The wooden calf
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The wooden calf |
| Country of production | GDR |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1961 |
| length | 66 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK o. A. |
| Rod | |
| Director | Bernhard Thieme |
| script |
Anneliese Kocialek Bernhard Thieme Margot Beichler (Dramaturgy) |
| production | DEFA |
| music | Hans-Dieter Hosalla |
| camera | Günter Eisinger |
| cut | Bärbel Weigel |
| occupation | |
| |
The wooden calf (working title: Das Bürle ) is a DEFA fairy tale film by Bernhard Thieme , which was shot in 1959 and premiered in 1961. It is based on the fairytale saga Das Bürle by the Brothers Grimm .
action
For a short time the shepherd fell asleep while tending the cows. When he wakes up, a calf is missing - the third in a short time and the last from a poor farmer. The poor farmers want to catch the thief. The shrewd peasant, himself so poor that he has no cows, carves a wooden calf that the farmers put on the pasture. The peasant's children watch the calf being stolen and pursue the thief. On the way he loses his cane and hat and tears a hole in his pants. It quickly becomes clear to everyone that the mayor was the thief who is one of the three rich farmers in the village. A court hearing is called, but the three rich farmers are in charge. The pastor, who acts as an assessor, is bribed by them with 300 thalers. In the court hearing it becomes clear that the mayor was the thief of the wooden calf, but he and the two rich farmers condemn the shepherd for misleading the authorities. He now has to slaughter his only cattle.
A little later the peasant carries the skin of the slaughtered cattle to the market. He gets caught in a thunderstorm, finds a wet raven, which he dries under the fur and takes refuge in the warm room of the blacksmith's wife. She is critical of the poor farmers because she does not believe that rich people would lie. She also distrusts her husband because he has sided with the poor farmers and wants to convict the mayor. Shortly after the peasant has gone to sleep by the stove, the pastor appears, to whom the woman is plentiful. When the blacksmith suddenly appears, his wife hides the pastor in a chest and the food in different places in the house. In front of the smith, the peasant presents his raven as a fortune teller, gradually lets him reveal the hiding places of the food and reveals that the devil himself is hidden in the chest. The peasant and blacksmith carry the chest out of the house and only let the pastor go after a long carriage ride. He tells them that the three rich farmers stole and ate the calves because they wanted to drive the poor farmers from their pastures. He gives them the 300 thalers and asks them to keep quiet about the incident.
The clerk builds his own house with the money. The mayor and the two farmers want to know where he got the money from and the peasant tells them that he received 300 thalers for the skin of the shepherd's slaughtered cattle. Immediately the three rich farmers drive into the city laden with skins, but are only laughed at. In revenge, they catch the peasant and want to drown him in the lake, but the pastor secretly lets him out of the bag when he is supposed to take his last confession from him. At the end the farmers throw a sack filled with stones into the water. A little later the peasant meets them wet with a large flock of sheep that it has borrowed from the shepherd. Bürle tells them that the flock of sheep brought it up from the bottom of the lake and the three farmers immediately run into the water and look for the animals. However, according to the peasant, they do not show up until you have confessed your sins, and so the three farmers finally confess to the theft of the three calves. Now they are chased away with disgrace and shame and with great laughter.
production
The wooden calf was shot in pieces and in Schönhagen near Berlin in autumn 1959 . As early as April 1, 1960, the film was submitted to the film acceptance committee, which rejected it as non-fairytale, among other things. In addition, it was criticized that the film was given "a negative political meaning" due to the pastor's "critical weaknesses". Only after several revisions, cuts and re-shoots was the film approved by the film acceptance committee on December 21, 1960. The wooden calf premiered on May 8, 1961 in Berlin and was shown in GDR cinemas on May 12, 1961. The film was released on DVD in July 2004.
It was the only feature film by the director Bernhard Thieme , who otherwise made television and documentaries. The later children's film director Rolf Losansky can be seen in the role of a poor farmer.
criticism
Contemporary critics noted that it was not clear “how necessary it is for them [the poor] to use all means to defend themselves. So the real socially critical backgrounds in the film are lost. "
For the lexicon of international films , The Wooden Calf is an "awkward, stiff and imaginative fairy tale film based on the Grimm brothers."
literature
- The wooden calf . In: DEFA Foundation (ed.): The DEFA fairy tale films . Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt am Main 2010, ISBN 978-3-00-032589-2 , pp. 68-73.
- F.-B. Habel : The great lexicon of DEFA feature films . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-349-7 , pp. 252-253 .
Web links
- The wooden calf in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The wooden calf at filmportal.de
- The wooden calf at the DEFA Foundation
Individual evidence
- ^ Minutes of the main administration film dated April 1, 1960; quoted after The wooden calf . In: DEFA Foundation (ed.): The DEFA fairy tale films . Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt am Main 2010, p. 71.
- ↑ Charlotte Czygan: … as for adults, only better! . In: Deutsche Filmkunst , No. 9, 1961, p. 314ff.
- ↑ The wooden calf. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed November 6, 2017 .