A city is upside down
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | A city is upside down |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1932 |
| length | 80 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Gustaf Gründgens |
| script | Curt Alexander |
| production | Christoph Mülleneisen junior |
| music | Mischa Spoliansky |
| camera | Franz Planner |
| cut |
Friedel Buckow , Viktor Gertler |
| occupation | |
| |
A city is upside down is a German comedy film from 1932 by Gustaf Gründgens based on motifs from the comedy Der Revisor (1836) by Nikolai Gogol .
action
The setting is a quiet, cozy little town somewhere in Germany. For some time now, the announcement that an auditor will soon be visiting the city and checking its cash position has been dampening the general mood of its residents. Because this revision can have dire consequences for the responsible city councilors, obviously there seems to be a lot of trouble here. At least one or the other amount of money was not used for what it was intended for, for example for a new hospital building. Suddenly a young man appears in the town square. His name is Heinz and seems to be the long-awaited auditor. Nobody can suspect that he is really just a representative for paper napkins. An auditor of all people took him this far, but then threw him out of his car in this city because he increasingly began to flirt with his companion. But now there is a lot of excitement in the sleepy town, the city is upside down. The false auditor is given a great reception, no doubt they want to rub honey around his mouth to placate him from the start. Especially Trude, the daughter of the anxious and somewhat overwhelmed mayor, who was the first to spot him on the main street of the city, is interested in the attractive, urbane man. She wants to know everything from him, how it is, in the big, wide world, since she has never got out of this boring town. Trude quickly takes a liking to Heinz.
The hustle and bustle on Heinz is so great that he can't even clear up the mistake, and so he first of all takes all the servile favors that are shown to him with pleasure, while the real auditor has long since driven on to the neighboring town . Heinz finds quarters in the house of the mayor, who is a little too gullible and simple-minded regarding the frauds of his fellow citizens, which suits him very well, because he has his eye on the perky Trude. Her friend Fred, who is on the inside, is urged by his father, the master tailor Berger, to hold back, so as not to draw the auditor's attention to himself. Obviously he too has enriched himself at the expense of the city purse. Soon the false auditor no longer has to go to great lengths to collect large sums of money from the "good citizens", all of them fraudulent dignitaries, because in turn there is an omnipresent guilty conscience, which is best combated with corruption. Finally the truth comes to light and the big hoax about little Heinz is exposed. One is not even angry with the young man, after all, in this way - for the time being - one avoided an actual revision. Heinz finally forwards the bribes intended for him in his function as a suspected corrupt auditor, which corresponds to the sum that was withheld from the city treasury by the “honorable dignitaries”, to the mayor. He had obviously completely lost the financial overview, but can now look forward to a review by a real auditor with a clear conscience. He also has nothing against the fact that his Trude will soon appear before the registry office with the young paper serviette representative.
Production notes
A city stands upside down was filmed from October 3, 1932 (beginning with the outdoor shots in Staufen im Breisgau ). The studio recordings were made from October 15 to November 10, 1932. The celebratory premiere took place on December 30, 1932 in Vienna. The German premiere was on January 20, 1933 in Berlin's Ufa-Theater Kurfürstendamm.
Gründgens, who made his debut as a film director here, also took over the production management and made a guest appearance in the film. The film structures were made by Rochus Gliese and Gabriel Pellon . Willy Schmidt-Gentner took over the musical direction . Paul Martin was assistant director, Bruno Stephan camera assistant.
Reviews
In the Neue Freie Presse of December 31, 1932, it says: “The basic lines of a character film, therefore, of a much higher level than the usual, without any nonsense, intelligently structured and enhanced, endeavoring to achieve the purest possible effect. It gives character players strong opportunities. Hermann Thimig makes the most attractive use of it. He revises and juggles the fate that so cheerfully affected him in the most amusing way. (...) Szöke Szakall as mayor of the most haunting comedy, a very delightful mixture of guilty fearfulness and self-confident notoriety. Jenny Jugo as Trude, the young girl from the provinces, well-bred, but not without a shrewd, better-informed. (...) Mischa Spoliansky wrote powerful stanzas for Kurt Alexander's book. Gustaf Gründgens' production, which particularly emphasized the small-town humor, contributed significantly to the lively success. "
Paimann's film lists summed up: “A little plot with antics is turned into contemplative satire with cool, dry irony. Gründgens' direction stylizes dialogue and characters, puts them in verse as a recitative, and lets those types become parodic. Supported by the music. "
"The film directed by Gustaf Gründgens, who makes his debut as a sound film director in this film ... is ... played with a lot of humor."
“Gustaf Gründgens has also been entrusted with directing the film. With ' Eine Stadt stands upside down ' (1933) he delivered a funny chamber play, based loosely on Gogol's ' Revisor '. "
Web links
- A city is upside down in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- A city is upside down at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ "A city is upside down". In: Neue Freie Presse , December 31, 1932, p. 8 (online at ANNO ).
- ↑ A city is upside down in Paimann's film lists ( memento of the original from June 25, 2016 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.
