This film is a fascinating showcase for Emil Janning's theatrical play. He's a gentle school teacher who believes in his boys and is easily fooled about all things, while the other town officials want him dismissed. Curiously it's very hard to see what the film is exactly aiming for. Disaster strikes and the lax prof proves to be too far removed of the real problems of the world, on the other hand his enemies are shown in the most unsympathetic, satirical way denouncing the militaristic, bourgeois ideology of the Kaiserreich.
Prof. Niemeyer, gen. Traumulus
Jadwiga, seine Frau
Rechtsanwalt Falk
Lydia Link
Niemeyers Sohn
Primaner Franz Graf von Mettke
Kurt von Zedtlitz, Gymnasiast
Landrat von Kannewurf
Assessor Mollwein
Obersekretär Tamaschke
Major Kleinstüber
January 23, 1936
Prof. Niemeyer, gen. Traumulus
Jadwiga, seine Frau
Rechtsanwalt Falk
Lydia Link
Niemeyers Sohn
Primaner Franz Graf von Mettke
Kurt von Zedtlitz, Gymnasiast
Landrat von Kannewurf
Assessor Mollwein
Obersekretär Tamaschke
Major Kleinstüber