Database page: Kaiser von Kalifornien, Der - The Spaghetti Western Database
Never seen this one, but find it intriguing, also the context in which it was made.
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One of Trenker’s better films. Worth watching.
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Part of the Kino Lorber sale. Too bad they only ship to USA and Canada.
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Very interesting
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After watching this movie a couple of days ago, I let it sink in a bit. Having seen it, I am surprised it doesn’t get much talk here. Definitely a Euro western to watch. And even an Italian score. And some spaghetti locations, if what I read is correct. Much was done in the USA, very ambitious.
I give it 7/10
Partly fictionalized narrative about the righteous immigrant Sutter, who, by working very hard of course, builds a very successful life in California. But then gold is found on his land. This ushers in the Gold Rush. And also a lot of greed and betrayal. Sutter must suffer, bitter, personal losses as a result. He then basically sues the USA…
When you take a look at the country of production and the year of release of this film, you expect a bit of propaganda. This is definitely present.
The film is anti-American, and the blacks and the Chinese are not exactly portrayed in a positive light either. Furthermore, the main character, played not without merit by the director himself, orates as the FĂĽhrer. The similarities in terms of ferocity, eloquence, diction and tone are unmistakable.
Also, the, in Nazi circles very popular, nationalist historian Ernst Moritz Arndt appears to Sutter in a vision, both in the beginning, and at the end. But the propagandistic nature of the film is not laid on very thickly, so I did not experience it as disturbing.
About the film, as a whole, I am well pleased. The first part shows Sutter’s journey, to the promised land of California. This is not badly done, but in my opinion is the lesser of the two halves.
The second half manages to entertain the best. It contains the necessary action and literally ignites at the end, when everything is set ablaze.
In conclusion, Der Kaiser von Kalifornien is a very solid western, better than many a German cowboy film of three decades later. Definitely worth a view.
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A few years ago I wrote that:
“Der Kaiser von Kalifornien is, despite the flood of German westerns in the 60s, still the best German western. Rhythm and realism of the journey to California, of the mass scenes with workers building the Nova Helvetia and the scenes on the gold fields are far ahead of everything that similar German and even most of the American productions had to offer then.” (Joe Hembus, in his Western Lexikon) Trenker went with a mini crew and a small budget to the USA where he shot most of the scenes on location in Nevada, California and Texas. The missing mass scenes were later shot in Italy near Livorno. James Cruze’s debacle, Sutter’s Gold (originally planned as a project for Sergev M. Eisenstein), based on the same events, was made around the same time.
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