La Habanera, next film in the Sandra and Mendel Rosenberg Sunday Afternoon Film Series, will be screened at 1 p.m., February 26, 2012, in the Holocaust Museum’s theatre in the Jewish Federation Kopolow Building, #12 Millstone Campus Drive.
Director Douglas Sirk fled Germany in the 1930s and became famous as a director of lush 1950s Hollywood melodramas. His style is evident in this tale of a Swedish beauty who finds love with a Puerto Rican land baron, only to later pine for her homeland. In the 1930s, the lesson of allegiance to one’s homeland was evident to the German audience. As a result, this became a popular, and effective, Nazi propaganda film. The 1937 film is in German with English subtitles and has a running time of 93 minutes.
Introductory remarks and a post screening discussion will be facilitated by Warren Rosenblum, Associate Professor in the Department of History, Politics and International Relations, Webster University. His most recent book, Beyond the Prison Gates: Punishment and Welfare in Germany, 1850-1933, was published in 2009.
This program is free; reservations are not required. For additional information, call 314- 442-3714 or email dreich@jfedstl.org.
The St. Louis Holocaust Museum and Learning Center is a department of Jewish Federation of St. Louis.