| The Fire Devil | |
| Director: | Luis Trenker |
| Producer: | Willy Reiber Luis Trenker |
| Starring: | Luis Trenker Judith Holzmeister, Bertl Schultes Hilde von Stolz |
| Editing: | Werner Jacobs Gottlieb Madl |
| Studio: | Bavaria Film Luis Trenker-Film |
| Distributor: | Bavaria Film |
| Runtime: | 100 minutes |
| Country: | Germany |
| Language: | German |
The Fire Devil (German: Der Feuerteufel) is a 1940 German historical adventure film directed by and starring Luis Trenker.[1] It also featured Judith Holzmeister, Bertl Schultes and Hilde von Stolz. The title is sometimes translated as The Arsonist.
The film's sets were designed by the art directors Erich Grave and Ludwig Reiber. It was shot at the Bavaria Studios in Munich. Location shooting took place in Mittenwald, Schwäbisch Hall and North Tyrol. It premiered at the Ufa-Palast am Zoo in Berlin. Costing over a million reichsmarks to make, it easily recouped its production costs at the box office and was a considerable popular success.
It is set during the Tyrolean Rebellion against Napoleon, about which Trenker had previously made another film The Rebel in 1932. However Adolf Hitler, who had been an admirer of the previous film, was apparently displeased feeling that the parallels between Napoleon and the Third Reich meant that the film glorified and potentially incited popular revolt against the regime.[2] To restore himself to favour, Trenker published his novel Captain Ladurner which was overtly pro-Nazi.[3]