The house in Montevideo (1963)

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Movie
Original title The house in Montevideo
The house in Montevideo 1963 Logo 001.svg
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1963
length 118 minutes
Age rating FSK 16, later 6
Rod
Director Helmut Käutner
script by and after Curt Goetz
production Hans Domnick
music Franz Grothe
camera Günther Anders
cut Klaus Dudenhöfer
occupation

The house in Montevideo is a German film adaptation from 1963 and the second adaptation of the play of the same name by Curt Goetz . Directed by Helmut Käutner . The main roles of the Nägler couple are occupied by Heinz Rühmann and Ruth Leuwerik .

action

The impeccable Professor Traugott Hermann Nägler lives with his wife Marianne and their twelve children, who are named after characters by Richard Wagner , in a bourgeois small town idyll. The professor of integrity brings up his children according to strict moral principles and with thoroughgoing discipline.

When the eldest daughter Atlanta inherits a house in Montevideo from Nägler's recently deceased sister Josefine , the professor was not built at all at first - after his sister had an illegitimate child at the age of 17, Nägler branded her as the black sheep of the family and disowned her whereupon she emigrated to Uruguay . Together with Pastor Riesling, a friend of the family, Atlanta succeeds in persuading her father to travel to Montevideo so that she can take over the inheritance. They are accompanied by the good wishes of the city fathers, who have already proclaimed Nägler as benefactors of the city in view of the expected rain of money, in the hope of substantial donations for the church and authorities.

When the professor arrives in Montevideo with his daughter and the pastor, his moral standards are completely shaken - he believes he recognizes the House of the Dead, which is run by Signora Carmen del la Rocco, as a brothel , so he and his daughter in a nearby hotel is moving. However, it turns out that Josefine Nägler was a singer who was famous all over South America. With her considerable fortune, she had built a foundation that ran several houses in the country where young girls received education and a good education. Josefine's notary informs Nägler that the inheritance also includes an amount of around 900,000 marks. But there is one condition tied to the inheritance: In Nägler's family, the same moral derailment must occur within a certain period for which he once broke the baton through his sister, namely an illegitimate child. The mother concerned should receive the sum, otherwise it would be donated to the foundation. In view of the large amount of money, Nägler's moral principles are very shaky. Should he sacrifice the virtue of his eldest daughter? After all, Atlanta is being courted by Herbert Kraft, who secretly followed them to Montevideo. Nägler half-heartedly tries to use metaphors to urge the young man to intensify his efforts at Atlanta, but he is dumbfounded and wants to marry as soon as possible before the inheritance in order not to fall into disrepute as a dowry hunter .

Finally they travel back to Germany, where the alleged benefactor of the city is received with all honors at the train station. Finally, a coincidence comes to his aid: It turns out that his wedding to Marianne at the time, which had taken place on the Atlanta , is declared invalid because the boat lacks 27 centimeters in length for a full-fledged ship. Because of this formal error, there are now twelve illegitimate children, which adds to the treacherous clause in Josephine's will. The heir of the suspended amount of money is thus Marianne. That entails a double wedding: one made up for and one between the young couple Atlanta and Herbert.

Production and Background

The film was produced by Hans Domnick Filmproduktion GmbH, Wiesbaden. The film was shot from July 15 to September 8, 1963 in the Bavaria Film Atelier in Geiselgasteig and Eichstätt . The producer Hans Domnick was also responsible for the first film adaptation from 1951. When asked why he was filming the material again and whether he believed this film would get better, Domnick said: “You can't say better, you have to wait and see. We have tried to find the best possible cast, even for the smaller roles, and we have made twice as much effort from the production side. ”Domnick also pointed out that the studio in Göttingen in 1951 had an area of ​​900 m² whereas this time Bavaria had an area of ​​2,100 m² available. Regarding the casting of the main roles with Heinz Rühmann and Ruth Leuwerik, Domnick said that they were "in the favor of the audience in the first place in German filmmaking" and that they could be seen together on the screen for the first time in the house in Montevideo . Heinz Rühmann advocated that Helmut Käutner, with whom he had worked several times, was entrusted with the direction of the film, also with a view to the successful collaboration of both in the Carl Zuckmayer film adaptation of The Captain of Köpenick . According to Domnick, this film cost twice what the first film cost.

In the first film adaptation from 1951, Curt Goetz himself directed, wrote the screenplay and took on the leading role of the strict professor. In the following years, Heinz Rühmann played the leading role in two other new Curt Goetz films, in Dr. med. Job Praetorius and hocus-pocus or: How do I make my husband disappear ...? (1966).

Rühmann initially hesitated to take on the role that the author Goetz, who has since passed away and whom he admires, had already played. The actor said that he and Curt Goetz would not be alike. Goetz played the role in his own way and he had to play it in his own way - “taking into account the same basic principles”. He adored Goetz very much, if not to say loved. For this reason it was not easy for him to play Goetz's role in his play. But at the beginning of the shooting of the film he had received a letter from Goetz's wife Valerie von Martens that went much further than he had ever hoped: “That Curt Goetz, if he had stayed alive, would still have the house in Montevideo I would have liked to have done with me once. ”Goetz wanted to share all of his experiences with making the first film because he was convinced that the role would be in good hands with Rühmann.

Ruth Leuwerik said at the time that she was pleased about Hans Domnick's offer of roles, because she wanted to be part of this “interesting new project”. However, she dreaded this new blessing for children after she had had so many children in previous films. But equipped with the experiences of the Trapp family , it was then very funny. She and Heinz Rühmann have wanted to work together for a long time, but have not found any suitable material. For them it was new territory, for Rühmann it was an undisputed domain. Curt Goetz plus Rühmann plus Käutner, that was a combination that bribed. She took her humorous role as “seriously” as one should take one's work seriously. "May it have turned out weird for that."

Hanne Wieder sings the chanson “Tango for 'Haus in Montevideo'” in the film. The first step on the right path is sometimes just a tango step , text: Helmut Käutner, music: Franz Grothe. The Nägler family can also be heard with the song Wir wandern .

Maritime law

The house in Montevideo is one of the films that supports the widespread misconception that ship captains are allowed to enter into legal marriages. But this is actually not the case because this is not regulated at all in the law of the sea. Ceremonies carried out by a captain therefore usually have no legal effect, but are only private celebrations. Some shipping companies work with registrars who come on board for the wedding, the captain then has nothing to do with the wedding. If a captain is allowed to marry a couple, the respective country in which the ship is registered must permit this by national law and thereby declare the respective captain to be a registrar. However, this was and is only the case in a few countries. For example, Sweden allowed four cruise captains to marry until 1993. Other exceptions are e.g. B. Bermuda and Malta . So drive u. a. The ships of Celebrity Cruises and the Mein Schiff fleet of TUI Cruises under the Maltese flag and Malta allow captains to marry, provided it takes place in international waters, i.e. twelve nautical miles from each coast. Marriages concluded on these ships are therefore legally valid.

Publication and DVD

The film was distributed by Constantin Film . The premiere was on October 17, 1963 in the Theater am Kröpcke in Hanover . The film was first broadcast on television on July 13, 1977 on ZDF .

The house in Montevideo was released on DVD on October 20, 2006 by Studiocanal (Kinowelt). Another publication took place on September 26, 2014 by Alive AG as part of their "Film Jewels" series.

criticism

Although the film became a huge hit with audiences, some reviews were rather muted. For example, the Lexicon of International Films wrote : “Complex remake of the Curt Goetz comedy, which coarsens or overwrites the punch lines of the original. In no way profound, but peppered with many thoroughly amusing and revealing punchlines. Entertaining momentary entertainment. "

In the film service at the time it was read that the remake with Heinz Rühmann "coarsens the original and [behaves] compared to the original like a raspberry candy with a praline".

The film magazine Cinema , on the other hand, came to the conclusion: "Pointed dialogues, wonderful actors."

The Filmarchiv Austria also drew a very positive balance and judged: “... Not because his films bring in so much money, but because he is the only one who can do what Curtchen could, namely a character who deliberately dealt with so much bad behavior, faxing and unsympathetic features is to be made 'lovable'. Heinz Rühmann has kept what everyone had promised him. Käutner stuck to the Goetz template and created a film for the whole family. "

Gregor Ball commented on Das Haus in Montevideo: “During these years, two films met such audiences' wishes [at the time the audience only accepted roles in which Rühmann was extremely jolly and not serious], but they were lightning-smart and in retrospect found favor in Rühmann's eyes. They were Das Haus in Montevideo and Dr. med. Job Praetorius and both came from the polished pen of Curt Goetz. "

Awards

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d Illustrated Film-Kurier No. 1: Das Haus in Montevideo , pp. 1, 5, 9
  2. ^ Eichstätter boys and girls extras in sailor suits , Eichstätter Kurier from July 15, 2005; Accessed February 13, 2020
  3. See Görtz, Hans Josef / Sarkowicz, Hans: Heinz Rühmann, 1902–1994: the actor and his century, Verlag CH Beck, 1st edition, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-406-48163-9 , p. 309.
  4. a b See Rühmann, Heinz: That was it - memories, Ullstein Verlag, 1st edition, Berlin, Frankfurt / M., Vienna 1982, pp. 202, 298
  5. Hamburger Abendblatt: When captains are suddenly allowed to marry newlyweds
  6. Die Zeit: Captains are allowed to perform weddings on the high seas. Right?
  7. Die Welt: Captain we want to get married
  8. Weddista: Captain, trust us - getting married on the ship
  9. The House in Montevideo DVD
  10. The House in Montevideo DVD Jewels of Film History
  11. The house in Montevideo. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed September 5, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  12. Manfred Hobsch, Franz Stadler In: Die Kunst der Filmkomödie Volume 1: Comedians, Gags and Directors , Mühlbeyer Filmbuchverlag, Frankenthal, 2015, ISBN 978-3-945378-17-5 .
  13. The house in Montevideo at cinema.de (with 16 pictures of the film)
  14. ^ The house in Montevideo ( 1963) at film.at. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
  15. ^ Gregor Ball: Heinz Rühmann - His films - his life , Heyne Filmbibliothek, 3rd edition 1981, 1986, Wilhelm Heyne Verlag and Ferenczy Verlag AG Zurich, p. 138. ISBN 3-453-86024-1