The troublemakers

This article deals with DEFA's German children's film from 1953. For the German animated propaganda short film from 1940, see Der Störenfried .

Movie
Original title	The troublemakers
Country of production	GDR
original language	German
Publishing year	1953
length	92 minutes
Rod
Director	Wolfgang Schleif
script	Hermann Werner Kubsch , Wolfgang Kohlhaase
production	DEFA
music	Joachim Werzlau
camera	Ernst Wilhelm Fiedler
cut	Friedel Welsandt
occupation
Edgar Bennert : Teacher Bohle Sonja Haacker : teacher Ellen Hellberg, pioneer leader Charlotte Küter : Mrs. Spengler, mother of Schorsch Erich Mirek : Mr. Wilder, Vera's father Maria Rouvel : Mrs. Wilder Aribert Grimmer : Mr. Krüger, father of Franz Manfred Borges : Fritz Spengler, brother of Schorsch Iva Besson : music teacher Herbert Schreier : Young sports teacher Hans Rogge : Gentleman with an umbrella August Schlichting : Older gentleman with a goatee Elisabeth Albrecht : Old lady Gerhard Wollner : BGL chairman Paul Pfingst : Stoker Anna-Maria Besendahl : Manfred's mother Siegfried Weiß : Erich's father Otto Sommer : 1st teacher Alois Krüger : 2nd teacher Hermann Stetza : 3rd teacher Otto Groll : Passerby Susanne Pleger : Vera Günther Kruse : Schorsch Werner Sajonz : Franz Jörg Morré : Walter, called Professor Hannelore Maaß : Gerda Gisela Holz : Friedel, called Pummel Wilfried Griphan : Manfred Siegfried Gruska : Willi Gerhard Fürstenau : Erich Harald Viereck : mosquito Horst Radtke : Spider Gertrud Goese : Elsie Eva Schumacher : Karla Jürgen Bartholdi : Hans Jochen Zanger : Alfred Günter Weiher : Club

The Troublemaker is a German children's film by DEFA by Wolfgang Schleif from 1953.

action

After her father is transferred, 13-year-old Vera has to go to a new school. The students of their new class 7b greet them warmly. Only the two troublemakers in the class, Franz and Schorsch, immediately misbehave. The pedagogues, and above all the good-natured teacher Bohle, have long since given up educating them, and the class is also indifferent to their pranks. Vera decides to act, but can do little on her own: The two boys are not interested in being reeducated into good boys, Vera's father hardly supports the daughter and the chairman of the Friendship Council, “Professor”, is pessimistic about the project.

Vera is an enthusiastic pioneer , but the pioneer leader Ellen can only give her advice because of an illness. With her vigor, Vera brings the other pioneers behind her - much to the displeasure of the bookworm "Professor", who was previously in charge. Vera has found out that Franz, who has already made contact with the pioneers through Vera's efforts, and Schorsch are interested in the railroad. She organizes a tour of the town's locomotive works for the whole class and Schorsch is even allowed to drive the locomotive. In the end, Vera, Franz and Schorsch stand on the railway bridge and watch the trains go by. Both boys now want to become decent schoolmates and good students.

production

Three pioneers reading the prospectus from Progress Film-Verleih for the film The Troublemakers

The Troublemaker was filmed from the summer of 1950 in the Atelier Berlin-Johannisthal and in the Studio Babelsberg as well as in Schwerin with numerous children of the city in supporting roles. Hermann Asmus created the buildings, Robert Leistenschneider was production manager. The official premiere took place at the same time on June 26, 1953 in Berlin's Babylon and in the DEFA film theater Kastanienallee. The film was shown in the Capitol Schwerin the day before . At the time of the premiere, Wolfgang Schleif from West Berlin had already left the GDR.

The Troublemaker was the first DEFA children's film in color and the third DEFA color film. With around 4.4 million viewers, The Troublemaker is one of DEFA's most successful children's films.

criticism

The criticism reacted to the film in two ways. The figure of Vera in particular was criticized, who “sometimes speaks a little too precociously”: “Over long meters of film, Vera has to portray a virtuous being with a forefinger raised far too often. She is a 'positive heroine' according to the author's will, but the 'negative heroes' are missing. ”In addition,“ the director cannot bridge the lack of adventure in the script ”, but the film is“ from the cinematic and optical point of view as successful to denote ”.

Looking back, Ingelore König, Dieter Wiedemann and Lothar Wolf called The Troublemakers 1996 a "paper-based entertainment film that trims smart individualists down to mediocrity in luxurious colors."

The film-dienst found: “Helpless actors in a tension-free plot that forces the actors to have unreliable dialogues. Didactic children's film from the heyday of socialist realism ""

literature

• The Troublemakers - literary scenario for a children's film by HW Kubsch and Wolfgang Kohlhaase, Henschel Verlag, Berlin 1953.
• F.-B. Habel : The great lexicon of DEFA feature films . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-349-7 , pp. 586-587 .
• The troublemakers . In: Ingelore König, Dieter Wiedemann, Lothar Wolf (eds.): Between Marx and Muck. DEFA films for children . Henschel, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-89487-234-9 , pp. 80-82.

Web links

Commons : The Troublemakers (DEFA)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• The troublemakers in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• The troublemakers at filmportal.de
• The troublemakers at the DEFA Foundation

Individual evidence

1. ^ Alfred Bauer : German feature film Almanach. Volume 2: 1946-1955 , p. 372
2. ↑ Cf. das-capitol.de ( Memento of the original from April 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ ^{a b} The Troublemakers . In: Ingelore König, Dieter Wiedemann, Lothar Wolf (eds.): Between Marx and Muck. DEFA films for children . Henschel, Berlin 1996, p. 81.
4. ↑ See progress-film.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ^ Alfred Maderno in: Der Morgen , June 28, 1953.
6. ^ Hermann Turowski in: Die Weltbühne , July 8, 1953.
7. ↑ R. Harnisch in: National-Zeitung , July 2, 1953.
8. ↑ The Troublemakers. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .