Karl Dane - "My Four Years in Germany"

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My Four Years in Germany (1918)

This film was not only Warner Brothers first major feature film, it was also the first propaganda film made in America. It was based upon the best selling book of the same name by James W. Gerard, American ambassador to Germany from 1913 to 1917. Not only did Karl play the major role of Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg, he also appeared in a scene involving German atrocities as a tall Prussian officer.

Karl is a tall Prussian officer who fails to reprimand a fellow officer for brutalizing a lame shoemaker in one of the film's most controversial scenes.

Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg delivers a speech in the Reichstag.

Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg defies international law by declaring unrestricted submarine warfare.

The Chancellor with Kaiser Wilhelm II (Louis Dean).

Foreign Minister von Jagow (Fred Hern) attempts to get the Chancellor's ear.

Ambassador James W. Gerard (Halbert Brown) pleads with the Chancellor, unsuccessfully, in an attempt to avert war. Gerard (here being protrayed by Brown) was the author of the book on which the film is based.

The Kaiser (seated) callously plays with his puppies as atrocities are committed by his soldiers in Belgium. The Chancellor looks on.

In an offscreen argument between between Ambassador Gerard and the Kaiser, the Ambassador makes a particular good point against Germany's atrocities, one that the Chancellor admires.

These frames were grabbed from a version of the film that appeared on VHS and which was purchased from Movies Unlimited.