German Saddle Pals and the Absence of Love in the Karl May Westerns

Abstract

The whole history of the European Western film is divided into three parts, the first of which are the German Karl May film adaptations, the second the Italo-Westerns proper, and the third the Italian Western parodies. While all the films that come under these categories have coincidental parallels in their portrayals of heterosexual love, the focus of this chapter will be the Karl May film adaptations. Karl May (1842–1912), a German author of adventure novels predominantly set in the American West, is deemed the most widely read German author.¹ When film production mogul Horst Wendlandt adapted May’s Treasure of Silver Lake for film in 1962, he met the demand of traumatized postwar Germany² and spawned one of the most successful German film series to date. Sixteen films were to follow until 1968, ten of which Westerns, and while their faithfulness to the literary originals would gradually diminish,³ the success formula of May’s novels would always be kept up: a white Westerner of German nationality or descent (“Old Shatterhand,” “Old Firehand,” or “Old Surehand,” nicknamed so for their fighting or shooting skills) teams up with Apache chief Winnetou to fight injustice throughout the West in a Native American–European alliance. Side characters may be involved in a secondary love plot, and even title characters may happen to enjoy brief liaisons.