Before lightning strikes

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Movie
Original title Before lightning strikes
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1959
length 96 minutes
Rod
Director Richard Groschopp
script Lothar Creutz
Carl Andrießen
Richard Groschopp
Willi Brückner (Dramaturgy)
production DEFA
music Hans-Hendrik Wehding
camera Eugen Klagemann
Karl Drömmer (2nd camera)
cut Helga Emmrich
occupation

Before the lightning strikes is a German DEFA film comedy by Richard Groschopp from 1959.

action

The reporter for the newspaper Berlin am Morgen, Heinz Engelhard, wrote a report about the “August Bebel” locomotive works, which met with approval from colleagues and which received general attention. Only business editor Christine Koch had reservations about the tabloid written article. Their premonition was confirmed when the party chairman and the BGL chairman complained to the editorial staff about the article: Not only did Engelhard confuse the good Schneider brigade and the bad Schindler brigade with one another in his report , but also with the heading Diesel, Steam and a director completely disregards the workers and only gets one-sided information about the company. In order to gain insight into what was happening, Heinz was sent to the locomotive works as a worker for a few weeks. The plan is for him to write a multi-part report for Berlin am Morgen during this time .

At the plant, Heinz is assigned to the Schindler Brigade. It quickly becomes apparent that the individual workers in the brigade have little interest in the work: the brigade leader feigns rheumatism and is at the company doctor every day , another worker trains for a boxing match and the third is involved in amateur theater and has to learn texts. The Schneider Brigade, on the other hand, works off its debit at a fast pace, regardless of whether it hinders the work of the other brigade, and always only looks at the money. However, nobody takes Heinz's criticism seriously, as in his article he was unable to tell the two brigades apart. Only after Heinz has made his debut is he more accepted by both brigades.

The work of both brigades could go faster if two cranes were available to supply materials. There is a second crane, but it is defective. When Heinz, on the initiative of both brigades, asked the technical director that the second crane could be made afloat again, he declined: This had already been discussed and rejected earlier. If at all, the repair of the crane would have to be integrated into the work plan in the long term, but not without more detailed planning. The brigades are disappointed because another proposal from their ranks was rejected. Heinz writes an article under the title Diesel, Steam and a Dictator against the technical director, which he had praised in the first article. Since the content seems too explosive to the editor-in-chief of the newspaper, Christine Koch investigates on site and also talks to the technical director, who promises to include the crane project in the current work plan. Christine tries to talk the editor-in-chief out of printing the article. In addition to reasons of fairness, she also resent Heinz, who, in her opinion, made a declaration of love to another woman. It takes some time for Christine, who is in love with Heinz, to find out that he has only rehearsed one play with another woman. At the will of the editor-in-chief, the article is printed and the technical director feels attacked. The party secretary and BGL chairman, however, are satisfied, as the technical director, who appears as manager, comes back down to earth with the facts.

In the end, both brigades agree to repair the crane themselves - voluntarily, in their free time, without pay. There is also a happy ending between Heinz and Christine: When Christine explains to Heinz that her rejection of his article was mainly due to her jealousy, they reconcile and they become a couple.

production

The film was shot under the working title The Second Degree in 1959. The shooting locations were initially the "Ernst Thälmann" locomotive factory and later a production hall in Seddin . The film premiered on October 4, 1959 on the occasion of the DEFA film festival week in the Berlin Odeum.

criticism

The contemporary critics praised the film, in which "an important, current topic is handled with a light hand, with witty irony, with a dash of love and obligatory jealousy - how seldom do we have that!" Das Neues Deutschland wrote: "We should be very happy about this cheerful film and wish that half a dozen of them are born in the DEFA studios every year."

For the lexicon of international film , Before the Lightning Strikes was a "[g] good, cheerful conversation with real-time problems, prepared in a cabaret style."

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ HUE: Detour into cheerfulness . In: Berliner Zeitung , October 20, 1959.
  2. ↑ Horst Knietzsch in: Neues Deutschland , October 12, 1959.
  3. ↑ Before lightning strikes. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed August 4, 2018 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used