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Herbert Selpin (29 May 1904 – 1 August 1942) was a German film director and screenwriter of light entertainment during the 1930s and 1940s. He is best known for his final film, the partly suppressed ''Titanic'', during the production of which he was arrested by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. He was later found dead in his prison cell. ==Life and career== Herbert Selpin was born on 29 May 1904 in Berlin. After his medical studies in the same city, Selpin worked as a dancer, boxer, librarian, and art seller before he obtained, in the mid-1920s, an internship at the prestigious UFA film studios. Among other assignments at UFA, he worked on the set of Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's ''Faust'' (1926). Selpin was subsequently employed by the European subsidiary of the Fox Film Corporation, where he held several positions, including – in 1927 – that of director's assistant to Walther Ruttmann on the set of ''Berlin: Sinfonie einer Großstadt''. After several positions as editor, Selpin received an assignment as director for ''Chauffeur Antoinette'', released in 1931 by Excelsior Films. In the following two years, Selpin ran into conflict with the Nazi Party for his sympathetic portrayals of the British in his films. From 1933 onwards he made propaganda films for the UFA studios, which was by then under the control of Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. After several propaganda films that were not well received (''Schwarzhemden'' in 1933, ''Die Reiter von Deutsch-Ostafrika'' in 1934, and ''Alarm in Peking'' in 1937), Selpin was successful in 1941 with ''Carl Peters'', an anti-British film. This was followed by another propaganda film ''Geheimakte W.B.1'' in 1941–42. Selpin was chosen by Goebbels to direct ''Titanic'', intended by the Minister to be both a blockbuster hit and effective anti-British propaganda. The story of the doomed ship was re-written by Walter Zerlett-Olfenius to put blame on J. Bruce Ismay, chairman of the White Star Line, and his British and American capitalist backers who, according to the screenplay, wanted the ship to make the passage as quickly as possible, no matter what the danger was to the passengers, in order to gain advantage in the line's competition with the Cunard Line, and thereby to make as much money as they could. A German character was also introduced who warned about the danger the ship was in by traveling so quickly. In 1942, on the set of ''Titanic'', after having experienced many time-consuming problems caused by drunk German sailors and soldiers acting as extras for the film, Selpin made several remarks critical of the military. He was denounced for these remarks by Zerlett-Olfenius, once his personal friend, and, upon failing to retract his statements during a meeting with Joseph Goebbels, was arrested on 31 July 1942.〔Saunders, Christopher. ("Goebbels’ Prize Victims: Joachim Gottschalk and Herbert Selpin" ) ''Sound on Sight'' (July 26, 2015)〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Herbert Selpin」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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