The flying classroom (1954)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Flying Classroom |
 | |
| Country of production | Federal Republic of Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1954 |
| length | 88 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 0 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Kurt Hoffmann |
| script | Erich Kaestner |
| production | Günther Stapenhorst |
| music | Hans-Martin Majewski |
| camera | Friedl Behn-Grund |
| cut | Fritz Stapenhorst |
| occupation | |
and the Tertians
| |
The children's film The Flying Classroom is a German black-and-white film by director Kurt Hoffmann from 1954. The literary model for one of the most popular German films of the post-war period comes from Erich Kästner , author of the novel of the same name . In addition to the students embodied by young actors at the time, including Peter Tost , Peter Kraus , Axel Arens and Michael Verhoeven , Paul Dahlke , Heliane Bei and Paul Klinger play the leading roles.
The premiere of the film took place on September 2, 1954 in the Luitpold Theater in Munich .
action
The writer Erich Kästner is writing his new novel The Flying Classroom on an alpine meadow in the summer . In the 38 ° C heat, the inspiration for a story that takes place in winter is not easy for him. Erich Kästner begins to tell the story. It is primarily about a few boys who live in a boarding school in the Alpine town of Kirchberg and attend the Johann Sigismund-Gymnasium, a boys' high school.
Uli and Matz met in the pastry shop. They then try on a wig in the hairdressing salon for the role of the girl in the play The Flying Classroom . Johnny wrote this piece; it is performed by the students. Rudi joins the boys. He is the son of Professor Kreuzkamm, your German teacher. Professor Kreuzkamm is a little distracted. At boarding school, Johnny tells his friend Martin his life story. As a three-year-old boy, he was put on a ship by a man in New York to go to Germany alone . When he arrived in Bremerhaven , he was supposed to be picked up by his grandparents. These grandparents didn't exist, the address wasn't right either, and the man's address in New York was also wrong. So it came about that the captain of the ship took Johnny in.
The boys learned from their favorite teacher, Dr. Johannes Bökh, called Justus, teaching. He makes geography lessons so vivid that the children have the feeling of seeing the world as though they were looking out of an airplane. Only Ferdinand is the only one missing. Because he is only interested in music and is therefore always in the music room - playing the piano. Uli doesn't feel taken seriously by the other boys because he has little courage. His best friend Matz, on the other hand, is very brave, but slower in thinking. Uli would still like to swap with Matz what he thinks is nonsense, because: His grades simply do not improve. But Uli could do something about his fear by doing something extraordinary.
The secondary school students kidnap Rudi Kreuzkamm, who was supposed to bring the boarding school students' dictation books to his father. The boys then seek advice from the “non-smoker”. He lives in an old railway wagon that is designated as a non-smoking car. They tell their fatherly friend about the bitter argument between the secondary school students and the boarding school students. This has been held for many years.
The "non-smoker" wants to support the boys as referees in their upcoming fight against the secondary school students. He suggests that only one of the two groups should fight each other. If the boarding school students win, they should get Rudi and the dictation books back. If the secondary school students win, the boarding school students should apologize in writing for having badly damaged the secondary school students' flag in the past. Matz wins the duel for the boarding school students. The junior high school students refuse, however, to hand over Rudi. This leads to a snowball fight between the boarding school students and the junior high school students. Johnny and Matz take advantage of the confusion during the snowball fight to free Rudi. In doing so, they discover that their dictation books have been burned down to small remains by the secondary school students.
After the battle, the boys return to boarding school. There they are intercepted at the gate by their tutor , the beautiful Theodor. Since they did not have an exit permit, he took them to their teacher Justus. He is disappointed in the boys that they have not taken him into their confidence. As a “punishment”, there is an hour of house arrest with him in the tower room. Meanwhile, he tells them a story. A boy lived in the same boarding school many years ago. His mother became ill, and the boy visited her in the hospital without a permit, for which he was denied permission to leave the next day as a punishment. He left anyway and was caught at the gate by his tutor. Because the boy defied the ban again, he was taken to his teacher and banned from going out for four weeks. But the boy visited his mother again. Then he had to go to the dungeon . But another boy let himself be locked up for him. They were best friends and never broke up later. The two studied and lived together. And even after one of them got married, they remained close friends. Then, however, the friend's wife and daughter died. He left town the day after the funeral and his friend never heard from him again. One boy was Justus himself.
In the German lesson, the boys have to tell Professor Kreuzkamm that the dictation books have been burned. Of course, he is not at all enthusiastic about that. In addition, the boys played a prank on Uli and hung it in a paper basket on the ceiling. After Uli is released, Professor Kreuzkamm has the boys write a very difficult dictation. To be on the safe side, this time he takes the notebooks with him. After the prank, Uli has finally had enough. He announces to the class that he will do something special. The boys are supposed to come to the ice rink at 3 p.m. Meanwhile, Johnny and Martin run Dr. Bökh to the non-smoker, because they suspect that this is his missing friend. And in fact, the old friends come together again. On the ice rink, Uli climbs onto a high climbing frame and jumps down, armed with an open umbrella. He sustained a few injuries in the process, but on the whole it went off lightly. His classmates are very worried about Uli. Fortunately, Justus and Dr. Uthoff, the non-smoker, nearby. Robert Uthoff is a doctor and immediately provides first aid. The evening belongs to the two friends who have a lot to tell each other. Justus tries to persuade the non-smoker to go back to his old job as a doctor. He is not yet able to convince Robert to resume his work as a doctor and to leave his domicile. A special sympathy develops between sister Beate and Robert Uthoff.
The Christmas holidays are just around the corner. The boys are already looking forward to it. Only Martin is sad. His parents are poor and this time they cannot afford a ticket home. But before that happens, the play The flying classroom will be performed in five pictures in the school's gym . It's about a classroom that's on an airplane. With it, the students can fly to all continents. In Egypt, a "little girl" is lost from class when she is lured into a pyramid by a mummy. In the end, the plane takes to the sky. And Peter saves the girl. This ends the play.
Martin confides in Justus that he cannot go to his parents' house. Martin's parents sadly celebrate Christmas Eve alone. But suddenly the doorbell rings and Martin is standing outside to her delight. He got the money for the round trip from Jupiter. And Justus also has a nice Christmas party with the non-smoker, the medical council and sister Beate. With his Christmas present he creates a fait accompli, as his friend can no longer refuse the job as school doctor that he has found for him. He's not the only one behind it, he lets Robert know and looks meaningfully to the medical council and to sister Beate.
Back in the summer again. Erich Kästner is sitting in a beer garden when one day he has a "strange encounter". Johnny and his foster father, the captain, sit down with him. Erich Kästner asks Johnny how "his" boys are in the boarding school, about Martin and Uli and also about Justus and Dr. Uthoff, the new school doctor. Johnny tells about the friends and also that Uthoff and sister Beate got married at Easter, and then asks astonished how he actually knew them all from. Kästner takes off his hat and says that he has to go now, Johnny should give his regards to the boys and especially to "Justus". When he asked who he should say hello to everyone, the answer was “from a good friend, a good friend of good friends.” On leaving, Kästner hands the waiter a book and points to Johnny. The waiter goes to the table and hands Johnny the book with a nice greeting "from the gentleman who was just here". The book is titled The Flying Classroom by Erich Kästner ; of this shortly before handwritten on the envelope and supplemented by Johnny Defiance .
production
Filming
The film was shot in March 1954 in the Bavaria Film studio in Geiselgasteig and in the Carlton studio on Tulbeckstrasse . The outdoor shots were taken in Kitzbühel , Kufstein and at Marquartstein Castle . Parts of the interior shots were shot in the Marquartstein State School Home . The final scene in the cafe was filmed in the Munich Hofgarten with a view of the Theatine Church. Robert and Kurt Herlth were responsible for building the films.
background
Erich Kästner not only wrote the script, he also played himself and is the narrator in the film. This first film adaptation of the novel The Flying Classroom adheres most closely to the plot of the novel. Erich Kästner had already negotiated with UFA in 1933, shortly after Hitler came to power , about the filming of his book. Nobody wanted to take the risk of working with a writer who was not exactly well-liked in the Third Reich . The “deeply human statement of the book”, which did not want to fit into this arbitrary age, was probably also disturbing. The fact that there is no clear main character in this film was also seen as a hindrance at the box office.
Hans-Martin Majewski's musical leitmotif consists entirely of harmonica music by the " Trio Raisner ", which is also heard in many other passages of the film. The renowned Kurt Graunke orchestra plays “normal film music” in relatively few scenes. In this film, the later successful singer Peter Kraus played his first film role.
media
After its premiere on September 2, 1954, the film was shown in German cinemas one day later. On December 13, 1957 it was published under the title Iloinen internaatti in Finland and on June 27, 1958 under the title Flying Classroom in the USA. In Russia the film is called Летающий класс .
The film was released in two versions on a single DVD and in a DVD collection box: in 2003 as a DVD from Ufa, in 2004 as No. 1 in the DeAgostini DVD collection series “The Great German Film Classics” (with a 16-page booklet for Film) and in an "Erich Kästner Classic Collection" with two further DVDs ( Das doppelte Lottchen (1950) and Emil and the Detectives (1954)) . An excerpt from the film music has been released on the CD "German Film Composers Vol. 10 - Hans-Martin Majewski" on Bear Family Records. In 2014 the film was released on Blu-Ray in improved quality by Universum Film.
criticism
"Pleasant and warm-hearted film adaptation of the children's novel by Erich Kästner with unobtrusive pedagogy."
“Erich Kästner's fourth children's novel (1933) has a splendid spectrum of young characters ready with his friends, whose solidarity and courage to bravely defy misfortunes is celebrated. The film adaptation by Kurt Hoffmann, for which Kästner wrote the script, adds a love story between nurse Beate and non-smoker. The excellent boys team includes Peter Kraus and Michael Verhoeven. [...] "
"Boy film, based on Kästner's well-known book, warmly recommended from 10 onwards."
Award
The Wiesbaden Film Assessment Office awarded the film the rating "Particularly valuable".
Further films
- The flying classroom (1973) by Werner Jacobs with Joachim Fuchsberger as "Justus" and Heinz Reincke as "non-smoker" and Diana Körner as sister Beate
- The flying classroom (2003) by Tomy Wigand with Ulrich Noethen as "Justus" and Sebastian Koch as "Non-smoker"
literature
- Erich Kästner : The flying classroom. In: Erich Kästner: Kästner for children. Volume 2. With illustrations by Walter Trier and Horst Lemke . Atrium, Zurich 2004, ISBN 3-85535-956-3 .
- Volker Ladenthin: The flying classroom. In: Charlotte Jacket, Rainer Winkel (Ed.): The filmed school . Schneider Verlag Hohengehren, Baltmannsweiler 2008, ISBN 3-8340-0363-8 .
- Ingo Tornow: Erich Kästner and the film . dtv, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-423-12611-6 .
Web links
- The Flying Classroom in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The flying classroom at filmportal.de
- The Flying Classroom. In: prisma.de. prisma-Verlag , accessed on September 28, 2017 .
- The flying classroom movie poster at filmposter-archiv.de
- The flying classroom sound carrier with film music
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for the flying classroom . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , March 2007 (PDF; test number: 83 17V V / DVD).
- ↑ The flying classroom production data
- ^ The great German film classics No. 1 The Flying Classroom by DeAgostini, Verlag DeAgostini Deutschland GmbH, Hamburg, 2005, pp. 13, 14
- ↑ Blu-Ray The Flying Classroom DVDs filmportal.de
- ↑ The flying classroom. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed January 13, 2017 .
- ↑ The flying classroom at kino.de
- ↑ Ev. Munich Press Association, Review No. 730/1954
- ↑ The flying classroom 1954 (PDF; 1.8 MB)