The small and the big luck
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The small and the big luck |
| Country of production | GDR |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1953 |
| length | 97 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Martin Hellberg |
| script | Paul Wiens |
| production | DEFA |
| music | Fritz Steinmann |
| camera | Werner Bergmann |
| cut | Marianne Karras |
| occupation | |
| |
The small and the big luck is a German contemporary film by DEFA by Martin Hellberg from 1953 .
action
For the construction of a copper mine in the Römertal, which should be completed in nine months and end the dependence on copper imports from the FRG, a road from the future construction site to the port must be completed as quickly as possible. So far the 1st Youth Brigade under the direction of Erika Brandt and an experienced brigade of workers under the direction of Anton Nowatzki have been working on the road. The youth brigade has just been criticized in the newspaper for its slow way of working, but they lack experience and building materials. Site manager Stockberger, known as "Rübezahl", also criticizes the attitude of the brigade, which would waste its time with gimmicks. Since the government suddenly gives the road construction the highest priority and the completion time has been shortened by a third, the youth brigade is assigned the experienced chess master Karl Schwalk. The young people had previously admired him in the newspaper and Erika, who is otherwise rather brittle, could imagine him as a friend.
Karl Schwalk appears on the construction site and first makes the acquaintance of his war comrade Karrer, who places him with the widow Schenk and thus outside the brigade barracks. Karl's arrival triggers euphoria among the inexperienced workers and leads to the fact that the young people get through to party secretary Buchner to carry out the work as a competition between the Brigades Brandt and Nowatzki. Buchner agrees, even if Stockberger is against it. The competition leads to brisk work. After work, Karl and Erika get closer, even if his brisk manner surprises them.
At road section 4, the Nowatzki brigade has problems, as a vein of mud runs through the course of the road. The section has to be digged deep , which would cause the brigade to fall back. Erika's brigade provides some workers as a solidarity brigade, so that both brigades do the overtime in equal parts. The work is progressing quickly, but after a while it becomes apparent that the mud vein runs through a kink in section 7 of Erika's brigade. However, Karl does not want any help from the other brigade. In order to prevent his brigade from relapsing in the competition, he only had the affected section of the route trimmed to a depth of 2.5 meters and a layer of gravel filled as a separating layer. Stockberger reacts angrily to the botch, but Karl is arrogant. He takes responsibility for the road, especially since an initial stress test shows that section 7 holds. Angry and resigned, Stockberger withdrew and finally applied for his removal from the construction site. He wants to go to Rostock and help build the port there .
A short rainy season follows, which Section 7 withstands. May is coming and with it the first award of prizes in the competition. In addition to Karl, Erika is also given a bonus. Both dance together at the May dance. When Karl becomes intrusive during a walk, Erika flees. The next day she keeps him at a distance on the construction site and says that he always only wants his head through the wall - be it at work or in love. He defends himself. Some time later, heavy rain falls again and Karl notices during an inspection that section 7 is softening. A second route inspection is scheduled. Because the actual driver of the truck refuses to drive on the road, Karl gets behind the wheel. The road stops, but instead of parking the car, Karl turns around and drives up the road again in high spirits. The road in section 7 breaks off, as site manager Stockberger had feared. At the following working session, Karl is showered with accusations and Karrer, whom Karl was warned about but stood by, hits him in the back. Karl flees, but Karrer is chased off the construction site as an opportunist . Stockberger, in turn, realizes that he shouldn't have withdrawn when he noticed Karl's wrong decision. He stays on the construction site and takes over the construction management again. The youth brigade is repairing the damage. While Karrer fled to the West, Karl stayed and quietly worked out suggestions for improvement for particularly difficult stretches of road. Encouraged by Party Secretary Buchner, he shows them to Stockberger, who agrees with the proposals. For the implementation, however, additional men and materials are required, which Karl can ultimately obtain through his good contacts to previous jobs. The work of the brigade is progressing so well that the route can be inaugurated before the planned deadline in the presence of a government delegation due to otherwise inaccessible machines that Karl can procure. Karl has now also convinced Erika of his character and the two make up.
production
The small and the big luck emerged from 1951. The script was changed several times at the behest of the state and thus received a pathetic-propagandistic, in parts even kitschy note. The shooting itself took place in 1953. Helga Scherff created the costumes, Artur Günther created the film .
However, the uprising of June 17 led in the summer of 1953 to a reassessment of what the art of the GDR wanted and how. During the 15th meeting of the Central Committee of the SED, a “new course” was decided: Films should become more entertaining, more diverse and more emotional. The small and the big luck experienced its premiere on November 13, 1953 in the Babylon cinema in Berlin and in the DEFA-Filmtheater Kastanienallee and was a big failure. The criticism panned him, the representation - "Schemas, puppets, phrases - often kitsch in the highest potency" - was considered outdated and ridiculous. Faced with criticism, director Hellberg tried to take his own life.
The small and the big luck only ran for a short time in the GDR cinemas and was shown on television on December 27, 1953 on DFF 1 . Due to a few parallels to the Swedish film She danced only for one summer , the film was given the unofficial title by mockers, She only danced for one summer .
In the film, the titles Das Lied vom Glück by Günter Kochan and the song of the youth brigade by André Asriel can be heard. It was cameraman Werner Bergmann's debut feature film.
criticism
Contemporary critics noted that instead of "the happy excursion with light luggage [...] the test drive of a heavy-duty train with a record load of ideological general cargo" was shown. The film is cliché, the characters are stereotyped, so Karl appears in the film like a “demonic villain of the Nazi era” while Erika appears like a “petty bourgeois goose”. There is no interpersonal aspect in the film that only superficially touches on the "little luck" named in the title.
In retrospect, the film-dienst called the film a "stencil-like, completely unrealistic contemporary film [...] at best useful as documentary evidence for a 'cinematic art' adapted to the theories of 'socialist realism'."
literature
- Frank-Burkhard Habel : The great lexicon of DEFA feature films. The complete documentation of all DEFA feature films from 1946 to 1993. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-349-7 , pp. 325–326.
Web links
- The small and the great good fortune in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The small and the big luck at filmportal.de
- The small and the big luck at the DEFA Foundation
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Frank-Burkhard Habel : The large lexicon of DEFA feature films. The complete documentation of all DEFA feature films from 1946 to 1993. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-349-7 , p. 326.
- ↑ Ralf Schenk: In the middle of the Cold War 1950 to 1960. In: Ralf Schenk (Red.), Filmmuseum Potsdam (Hrsg.): The second life of the film city Babelsberg. DEFA feature films 1946–1992 . Henschel, Berlin 1994, p. 83.
- ^ Letter to the editor from female students to Martin Hellberg. Quoted from: Ralf Schenk: In the middle of the Cold War 1950 to 1960. In: Ralf Schenk (Red.), Filmmuseum Potsdam (Ed.): The second life of the film city Babelsberg. DEFA feature films 1946–1992 . Henschel, Berlin 1994, p. 84.
- ↑ She only sailed for one summer. In: Der Spiegel. No. 2, 1954, p. 29.
- ↑ H. Ulrich Eylau: That is not true love…. In: Berliner Zeitung , November 21, 1953.
- ↑ In: Sonntag , quoted. after: She only sailed one summer. In: Der Spiegel , No. 2, 1954, p. 29.
- ↑ H. Müller: [review of Das kleine und das große Glück ]. In: New Germany. November 28, 1953.
- ↑ Hanns W. Kreutzer: Not a real stroke of luck. In: Weltbühne. No. 47, 1953, pp. 1480ff.
- ↑ The small and the big luck. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .