The Kulm ox

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Movie
Original title The Kulm ox
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1955
length 88 minutes
Rod
Director Martin Hellberg
script Walter Karl Schweickert
production DEFA
music Günter Klück
camera Eugen Klagemann
cut Gisela Klagemann
occupation

Der Ochse von Kulm is a German DEFA film comedy by Martin Hellberg from 1955. It is based on the novel of the same name by Walter Karl Schweickert , who also wrote the screenplay.

action

It's the day Alois wants to marry his lover Resel. Shortly before going to the altar, however, Resel found out that she was only allowed to inherit her aunt - at least 3,000 marks - if she married an official. However, Alois is a cattle farmer. Resel believes that Alois no longer wants her to be his wife, as both of them had hoped for the money from the inheritance. Meanwhile, Alois buys the ox Hansel from the Meierhof farmer, which is said to cost over 700 marks. When he returns to Resel from buying her to take her to church, she tells him weeping about her aunt's will. Alois, on the other hand, believes she does not want to marry him because he is not a civil servant and she is losing her money. After both reproaching each other, they realize that they want to forego the money. You go to church. The lost inheritance has one disadvantage: Alois cannot pay the ox Hansel. So he asks the farmer to take the animal back, but the farmer only offers him a lower price. The ownership situation is not clarified, as the small wedding group sees that Hansel's willow gate is open. Hansel himself is on the street with other oxen and cows. The reason for the incident is a group of Americans who drove their car to the pasture and picnic there. The farmer is beside himself with anger, but the Americans ignore the raging farmer. Without further ado, Alois sets the ox Hansel on the group and the Americans run apart in panic and hide. The military police intervene and Alois is arrested as the owner of the animal because the farm farmer manages to deny all property rights. The bride returns without a groom.

The negotiation takes place a little later. During the interrogation, Alois succeeds in buying the “political ox”, which has fallen in price, from the farm farmer for 500 marks. Since the ox really belongs to him, he has to go to prison for 30 days. Meanwhile, Resel is outraged that she was not summoned to the trial. She believes the court thinks she will care for the ox and takes the animal to the prison yard. Here Hansel is behaving wildly and the newly imprisoned Alois is instructed to first house the ox outside the prison walls before he can begin his prison sentence. Alois and Hansel go to various offices that do not feel responsible. At the end he is referred to his church. Here they are happy to see him, but refuse to house the ox. So it happens that the public prosecutor and prison director at the end of the day make a special decision, which the cutting twirl authorized to make decisions signs when he is drunk: The prisoner Alois is sentenced to field work with the cattle farmer Alois and has to tend his oxen and plow his fields for 30 days. Animal owner Alois, in turn, has to supervise the prisoner, but also give him board and lodging. In order to avoid the risk of fleeing, inmate Alois has to wear prison clothing during his time in prison. Alois is amused. The 30 days pass with minor difficulties. In the end, Alois appears in prison and gives the director a bill. He demands almost 580 marks for the accommodation and food of prisoner Alois, including a new tooth filling and a new bed, since as a cattle farmer it cannot be expected of him to share a bed with a political prisoner. The officials are horrified. Alois adds that he also served as a prisoner minder for 30 days in the government service and was thus also a civil servant. Although he waived hazard pay and other things, he wanted to have his official status confirmed in writing. The authorities give in because they want to prevent the Alois case from becoming public. Alois can finally marry Resel. As a civil servant a. D. is also entitled to his aunt's inheritance and can use the money to buy Hansel ox.

production

Der Ochse von Kulm was created in 1954 after the satirical novel Der Ochse von Kulm , published in the same year . The film was shot in the Babelsberg studio in Görlitz , Löbau , Bischdorf and Dolgowitz near Löbau and in the Zittau Mountains . Ruth Herschmann created the costumes and Oskar Pietsch designed the film . Martin Hellberg engaged numerous Bavarian actors for the film; Bavarian dialect is predominantly spoken in the film. Among the cast was Lore Frisch as Resel, who committed suicide in 1962.

The film premiered on January 27, 1955 at the DEFA film theater in Berlin's Kastanienallee. With over 4.1 million viewers, Der Ochse von Kulm was one of the most popular DEFA films. For a long time, the film was regarded by critics as a “prime example of a good DEFA comedy”. It was Helberg's fourth film that he shot for DEFA.

criticism

For the film service , Der Ochse von Kulm was a “farmer's swing with a political dimension. Swipes at American occupiers and German subordinate spirit are sometimes skillfully and pointedly placed. "

literature

  • F.-B. Habel : The great lexicon of DEFA feature films . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-349-7 , pp. 442-443 .
  • Thomas Lindenberger : Hoam soiz gåhn, Ami, hoam soiz gåhn! Homeland Exploitation and Anti-Americanism in Early DEFA Films . In: Jan C. Behrends , Árpád von Klimó , Patrice G. Poutrus (Ed.): Anti-Americanism in the 20th Century. Studies on Eastern and Western Europe . Dietz, Bonn 2005, pp. 187-202, in particular pp. 195-202.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See loebaufoto.de
  2. ↑ See insidekino.de
  3. ↑ F.-B. Habel : The great lexicon of DEFA feature films . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-349-7 , pp. 442 .
  4. ↑ The ox of Kulm. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used