max Schmeling
  • Beppo Brem
  • O.E. Hasse
  • Anny Ondra
  • Karl Lamac
  • Otto Wernicke
  • Annie Markart
  • Hans Richter

Libraries and Institutions Please Note: Educational Editions with PUBLIC PERFORMANCE RIGHTS and DIGITAL SITE LICENSES are available

NTSC Region 0 encoding (Entire World)