Master of Life and Death

Master of Life and Death (German: Herr über Leben und Tod) is a 1955 West German drama film directed by Victor Vicas and starring Maria Schell, Ivan Desny and Wilhelm Borchert. It was shot at the Spandau Studios in West Berlin and on location around the city and in Brittany. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Hans Ledersteger and Ernst Richter. It is based on the 1938 novel of the same title by Carl Zuckmayer.

Master of Life and Death
Directed by	Victor Vicas
Written by	Frédéric Grendel Horst Hächler Victor Vicas
Based on	Master of Life and Death by Carl Zuckmayer
Produced by	Wenzel Lüdecke
Starring	Maria Schell Ivan Desny Wilhelm Borchert
Cinematography	Göran Strindberg
Edited by	Ira Oberberg
Music by	Hans-Martin Majewski
Production company	Interwest
Distributed by	Gloria Film
Release date	7 January 1955 (1955-01-07)
Running time	87 minutes
Country	West Germany
Language	German

Synopsis

Barbara is married to the distinguished professor of medicine Georg Bertram who once saved her father's life. When they have a mentally handicapped child together his clinical coldness comes to the fore and he wants to commit euthanasia on the child. She stops him and takes the child away to Brittany in the hope that a change of location and nursing will help them to improve. While there she encounters a much more sympathetic doctor.

Cast

• Maria Schell as Barbara Bertram, geb. Hansen
• Ivan Desny as Dr. Daniel Karentis
• Wilhelm Borchert as Professor Georg Bertram
• Olga Limburg as Anna Bertram
• Walter Bluhm as Werner Hansen
• Fritz Tillmann as Dr. Peter
• Reinhold Bernt as Bahnwärter
• Harry Giese as Professor Reichert
• Héléna Manson as Louise Kerbrec
• Daniel Mendaille as Monsieur Kerbrec

Bibliography

• Bock, Hans-Michael & Bergfelder, Tim. The Concise CineGraph. Encyclopedia of German Cinema. Berghahn Books, 2009.
• Goble, Alan. The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter, 1999.

External links

• Master of Life and Death at IMDb