Albrecht von Wallenstein has never ceased to fascinate. He plays a major part in the history of the Thirty Years War that Friedrich Schiller published as professor of history at Jena university, and was of course the central character of Schiller's three-part Wallenstein-drama. Leopold von Ranke wrote a biography, as did Helmut Diwald and most famously Golo Mann, whose book the LA Times described as 'a work not only of erudition but of art'. This four-part miniseries, produced by the German TV channel ZDF in 1978, is based on the biography by Mann who expressed himself extremely pleased with what director Franz Peter Wirth and script writer Leopold Ahlsen had achieved. Rightly so. 'Wallenstein' is undoubtedly one of the best historical dramas ever produced. The acting is excellent throughout. Ever since I first saw the mini-series as a teenager Rolf Boysen has embodied Wallenstein for me: He does not only look the part (to judge by the extant portraits) but perfectly conveys the tortured, choleric and sensitive character of the Moravian nobleman whose support for the emperor gains him the high command of the imperialist army (that he recruits and pays himself) and eventually several duchies and a position among the princes of the Holy Roman Empire. Romuald Pekny is equally good as Emperor Ferdinand II, a Catholic fanatic who risks the Empire for religious purity and who is more willing to listen to his confessor Pater Lamormaini (Hans Caninenberg) than to political advisers. Werner Kreindl plays Duke (later Elector) Maximilian of Bavaria perhaps a bit too much as the naïve and grasping bigot. In fact, he was one of the most successful princes of the Empire. There are too many characters to list them all, but Bjørn Watt-Boolsen (who plays Christian IV of Denmark) and Jens Okking (Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden) must be mentioned. The dialogue is brilliant: The language is modelled on early seventeenth-century German, but without being hard to understand or, what is equally important, sounding unnatural or stilted. In fact, the actors talk the talk as if they had done so all their lives. The costumes are spot on, and the sets are stunning. In many cases, the film uses original locations (Prague Castle, the Hofburg palace in Vienna, Elsinore palace in Denmark, the Residence in Munich etc.). Occasionally narrator Günther Sauer summarises developments that could not be shown on film, but this does not interrupt the flow of the action.
There is only one downside to the mini-series, and that is unavoidable: The story ends with Wallenstein's death in 1634, when the war was barely half over. The latter half has always received far less attention than the period from 1618 to -34 that was dominated by big characters and dramatic developments. Yet, it was this latter half (1634 to -48) when the Empire suffered most: the initial imperialist revival that led to the abortive Peace of Prague in 1635, the French intervention that shored up Sweden's position, and the subsequent years of pointless fighting that ended only when all concerned parties had exhausted their last resources. This period may have been less dramatic but it was certainly no less important than the first half of the Thirty Years War, and it would deserve more attention - ideally in the form of a film whose quality matches that of the Wallenstein mini-series of 1978.
