Hundred Days (German: Hundert Tage) is a 1935 German-Italian historical drama film directed by Franz Wenzler and starring Werner Krauss, Gustaf Gründgens and Eduard von Winterstein. The film depicts the Hundred Days campaign of 1815 which led to the final defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. It was shot at the Pisorno Studios in Tirrenia and on location on the island of Elba. The film's sets were designed by the art director Antonio Valente. It was based on a play by the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini which he co-wrote with Giovacchino Forzano. A separate Italian-language version Campo di Maggio was also made directed by Forzano with only Rose Stradner, who played Napoleon's wife Marie Louise, appearing in both versions.
Contents
Synopsis
In February 1815 Napoleon leaves Elba and lands in France with a small force of loyal troops, swiftly ousting the restored French monarchy of Louis XVIII. The Allied leaders, meeting at the Congress of Vienna when he escaped, respond by forging a fresh coalition to defeat him spearheaded by Blücher and Wellington near Brussels. The scheming Minister of Police Joseph Fouché who rallied to Napoleon after his escape, is already plotting a Second restoration for exiled King Louis. The Hundred Days campaign ends in a decisive defeat for Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. He is forced to abdicate and sent to the Atlantic island of Saint Helena as a prisoner of the British.
Cast
Werner Krauss as Napoleon
Gustaf Gründgens as Fouché
Kurt Junker as Metternich
Eduard von Winterstein as Blücher
Alfred Gerasch as Talleyrand
Peter Voß as Wellington
Fritz Genschow as Lucien
Elsa Wagner as Laetitia
Rose Stradner as Maria Louise
Fred Doederlein as Neipperg
Ernst Legal as Louis XVIII
Carl Wilhelm Tetting as Le Comte d'Artois
Rudolf Schündler as Gaillard
Peter Erkelenz as Lafayette
Oscar Marion as Schaumburg
Heinz von Cleve as Oberst Collet
Paul Mederow as Grouchy
Hans Adalbert Schlettow as Davout
Josef Peterhans as Maréchal Soult
Friedrich Gnaß as Ney