1POPULAR CINEMA

7. Heinz Rühmann, Terra Advertisement, Film-Kurier, 6 February 1941
The exceptional status of Rühmann within the two-tiered system of
movie stars and character actors and the changing attitudes toward the star
phenomenon can be explained through a closer look at his performative approach
to the question of male identity—which also means: his body. Obviously,
there are many ways of thinking about a star: as an image and a sign,
as a cultural commodity and a social phenomenon, as a textual and intertextual
effect, as a figure of identification and projection, as the object of
voyeuristic and fetishistic investments, and so forth. 30 Whereas some stars
of the Third Reich brought their popularity to a variety of stories and settings,
others remained connected to specific genres and achieved popularity
through their close identification with a particular mood or mentality.
Cast only in comic parts, Rühmann belongs to the second category. His
physiognomy, or, to evoke Hayward’s more analytical term, his gestural
code, was defined through the categories of lack and deficiency, a fact that
furthermore limited its style to humorous treatments. Against the highly
politicized spectacle of a body “too much” in larger-than-life actors like
George or Jannings, Rühmann asserted himself as a body “too little” and
therefore proved ideally suited to perform the double crises of masculinity
and petit bourgeois consciousness. 31
To begin with Rühmann’s facial features, every detail from the round
cheeks and dimpled chin and the slightly pointed nose to the full, soft lips
and the fine blond hair points to a childlike personality. Whether he is pouting
out of frustration or smirking in joyous anticipation, his mouth always
expresses a need, if not also neediness. If the mouth and chin area is ever
used to display stereotypical male traits like willpower and strength, it is
only through a puerile variant such as stubbornness. His distinctive voice
articulates the problem of self-assertion across the entire expressive range,
from the familiar whining, mumbling, and stammering to the kind of
breathless speaking without volume and resonance that has been described
as a “speaking to the side, as if he were ashamed of saying anything at all.” 32
Similar conclusions can be drawn about the way Rühmann stares or frowns
102 Popular Cinema of the Third Reich