Ciske - a child needs love

Movie
German title	Ciske - a child needs love
Original title	Ciske - de rat Ciske - a child needs love
Country of production	Germany , Netherlands
original language	German , Dutch
Publishing year	1955
length	96 minutes
Age rating	FSK 16
Rod
Director	Wolfgang Staudte
script	Wolfgang Staudte
production	Maatschappij-Film, Amsterdam ( Hans Boekman ) Omega-Film GmbH, Berlin
music	Herbert Windt , Steye van Brandenburg
camera	Otto Baecker
cut	Lien d'Oliveyra
occupation
Dick van der Velde : Ciske Heli Finkenzeller : Aunt Jans Berta Drews : Mrs. Freimuth Alexander Kerst : Mr. Freimuth Kees Brusse : Teacher Bruis Günther Lüders : Father de Goey Hermann Speelmans : Muysken Walter Janssen : Maatsuyker Jan Teulings : Uncle Henri Cees Laseur : Dr. van Loon Werner Hessenland : Dr. Reinders Herbert Weißbach : Mr. Alarm Heidi Ewert : Betje Hubert Tannebaum : Jantje Verkerk Heinz Hagenstein : Sip Eisma Günther Zwarg : Dorus

Ciske - a child needs love is a Dutch-German drama film by Wolfgang Staudte from 1955. The film is based on the novel Ciske - de rat by Piet Bakker .

action

The story is told from the perspective of the kind teacher Bruis. Amsterdam, in the 1930s. The little street boy Ciske has really not had it easy in his life so far. Because of his somewhat neglected condition he is disrespectfully called "the rat", and so he has to fight his way through life on his own, because the father, the sailor Freimuth, has to leave the family again and again and the depraved mother cares less about him than about their changing lovers. It is not uncommon for Frau Freimuth to lock her teenage boy in the cellar.

For the first time, Ciske experiences something like love and care when he enters the school class of teacher Bruis, who devotes all his attention to the unruly child. One day a violent argument with the mother culminates in an overreaction. Ciske stabs her with a kitchen knife and injures Mother Freimuth so badly that she dies a little later. Ciske is then locked away in an institution for difficult-to-raise children. After he was released, he was initially greeted by hatred. But Ciske gets a second chance: His father, returning from the sea, and his second wife, the kind Jans, now want to take care of Ciske.

Production notes and trivia

Ciske - a child needs love was made in July and August 1955 in the Cineton studio in Duivendrecht near Amsterdam with exterior shots of Amsterdam and the Althoff circus there . Nicole van Baarle created the film structures. Alfred Bittins took over the production management for the German version.

A Dutch version of the film was also shot, in which other actors except for the Ciske interpreter Dick van der Velde and the actors Kees Brusse , Jan Teulings and Cees Laseur appeared.

The German version premiered on October 20, 1955 in the Europa-Palast in Duisburg, the Dutch version, Ciske - de rat , was shown in several cinemas in Amsterdam on October 7 of the same year.

While the Dutch version of this film was the third most successful Dutch film in the country's history, the German version went almost unnoticed in Germany. Ciske - a child needs love is one of Staudte's most unknown works. This film was the first production by the director, who had been working for DEFA until then , after he had finally left the GDR.

In 1983 the Dutch made a remake of this material.

Awards

• The FBL awarded the film the title valuable .
• Wolfgang Staudte received the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival , where the Dutch version was shown, and was also nominated for the Golden Lion.

Reviews

Paimann's film lists summed up: "Socio-educational reportage and feature film, by a mixed ensemble realistically against ... an incredibly real background [played] ..."

"The educational and social topic is psychologically credible, appropriate to the environment and filmed in a gripping manner."

- Lexicon of international film

Web links

• Ciske - a child needs love in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Ciske - a child needs love at filmportal.de

Individual evidence

1. ^ Alfred Bauer: German feature film Almanach. Volume 2: 1946-1955 , p. 490
2. ↑ Wolfgang Staudte - actor, director . In: CineGraph - Lexicon for German-Language Film , Lg. 20, F 13 f.
3. ↑ Ciske - a child needs love in Paimann's film lists ( Memento of the original from August 9, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ^ Ciske - a child needs love in the dictionary of international films