Watching this film through a historical rear-view mirror reveals plenty of of prophecies. Nazis managed to predict their own end and most of the movies about it - including the famous rant from Downfall played by the star of Youtube - Bruno Ganz. The trick to understanding the movie is - reversing key scenes in the right chronological order. It is unbelievable that German propaganda and censorship allowed this reel (which makes Eisenstein's Ivan Groznyy look like an étalon of subtlety) into theaters of a war-waging Germany. The best documentary evidence of the utter stupidity of Nazi state, which failed due to the irrational stupidity of its leadership.

"Der große König" or "The Great King" is a German movie from 1942 and everybody who knows a bit about history will realize that this was made during the years of World War II in Nazi Germany, so it falls under the category of propaganda film. It is the story of King Frederick II (aka "Frederick the Great") of Prussia and obviously the maker's intention here was to show us the genuine superiority when it comes to military battle and war in an effort to motivate the German population to hang in and believe in the "Endsieg". Of course, things turned out very differently in the years after, but this should not be a matter in this review. The film runs for two hours and was written and directed by Veit Harlan, the man who was also in charge of the infamous "Jud Süß". The cast includes some of the actors who worked on many propaganda films (especially Kristina Söderbaum), possibly Germany's leading female actor at this point. But there are also people like Paul Wegener, who is today mostly known for his early silent film and whose participation in films like this leaves a bit of a stain on his career, even if it is easy to believe that it was all about being a working actor than about promoting this film's message.Then again, I personally must say the reason why I disliked this film was just the lack of really interesting characters, great acting and a convincing story and plot. I did not really care for the political message this film was trying to send to the world and the German population. I may be a bit biased as films about emperors or old kings have never been my preferred genre choice, often because they are much more about the costumes and art direction and set decoration instead of focusing on the characters in a fascinating manner. This is also true for this black-and-white movie. It dragged on really a whole lot occasions and I do not recommend the watch. Thumbs down.

When Josef Goebbels wanted to make a propaganda film he didn't do things by halves. All those extras you see in one of those cast of thousands worthy of a DeMille film from Hollywood are soldiers taken from the front and probably grateful for the chance to play 18th century soldiers instead of being 20th century ones. The Great King is about Frederick the Great whose reign was probably the height of the Hohenzollern rule in Prussia. We should be exceedingly glad that Old Fritz as his subjects called him didn't have the resources of the modern German state that was united in 1871. As it was the man was a military genius who as we see in this film managed to snatch triumph out of defeat. For a while there it looked like the upstart state of Prussia was going to be overrun by all of Europe in the Seven Years War. Prussia's nominal ally was Great Britain, but the British had a lot of far flung adventures in places like India and North America where we were fighting The French And Indian War.Otto Gebuhr who looked a whole lot like Frederick the Great made several film appearances as him. Kind of like character actor Frank McGlyn who was always being cast as Abraham Lincoln. The film was directed by Hitler's favorite director Veit Harlan who found a role for his wife Krista Soderburg as the wife of a Prussian soldier who learns too late the value of discipline. That was a message that Hitler wanted to send loud and clear to his audience, have faith in me because I'm the 20th Century version of Old Fritz.Even the Nazis tell in the film that part of the reason for Prussia's triumph was some court intrigue in Russia after Empress Elizabeth died. That whole story is told in both the Elizabeth Bergner and Marlene Dietrich films on Catherine the Great. Suffice it to say in the film and in real life Frederick was shrewd enough to exploit matters.The Great King is a great film, certainly the equal of any Hollywood production even if it is propaganda for the Third Reich.

'Der Große König' ('The Great King') was a Nazi propaganda film which won the 1942 Coppa Mussolini prize as the best foreign film released in Italy that year. One assumes that Mussolini's film critics were not completely objective. And yet this movie has excellent production values and a gripping story which (despite its too-long running time) still make it an appealing film for those of us who aren't Nazis.This film recounts the travails of Prussian king Friedrich the Second during the battle of Kunersdorf, when his army were decimated by the Austrian forces. Just when defeat seemed certain, Russia's czar Peter the Great sent reinforcements.When this movie was made, the early victories of Hitler's army were long past ... and it was now starting to look as if Germany might lose the war after all. 'The Great King' was clearly made to inspire German audiences to continue the struggle against overwhelming odds. Despite its odious Nazi agenda, this film is still eminently watchable. The battle scenes are impressive, and Otto Gebühr gives a fine performance in the lead role as Friedrich. There's also a splendid turn by Paul Wegener as the leader of the Russian forces. Wegener was a stiff and very mannered actor, but he manages to turn those traits to his advantage here.Gustav Fröhlich, best known for playing the idealistic youth in 'Metropolis', gives a splendidly earnest performance here as Sergeant Treskow, who violates orders to give a crucial command to his men ... with disastrous results. The propaganda message here is that good Germans shouldn't take the initiative and think for themselves: instead, they should follow the orders of their wise leaders who know what's best for them.Even though this movie is Nazi agitprop, the Third Reich imagery isn't crammed down our throats here the way it is in 'Triumph of the Will'. You can enjoy this movie without feeling any urge to goose-step. But the story could have been told more effectively in a shorter running time. I'll rate 'Der Grosse Konig' 6 points out of 10.