Preceded by Kulturfilm: New York (Albert Benitz, 1936, 11 mins). (Der verlorene Sohn). America figures in Trenker's famous blood-and- soil epic as a site of seduction and a dangerous object of desire. Neither malaise nor discontent prompt Alpine hero Tonio Feuersinger to contemplate a trip to New York City; he simply wants to visit exotic places he has seen on a map. Tonio does Manhattan and the result is a bad trip, a nightmarish thrashing by a soulless modernity. Exposure to the New World transforms the confident mountain climber and consummate skier into a distraught vagrant. In the end, the emigrant gains a heightened respect for his native soil and homeland community. Like many features in the Third Reich, The Prodigal Son grants a wish in order to vanquish wishful thinking, indulging a fantasy to counter affective energies out of keeping with collective German interests. True to its Biblical title, the film offers a moral parable. For its contemporary audiences, it also provided a political catechism. For us today it contains a history lesson as well.-E.R.