Dreyfus (Fången på Djävulsön)

Dreyfus. Prisoner on Devil’s Island

In 1930, Austrian-born director and producer Richard Oswald (1880-1963) released his film drama based on the Dreyfus case in an increasingly anti-Semitic Germany and Europe. Oswald was a prolific director, with over 100 films in his portfolio by the end of his career. As a Jew, he was forced to flee Nazi Germany, first to Occupied France and then to the United States. The film was successful and was praised as an example of internationally famous Weimar cinema, although it was later banned in Nazi Germany. This early sound film depicts the Dreyfus Affair a few decades after it unfolded, when it was still highly relevant for European audiences. The infamous Dreyfus Affair, which played out in France between 1894 and 1906, was considered ‘the trial of the century’ at the time. It divided French and European society for more than a decade, not only on the question of the trial itself (was captain Alfred Dreyfus a traitor or not?) but on questions of scapegoating, antisemitism, forging evidence and manipulating public opinion. A new book on the Dreyfus Affair had just been published by Bruno Weil in 1930, shedding new light on the case. The book was translated into many European languages. The film has a documentary-style aesthetic and is based on Weil’s book. In each country special posters were made for the national distribution of the film. This poster was designed by Swedish graphic artist and sculptor Olle Hagdahl (1910-1990), then in his early 20s. The differences between this poster and the rest of his body of work are quite striking.