Editing Mädchen in Uniform (section)

==Production==
{{More citations needed section|date=September 2022}}
Winsloe's stage play had previously appeared under the title ''{{Lang|de|Ritter Nérestan}}'' (''Knight Nérestan'') in Leipzig with [[Hertha Thiele]] and Claire Harden in the lead roles. After Leipzig the play was produced on the stage in Berlin as ''{{Lang|de|Gestern und Heute}}''<ref>Klaus Johann: ''Grenze und Halt: Der Einzelne im "Haus der Regeln". Zur deutschsprachigen Internatsliteratur.'' Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag, 2003</ref> with a different cast and a more prominent lesbian theme, which was again toned down somewhat for the film.

Having mostly played the same roles on stage, the cast was able to produce the film at speed and on a low budget of {{Reichsmark|55,000|link=yes}}. It was largely shot at the [[Potsdam]] military orphanage, now a teacher training college for women. Carl Froelich's studio in Berlin-[[Tempelhof]] was also used. The film's original working title was ''{{Lang|de|Gestern und heute}}'' (''Yesterday and Today'') but this was thought too insipid and changed to increase the chances of box-office success. Although sound had only been used for two years in cinema, it was used artfully.

The film was groundbreaking in having an all-female cast; in its sympathetic portrayal of lesbian "pedagogical eros" (see [[Gustav Wyneken]]) and [[homoeroticism]], revolving around the passionate love of a fourteen-year-old (Manuela) for her teacher (von Bernburg); and in its co-operative and profit-sharing financial arrangements (although these failed).

After many screen tests, Winsloe had insisted that her friend Thiele play the lead role. Director Sagan preferred [[Gina Falckenberg]] who had done the role on stage in Berlin, but along with having played Manuela in Leipzig, Thiele had played a young lesbian in [[Ferdinand Bruckner]]'s stage play ''{{Lang|de|Die Kreatur}}'' (''The Creature'') and although 23 years old when filming began, she was considered to be more capable of portraying a 14-year-old girl.