I was only a mediocre student, too
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | I was only a mediocre student, too |
 | |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1974 |
| length | 94 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Werner Jacobs |
| script | Georg Althammer |
| production | Allianz Film Produktion GmbH ( Heinz Willeg ), Terra Filmkunst GmbH , KG Divina-Film GmbH & Co. |
| music | Raimund Rosenberger |
| camera | Ernst Wild |
| cut | Carl Otto Bartning |
| occupation | |
| |
I too was just a mediocre student is a German comedy film by Werner Jacobs . The film, which is based on motifs from the novel Memoirs of a Mediocre student by Alexander Spoerl , was released in German cinemas on October 25, 1974.
action
Peter Ahrens, known as Pitt, and Felix Kempmann meet in the maternity ward of a hospital. Both were good friends at school but have n't seen each other since graduating from high school . Now her two wives are in labor, but the nurse sends the future fathers home. They should be informed in good time for the birth. The former model student Felix has now become a teacher himself and teaches at his previous school. The mediocre student Pitt is successful in advertising. Both go to Pitt's apartment, where they have a drink and wait for the hospital call. Electrician Denkel is waiting in front of Pitt's apartment, after six months he finally wants to repair a broken socket. Pitt lets him into the apartment so that he doesn't have to wait another six months. There he looks for a photo album that contains pictures from his school days. Both men begin to reminisce.
In elementary school, Pitt is already a naughty boy. Much to the chagrin of the teacher, he takes his dog Amanda with him to class and behaves cheekily. When the teacher wants to complain to Pitt's mother, Pitt and Amanda hide under the table where the teacher takes a seat. When Amanda refuses to bite the teacher, Pitt bites herself.
He's not a good student at grammar school either, but the teachers are no longer quite so helpless. Director Prof. Dr. Fabian, who is only called a baboon by the students, recognizes when someone is doing nonsense behind his back, as does biology teacher Dr. Siegfried Elsenbeck is calm itself when it comes to strokes. Pitt once inflates numerous gas balloons that now float under the ceiling. During Elsenbeck's remarks on the thighbones of birds, Pitt shoots the balloons with peas and a blowpipe. Elsenbeck stays calm, puts Pitt at the blackboard and now imitates him: To the great joy of the class, he hits numerous balloons. Pitt can't fool the family doctor either. He is in love with the music teacher Miss Steiner, who always goes to the swimming pool in the mornings. So one day he pretends to have severe stomach ache. Felix brings him to the doctor, who orders that Pitt's stomach must be pumped out because of alleged poisoning. Only now does Pitt admit that he lied. The doctor, on the other hand, replies that he knows this and that he does not have any gastric pumping instruments himself. Pitt can now spend the morning in the swimming pool, where he admires Miss Steiner sunbathing. Suddenly, however, Elsenbeck appears in the bathroom with his class and Pitt is forced to jump from the 10-meter board. His bathing trunks, which were subsequently torn, noticeably cool the love for Miss Steiner.
A year before graduation, Pitt is so bad at school that he bets Felix that he'll manage to get kicked out of school. He places an advertisement in which Elsenbeck's address is given as an animal collection point for filming. Elsenbeck is not very enthusiastic when his house is suddenly besieged by animals, but one of the keepers is Oskar Kunzfeld. He had once saved Elsenbeck's life during the war and Elsenbeck had looked for him in vain. The reunion with Oskar reconciles Elsenbeck with all animal anger and only brings Pitt a detention. He is now trying to sabotage his lunar eclipse observation on the class’s school trip with director Fabian. He orders fireworks for the period of the lunar eclipse. He spends the time before the night with Julia, Fabian's daughter, who lives in a boarding school. He has loved her for a long time and is now learning that she will go to his class in the future. Although he tries everything to prevent the fireworks and his expulsion from school, he does not succeed. Only Felix can save him by pretending that he himself planned the entire action. Pitt is allowed to stay.
Pitt's accomplishments are hopeless in the high school year. He tries in vain to save himself with spikes, but most teachers see through his tricks. The tutoring from Felix does not help much, since Pitt prefers to spend the time with Julia. A daring maneuver, with which Pitt can get a look at a physics exam the day before work, saves him from sitting down. The subsequent party in the parents' house is abruptly ended by this. The relationship between Pitt and Juliet is also over because Pitt leaves Julia at the party for the young Astrid. Julia finds consolation with Felix. The last few weeks before graduation, Pitt studied diligently and although he collapsed from nervousness during the oral exam and wanted to jump out of the window, he passed his high school with a mediocre average.
The memories of their school days have brought Pitt, Felix and Dengel from Pitt's house to the former school, where they tell beefy anecdotes. At some point they notice the lapse of time and call the hospital, where they find out that they have become the fathers of a daughter and a son. The subsequent small celebration is interrupted by the police, who want to know why the lights are still on in a school at night. She takes the three men to the hospital, where they meet familiar faces: Prof. Fabian is waiting in the anteroom for his son-in-law Felix, who married Julia. They both had a son. Pitt, in turn, is married to Astrid and has a daughter. Prof. Fabian is happy because the two men lay the foundation for his future clientele: mediocre students.
History of origin
prehistory
I, too, was only a mediocre student is considered the last work in a whole series of films that were made in the course of the 1968 to 1972 film series Die Lümmel von der Erste Bank . The director Werner Jacobs had staged a large number of the films in the successful genre, including the modernized Erich Kästner film adaptation of The Flying Classroom from 1973. In the following year, Constantin Filmverleih again relied on contract director Jacobs to create a contemporary one Adaptation of Alexander Spoerl's novel Memoirs of a Mediocre Student from 1950 to bring to the screen.
Pre-production
In addition to the tried and tested team around Jacobs, the producer Heinz Willeg also hired a number of actors who had already worked in similar films, including Georg Thomalla , Jutta Speidel , Gerlinde Locker , Harald Juhnke and Kristina Nel . Other well-known actors in the film included Christiane Krüger , Claus Biederstaedt , Konrad Georg , Margot Trooger and Rudolf Platte . With Detlev Eckstein and Bernd Herberger in the male lead roles, however, they trusted in comparatively new faces.
This was the last time Horst Tappert was in front of the camera for a movie. Five days before the premiere of this film, the first episode of the television series Derrick was broadcast on ZDF .
Filming
The shooting took place from July 30th to August 29th 1974 in West Berlin . The film architect in charge was Peter Rothe . Carl Otto Bartning was hired as a film editor .
Film music
The original film music comes from Raimund Rosenberger . The then world success Waterloo by the Swedish pop group ABBA was used as the theme music .
reception
The FSK released the film on October 11, 1974, from the age of six.
criticism
"A shallow comedy with a bit of teenage love and romance about educated teachers and clever students."
Web links
- I, too, was only a mediocre student in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- I was also only a mediocre student at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ 94 minutes for cinema projection (24 images / second), 90 minutes for television playback (25 images / second), film length: 2569 meters
- ↑ Entry on the film in the Lümmel blog Reloaded
- ↑ I, too, was only a mediocre student. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .