The Making of a King: Emil Jannings is the ultimate angry dad

If you want to watch a giant of early cinema scream at his on-screen son until his face turns purple, then yes, The Making of a King is absolutely worth your time today. People who love intense family dramas with zero chill will dig this, but if you want modern pacing or a happy vibe, you will probably hate it. 👑

The whole movie is basically about King Friedrich Wilhelm trying to turn his artistic son into a tough soldier. The dad hates flute playing and French poetry, which is basically all the kid wants to do.

Emil Jannings plays the king like a man who has had way too much coffee and zero sleep. He stomps around the castle, throwing tantrums that feel incredibly real and scary.

The Flute Tragedy

There is a specific moment where the king finds his son's secret flute and just absolutely loses his mind. He smashes it, and the look of pure betrayal on the kid's face is wild.

It is not quite as quiet or artsy as The Smiling Madame Beudet, but the family drama is just as toxic. You can almost feel the spit flying off Jannings' lips during his big speeches.

The son, played by Werner Hinz, has this perpetually terrified face. Honestly, who can blame him? 😳

Some Weird Details I Noticed

The movie has a strange, heavy rhythm because it was written by Thea von Harbou. Sometimes a scene just lingers on a soldier standing near a door for no apparent reason.

• The dog in the background of the courtyard scene looks like it wants to be anywhere else.
• The hats in this movie are absolutely massive and look very heavy.
• Some of the dialogue sounds like it was translated from a very angry textbook.

It is definitely a product of 1930s Germany, so there is this weirdly intense focus on duty and obedience. But if you ignore the historical baggage, it is just a really solid movie about a terrible father-son relationship.

It does not have the mystery of something like Behind the Mask, but it keeps you hooked anyway. You just want to see if the kid ever gets to play his flute in peace.

I liked it, even if I felt like I needed a break from all the yelling afterwards. It is a weird one, but definitely worth a look if you like old cinema.