The suitcase of Mr. OF
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The suitcase of Mr. OF |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1931 |
| length | 80 (original 1931) 75 (re-performance) minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alexis Granowsky |
| script |
Leo Lania Alexis Granowsky |
| production | Ernst Nölle for Tonbild-Industrie GmbH |
| music |
Karol Rathaus Erich Kästner (Songs) |
| camera |
Reimar Kuntze Heinrich Balasch |
| cut |
Paul Falkenberg Conrad from Molo |
| occupation | |
and Ernst Busch , Maria Forescu , Otto Waldis , Paul Moleska . | |
The suitcase of Mr. OF is a German film satire from the small town world from 1931. In it the later Hollywood stars Hedy Lamarr (1931 still Hedwig Kiesler) and Peter Lorre can be seen in two of their early film leading roles.
action
The small German town of Ostend lives in a deep slumber and seems unaffected by the events out there in the big, wide world. One day thirteen suitcases with the initials "OF" stranded in the village. At the same time, six rooms were reserved in the city's only hostel, the Grand Hotel. These events make the dignitaries vibrate inwardly. The guest to be expected obviously seems to be very rich, is there a significant personality coming into the sleepy nest? In any case, the mayor and several business people do not want to miss the looming opportunity and are preparing to receive the stranger with dignity and honor. The newspaper editor Stix then had the idea and spread the rumor with the building contractor Stark that the potent guest could only be the billionaire Oscar Flott, who had soaring construction plans for Ostend.
Stix and Stark have correctly speculated: The newspaper circulation skyrockets and Stark is now showered with construction contracts. The snored nest turns into a boomtown in no time . Despite the fact that Mr. OF has still not turned up in Ostend, the general upswing is picking up pace. Apparently all citizens become profiteers from a single, simple rumor. But so that the whole hype doesn't burst like a soap bubble, Mr. OF must now be here. But nobody knows him, nobody knows what he looks like, nor who really stands behind this abbreviation. And so the lot falls on the son of the landlord, who appears in masquerade and, on the advice of his “personal doctor”, retires into his suite “due to exhaustion” immediately after his arrival.
The Ostend are reassured: Mr. OF actually exists and has arrived. The boom can continue. After a year, sleepy Ostend has turned into a lively city with night clubs and other entertainment establishments. The banks and the city administration in the person of the mayor have their hands full. The mayor's daughter has become engaged to the building contractor Stark, who is now a very good match, but often remains alone because he, too, can no longer save himself from work. Even a world economic conference deals with the “Ostend phenomenon”, and one wonders how this economic miracle came about in the midst of the world economic crisis . Stix and Stark now see an opportunity to let their own invention, the phantom "Herr OF", "die". You just don't need it anymore. Soon he will be forgotten in Ostend, only his boulevard of 13 suitcases still reminds of him. Nobody cares anymore that the suitcases were actually intended for the Belgian Ostend and only ended up here by mistake ...
Production notes
The film was shot from September 15 to October 17, 1931 in the Jofa studios in Berlin-Johannisthal . The premiere took place on December 2, 1931 in the Berlin Terra-Lichtspiele Mozart Hall. The film received the rating "artistic".
Kurt Schröder was the musical director , the lyrics are from Erich Kästner . Erich Czerwonski designed the buildings , Hans Conradi was production manager. Hans Grimm was responsible for the sound . The later cameraman Eugen Klagemann worked as a still photographer for this film.
In the Third Reich , the Reichsfilmkammer ordered the film to be shortened considerably and then brought it to the cinemas again under the title Build and Marry . In 1976, a restored version of the original film was shown on ZDF .
Reviews
By Hans Field is on 3 December 1931 Film-Kurier issue, No. 283, to read the following:. "13 suitcases break into the enclosure of a small town. You change the profile of a dreamy place. […] [T] he hustle and bustle around the OV that they serve is by no means as demanding as its authors are otherwise. And the sounds of the salon lion are a comfortable growl. In short: Ladies, gentlemen / what you see is not far away / we know the way, we know the tone / the dear, the old, the swaying production. [...] So the city in question does not exist at all; it is also not superreal, but simply unreal. Pigs grazing in the streets, citizens playing skat - the night play of a dreaming film star cut in between - this is not meant more seriously than Schilda's shooting festival, Pleißenbach's real Jakob. And it's hardly more ironic. ""
Heinrich Brauner wrote June 11, 1932 in the Hamburger Echo , issue: No. 140: “Granowsky's first film 'Das Lied vom Leben' was a cinematic sensation, not only because the censors were appalled by it and initially banned it, but because it was above all an interesting experiment, the artistic line of which is consciously taken up again in the other film discussed under this heading, in 'Kuhle Wampe'. This film, “The suitcase of Mr. OF” takes a completely different path, is not experimental, but deals with a grotesque subject in the sense of Nestroy. And this subject is so profound that just because of its subject, this film already has a level that has become rare, quite apart from the artistic and masterful direction with which it was presented. [...] Of course, all of this is just a fun and somewhat fantastic aphorism on the seriousness of today's situation. But at least it is a film that, apart from the cliché, deals with time in an ingenious way, in the sense of a simplicissimus anecdote that one laughs at at first, but which becomes all the more thoughtful afterwards, is only slowly able to recognize the size of its conception. We recommend this film. It gives cause for hearty laughter, it is excellently made and a clever, ironic contribution to it. "
Web links
- The case of Mr. OF in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The suitcase of Mr. OF at filmportal.de
- The suitcase of Mr. OF Complete film at the Deutsche Filmothek