When Martin was fourteen

Movie
Original title	When Martin was fourteen
Country of production	GDR
original language	German
Publishing year	1964
length	83 minutes
Rod
Director	Walter Beck
script	Walter Beck, Manfred Richter
production	DEFA , KAG "concrete"
music	Wolfgang Lesser
camera	Eberhard Borkmann
cut	Christel Ehrlich
occupation
Ulrich Lorr-Balko : Martin Erik Veldre : Karl Hans Hardt-Hardtloff : Father Stammer Lotte Loebinger : Mother Stammer Friedo Solter : Stiebe Manfred Heine : From Bröder Elfi Mann : Kathrin Helmut Schreiber : Father Mertens Harry Hindemith : Vogt Kreutzer Werner Kamenik : Gutsknecht Ehlers Fred Ludwig : Gutsknecht Marquardt Fritz Hofbauer : Gutsknecht Nico Turoff : Panse Rudolf Ulrich : Dr. Brandt Albrecht Delling : From Dürenberg Gerhard Rachold : Lieutenant Erich Mirek : Workers Klaus-Peter Thiele Günther Schwarz Jürgen Marten Rolf Losansky Günter Mehnert

When Martin was fourteen is a DEFA - youth film by Walter Beck from the year 1964 , based on the story Martin and the men of Hans Schönrock . It tells the story of the young Martin who was able to prove himself as a fighter for freedom during the Kapp Putsch .

action

The 14-year-old Martin lives in March 1920 in a Mecklenburg village. By chance he discovered a large number of weapons with the landowner Bröder, with which the putschists were to be supplied. Martin brings the weapons to the workers in the nearby small town. When the villagers organize a strike against the coup, soldiers arrive. If necessary, they should use force to prevent the residents from doing their actions. Martin makes his way into the city with his girlfriend Kathrin and manages to get the workers' battalion to defend the strikers. During the action, Martin was arrested by the putschists, but was able to flee in time. Bloody confrontations ensue, in which Kathrin's father is killed. Now Martin has to comfort Kathrin; but can also prove himself to be a courageous fighter for the successful defense of freedom.

Production and publication

When Martin was fourteen, the artistic work group “concrete” under the working titles Martin and the Men , My Brother Karl and As Martin 14 was shot as a black and white film and had its world premiere on December 18, 1964 in the Kosmos cinema in Berlin . The TV first broadcast took place in the first program of the television of the GDR on August 16, 1978.

Reviews

In Neues Deutschland , FS could read:

“The fable is simple, but leaves room for the development of different characters. What distinguishes the film above all - especially with regard to its mostly youthful audience - is that there is never boredom, it is an action film in a positive sense. "

“A children's film that deals with a chapter of the German labor movement. Despite the adventurous plot, a rather dry, schematic film. "

- Lexicon of international film

Awards

1966: International Children and Youth Festival in Cannes : special diploma

literature

• “The Second Life of the Film City Babelsberg, DEFA Feature Films 1946–1992” ISBN 978-3-89487-175-8
• "Lexicon of International Films", Rowohlt Verlag Reinbek, 1995, ISBN 978-3-499-16357-9 (page 164)
• F.-B. Habel : The great lexicon of DEFA feature films . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-349-7 , pp. 27 .

Web links

• When Martin was fourteen at the Internet Movie Database (English)
• When Martin was fourteen at filmportal.de
• When Martin was fourteen with the DEFA Foundation
• Front page Progress film program No. 124/6 on flimmerkiste.bplaced.net

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Details about the film on defa-stiftung.de
2. ↑ Neues Deutschland from December 20, 1964, p. 4
3. ↑ When Martin was fourteen. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed November 10, 2017 .