The merry people's boat

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Movie
Original title The merry people's boat
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1950
length 91 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Hans Heinrich
script Richard Nicolas
Hans Heinrich
Adolf Hannemann
production DEFA
music Hans Horst Siebert
camera Fritz Lehmann
cut Lilian Seng
occupation

The barge of happy people is a DEFA comedy by Hans Heinrich based on the literary model of the same name by Jochen Klepper from 1932.

action

Marianne Butenschön looks after her parents' grave. Her father has been dead for almost half a year now and she inherited the somewhat older motor boat "Eintracht" from him. As always, she refuses the help of the machinist Michel Staude, who works on the “Sturmvogel” tug and whom she has repeatedly addressed here. A group of inland boatmen who came from the morning pint advised her to finally abandon the ship. She even refuses the shipper Zinke's offer to buy the boat from her. She definitely wants to go on a journey with him again as the owner. Several applications for a special permit are rejected because Marianne is only 20 years old and therefore still a minor. That is why she asked her uncle August from Hamburg to come and see her, who takes over the guardianship and who also has the necessary patents .

But it's not that simple, because Uncle August has only sailed on sailing ships so far and has no idea about engines. In the village, however, he met the machinist Michel, whom he hired immediately with the consent of his ship owner Otto Woitasch, as his tug was currently in the shipyard . Only Marianne does not fully agree with the decision, but sees no other way to get going again. On the tour to the first port where they can load cargo, the already peeled potatoes accidentally go overboard, so that Marianne and Michel go ashore to shop. When Marianne reads an announcement about the dance, she wants to go there immediately, but she first has to convince Michel of that. While the latter takes care of the drinks at the bar , one of the three musicians asks the young woman to dance, which annoys Michel. Then the two dance together and it will be a nice evening. Only when Michel tries to kiss her on the way home does he get a slap in the face , which is reason enough for him to leave the boat again.

The next morning the musician trio, looking for a ride to Hamburg , passes the "Eintracht" and since Hans claims to have a clue about engines, they are welcome on board and by chance they get the engine running. Shortly before a bridge, the "Eintracht" runs on a sandbank and is unable to maneuver. But they are lucky, because at that moment the “petrel” comes by and can help. Michel, who was brought on board, can also repair the failed engine after Hans failed in this area. Now the three musicians are trying to make themselves useful in other areas, helping in the kitchen, doing the laundry and giving the old boat a new coat of paint.

Arrived in the port, Marianne tries to get a cargo for her ship. Since the skipper Zinke had the same wish before her, but he was able to let his relationships play, as he is under tariff , there is nothing left for her. But she fights for the cargo, gets it and that even at tariff. Zinke tries to incite the other boatmen, who, however, are on Marianne's side after the incident has been clarified. The musicians want to beat Zinke up and find him in the next bar. Michel uses the opportunity to send Hans to the ground too. This ends in a big bar fight until the police intervene. The musicians sit down at the instruments and all the visitors pretend that nothing has happened, only Zinke and his son take the police with them as the cause of the dispute. The bar owner hired the trio as soon as he noticed how much the guests liked their music. Hans and Michel get along because the musician disembarks and doesn't really want anything from Marianne. Michel goes back to the "Eintracht", it cannot be overlooked that he and Marianne love each other.

Production and publication

The film was released at a time when DEFA was undergoing political upheaval. The GDR was officially founded in October 1949 . With this, the SED also took influence on DEFA. At a meeting of the DEFA commission in February 1950, films were called for " which not only reflect current political processes, but also intervene in them in the interests of the party ... ". While the comedy was still made according to the old tradition, the film " The Högler's Order " was also released in theaters as an anti-Western agitation film in the same year .

Hans Heinrich, who had been employed by DEFA since the end of the war, shot his first movie as a director with Der Kahn der Happy Menschen .

The black and white film The Boat of Happy People was made in the Berlin-Johannisthal studio. The outdoor shots were made at Aken on the Elbe , on an Elbe barge and in the vicinity of Marquardt Castle . The film premiered on February 17, 1950 in the Babylon cinema in Berlin and in the DEFA cinema in Berlin's Kastanienallee. The first broadcast on German television took place on May 23, 1953. The first performance in the Federal Republic took place on December 17, 1950.

The film, also known as the river " road movie ", was a hit with audiences with more than 4 million moviegoers.

criticism

In the Critique of the New Age , lz stipulates:

“Light, entertaining, problem-free, portraying a couple of lifelike, natural people, that is what this new DEFA film aims to do. The Soviet film game served as a model. Certainly one should learn from role models - but should one also try to copy them? What can be original comedy there seems posed and naive. You did too much of a good thing ... "

The lexicon of international films writes that the film is a musical family and love comedy in the milieu of the Elbe boatmen, spiced with a pinch of emancipation issues, which offers good entertainment.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The boat of the happy people film data on flimmerkiste.net. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
  2. ^ Document DEFA film
  3. ↑ Media Studies, ed. by Joachim-Felix Leonhard; Verlag de Gruyter, Teilband 2 (2001), p. 1238 ; ISBN 3-11-016326-8
  4. ^ Alfred Bauer: German feature film Almanach. Volume 2: 1946-1955 , p. 124
  5. ↑ tvspielfilm.de , accessed on February 1, 2018
  6. ^ The most successful GDR films (on insidekino.de) , accessed on February 1, 2018
  7. ↑ Neue Zeit of February 21, 1950, p. 4
  8. ↑ The boat of the happy people. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed February 6, 2018 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used