The Damned

Original title: La caduta degli dei (Götterdämmerung)

1969
R
2h 37m

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

10K

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Play trailer2:44

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99+ Photos

Drama War

The dramatic collapse of a wealthy, industrialist/Junker family during the reign of the Third Reich.The dramatic collapse of a wealthy, industrialist/Junker family during the reign of the Third Reich.The dramatic collapse of a wealthy, industrialist/Junker family during the reign of the Third Reich.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

10K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 5 wins & 12 nominations total

Videos1

Trailer 2:44

Official Trailer

Photos136

+ 128

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Footage shot during the "Night of the Long Knives" sequence but never shown previously in the United States is restored in the 2004 DVD release. It is in subtitled German and expands the running time to two hours and thirty-six minutes.

Goofs
The film is set between 1933-1934, yet most of the insignia and badges, shown worn on the German military and Nazi Party uniforms, were not invented until after 1938.

Quotes
Herbert Thallman: It's all over, Gunther. It was everyone's fault, even mine. It does no good to raise one's voice when it's too late, not even to save your soul. The fear of a proletariat revolution, which would've thrown the entire country to the left... was too great, and now we can't defend it any longer! Nazism, Gunther, is our creation. It was born in our factories, nourished with our money!

Alternate versions
The full 157-minute version contains sex and violence that garnered the film an X-rating in the U.S. Many video versions were trimmed to 150 minutes and rated R. The R2 DVD published by Istituto Luce in DVD has the shorter, cut version.

Connections
Featured in Homo Promo (1991)

Soundtracks
Kinder, heut' abend, da such ich mir was aus
(uncredited)
Performed by Helmut Berger
Music by Friedrich Hollaender
Lyrics by Robert Liebmann

User reviews74

Review

Featured review

9/10

The night of the long knives is portrayed in one of the most decadent scenes in film history

"The damned" is the first film of Visconti's German trilogy. The others are "Death in Venice" (1971) and "Ludwig" (1973).

The theme of "The damned" has much in common with "Il Gattopardo" (1963, Luchino Visconti). In both films the old elite enters into a coalition with a new elite to preserve his position.

There are some differences also. The new elite in "Il Gattopardo" is the old elite in "The damned" (industrialists and traders). In "Il Gattopardo" the conflict between values and pragmatism rages in one person (Prince Don Fabrizio Salina). In "The damned" this conflict divides the members of the family Von Essenbeck.

Last but not least the new elite with which the family Von Essenbeck is dealing (Nazi's) is much more dangerous and destructive then the new elite in "Il Gattopardo". In one of the most decadent scenes in film history the division inside the Von Essenbeck family concides with the purge in which the SS (Schutzstaffel) eliminates the SA (Sturmabteiling) within Nazi Germany (Night of the long knives).