Das Erbe der Bilder

Das Erbe der Bilder is a portrait of the controversial painter and filmmaker Svend Noldan. At the end of WW I he and his bosom friend and dramatist Erwin Piscator moved to Berlin. In 1920 he started making assignment films for the Ufa studio's. In the thirties, when many people left Germany, Noldan's work attracted the Nazis' attention. Soon thereafter he was making films commissioned by the National Socialists. For example, he did the special effects for the large?scale propaganda films olympia and triumph des Willens. The dubious highlight of his career was his collaboration with anti?Semitic films like der ewige Jude. After the war he kept making industrial films until 1968. From then on he devoted his life exclusively to painting, until his death in 1978. Das Erbe der Bilder was made by Nolden's grandson, who only found out about his grandfather's war record when he was doing research for this film.