Café Europa (1960)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Cafe Europa |
| Original title | GI blues |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1960 |
| length | 105 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Norman Taurog |
| script |
Edmund Beloin , Henry Garson |
| production |
Hal B. Wallis for Paramount Pictures |
| music | Joseph J. Lilley |
| camera | Loyal Griggs |
| cut | Warren Low |
| occupation | |
| |
| chronology | |
|
← Predecessor |
|
Café Europa is an American music film directed by Norman Taurog in 1960. It was the fifth film in which Elvis Presley appeared as an actor and the first after his time in the Army.
action
The tank unit around the young soldier Tulsa, stationed in the Federal Republic of Germany , is relocated to Frankfurt am Main . At Wiesbaden Central Station , the GIs meet the soldier Turk, who has just arrived from Frankfurt. He talks about his affairs, but has to admit that he couldn't end up with the beautiful Lili. He was allowed to take her to the front door, but not to accompany her to her apartment. He bets with the lady hunter Dynamite that he too won't be able to spend a night alone with Lili within seven days. Tulsa, who has just swallowed several hundred dollars from his boss Sgt. McGraw for a nightclub planned for his three-man band at home, is betting all money on Dynamite to seduce Lili. At the train station, however, Dynamite was transferred to Alaska as a punishment due to his antics and the associated complaints from his fathers . His friends persuade Tulsa to take over the bet instead of Dynamite, and Tulsa inevitably accepts.
Lili is a dancer at Café Europa in Frankfurt . Although initially dismissive of Tulsa, she begins to take an interest in him after he sings in the cafe. To avoid another intrusive admirer, she rushed out of the café with Tulsa. Meanwhile, Tulsa's friend Cookie falls in love with the Italian waitress Tina. He manages to go to her apartment with Tina. A short time later, Tulsa and Lili also appear, who have spent the entire evening together and now want to eat something in the apartment - Lili and Tina share an apartment and Tulsa and Cookie leave, as the bet is only valid when Tulsa is alone with Lili .
Lili makes an appointment with Tulsa for the next day and both of them drive to Rüdesheim am Rhein , where they take the cable car up to the Niederwald monument, take a boat tour on the Rhine and watch a puppet theater performance. When Tulsa kisses Lili for the first time, he feels guilty about the running bet. The next day he goes to Lili in the cloakroom and separates from her because he feels more for her than he should as a stationed soldier. He cancels the bet to Cookie.
A little later he is called to his bandmate Rick, who has been looking for his former fiancée Marla since he was in Frankfurt. Now he has finally found her. She has an illegitimate child from him and they both spontaneously plan to get married in Heidelberg . Tulsa is supposed to take care of little junior. Although he was introduced to him as a quiet baby, he starts screaming with Tulsa after just a few minutes. In his distress, Tulsa finally calls Lili, brings Junior to her and takes care of the baby for the entire night. He has now accidentally won the bet.
The next day, Lili is supposed to perform at an event with the soldiers. She hears about the bet and believes that Tulsa only used the baby to get into her apartment and would otherwise not have dared. She turns away from him disappointed and calls him a coward. Eventually she learns from Marla that Tulsa should actually play babysitting. The transfer of Tulsa by Capt. Hobart, who suspects Tulsa seduces unsuspecting young women, can be averted. After the performances by Lili and Tulsa with his bandmates Cookie and Rick, the couples embrace: Rick and Marla, Cookie and Tina and Tulsa and Lili.
production
Elvis Presley returned to the USA in March 1960 after working as a GI in Germany. Filming for Café Europa began on April 26, 1960 and ended on June 24, 1960. The film was released on November 23, 1960 and grossed $ 4.3 million. In Germany it started on December 23, 1960.
Recording locations
Most of the scenes in Café Europa were made in the USA. Many outdoor scenes were shot in Germany beforehand; For example, with the cable car on the Rüdesheimer Berg , at the main train stations in Wiesbaden and Frankfurt am Main , in front of the former Edwards barracks on Homburger Landstrasse in the Frankfurt district of Frankfurter Berg , on König-Adolf-Platz in Idstein and on the Wildflecken military training area in Bavaria. The exterior shots filmed in Germany were shot in Presley's absence and later cut into the film.
The following original locations can be seen in the film, among others:
Rüdesheim cable car to the Niederwald monument
Gate view of the Idsteiner König-Adolf-Platz with the Taunushof (right); the place where Elvis supposedly sings GI Blues and Doin 'the best I can .
Wiesbaden Central Station
Frankfurt Main Station
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Songs
Elvis Presley, who is dubbed by Rainer Brandt in the German version , sings the songs in the film:
- What's She Really Like (Sid Wayne / Abner Silver)
- GI Blues (Sid Tepper / Roy C. Bennett)
- Doin 'The Best I Can (Doc Pomus / Mort Shuman)
- Blue Suede Shoes (Carl Perkins) - to be heard as a jukebox song
- Frankfort Special (Sid Wayne / Sherman Edwards)
- Shoppin 'Around (Sid Tepper / Roy C. Bennett / Aaron Schröder)
- Tonight Is So Right For Love (Sid Wayne / Abner Silver)
- Wooden Heart ( Bert Kaempfert / Kay Twomey / Fred Wise / Ben Weisman)
- Pocketful Of Rainbows (Fred Wise / Ben Weisman)
- Big Boots (Sid Wayne / Sherman Edwards)
- Didja Ever (Sid Wayne / Sherman Edwards)
The film led to great demand in Germany for the title Wooden Heart , Elvis Presley's cover version of the folksong Muss i denn, muss i denn zum Städttele . Around 400,000 records were sold in Germany within a few weeks. The Bayerischer Rundfunk and Westberliner Rundfunk boycotted the Presley version, however. The reason given was the "deliberate [...] blurring of German folk songs" and the broadcasters' claim to only want to cultivate folk music "seriously".
criticism
Der Spiegel criticized the film as being clichéd:
“Elvis Presley […] poses internalized for the first time in this postcard film; He does not shout more ecstatic, but whimpers in GI uniforms homey Must I then and Tales from the Vienna Woods . The plot, with which the ten blubber numbers of the NATO soldier were garnished, is bursting with touching clichés: Frolleins, Punch and Judy Theater and Pumpernickel result in a picture of German 'cosiness', as American picture papers persistently try to convince their readers. "
The film service found: “Anyone who knows Presley from previous films is somewhat surprised to discover a much more likeable new edition of the singing 'electric eel' here. Hopefully he will take the chance to get into another channel. This film also proves that rock'n'roll is as good as dead. "
The lexicon of international films published by the film-dienst in 1990 criticized the fact that “if you want to believe the film story, […] American soldiers at the time of their training [have] nothing else to do than bewitch German girls and give Remmidemmi in honest wine bars do. [...] People only rock very cautiously; Elvis tries his hand at waltzes, lullabies and German folk songs. "
Cinema wrote that the film "romantically transfigured Presley's time as a GI" and called Café Europa "a routine snout with a short haircut. Conclusion: Without rock'n'roll, he'll be king of the lard. "
For Time Out London , the film was bland and the first in a series of bland, routinely wacky musical comedies starring Elvis Presley.
Awards
Café Europe's Soundtrack was nominated for a Grammy in 1961 in the category “Best Soundtrack Album or Recording of Original Cast from a Motion Picture or TV” . The film received a nomination for the WGA Award in the category “Best Written American Musical” in 1961, but lost against a call - come to the house (OT: Bells Are Ringing ). At the Laurel Awards , Café Europa lost in the “Top Musical” category to Pepe - What can the world cost (OT: Pepe ).
Web links
- Café Europa in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Detailed facts about the film
Notes and individual references
- ↑ The destination mentioned before the excursion varies depending on the language version. In the English original version they arrange to go on a trip to Aschaffenburg , in the German version their destination is Assmannshausen . Further reasons for this blatant discrepancy are not known, but this contradiction may indicate that a different excursion location was initially planned for the film, which in the end was no longer corrected in the English film version, whereas the German dubbing is as true to the original as possible wanted to hold and because of the finer synchronization, decided for Assmannshausen (four-syllable like Aschaffenburg), because otherwise one should also have called Rüdesheim, where the cable car to the Niederwald monument is entered. Assmannshausen is a neighboring town and, since 1977, a district of Rüdesheim, which has a chair lift that also leads to the higher-lying Niederwald .
- ^ Adam Victor: The Elvis Encyclopedia . Gerald Duckworth & Co, London 2008, pp. 190-191.
- ↑ Helmut Radermacher: The great Elvis Presley film book , Medien Publikations- und Werbegesellschaft GmbH, Hille 2010, ISBN 978-3-942621-01-4 , p. 136
- ↑ See Zum Städtele . In: Der Spiegel , No. 9, 1961, p. 80.
- ↑ New in Germany: Café Europa . In: Der Spiegel , No. 3, 1961, p. 53.
- ↑ sch: Café Europa . In: film-dienst, No. 2, 1961.
- ↑ Klaus Brühne (Ed.): Lexicon of International Films . Volume 1. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1990, p. 483.
- ↑ See cinema.de
- ↑ See timeout.com