Fritz and Fratz
Fritz and Fratz is a series of twelve animated short films by the Austrian animator Johann Weichberger. After he moved to Berlin in 1938, it was produced by Tobis Filmkunst GmbH and distributed by Degeto Film in the Degeto Schmalfilmträger series .
This meant that 16 mm copies were made for private home projectors. There was no theatrical release. Accordingly, the films were without sound. But it also meant that the series was produced in large numbers and is still relatively widespread today.
The episodes vary in length between 2½ and 3 minutes, the total running time is a little over ½ hour. The subtitles , which explain the plot as usual in silent films, are designed in rhyme.
As part of the DEFA home films , the first four episodes of the series were published again in the GDR on Normal 8 , later on Super 8 . The N8 socket has a barrel length of approx. 60 m.
content
The individual episodes are mostly self-contained, but follow a continuous dramaturgy. The first four parts ( The Stowaway , The Spook on Board , The Wild Hunt and The Little Heroes ) are more closely linked. They show how the two boys Fritz and Fratz secretly follow their uncle Steffen, who is going on a boat trip to Africa, and expose a thief on board. In addition, a scene from the beginning of the first part, in which Fritz and Fratz rotate around the uncle while hanging from their uncle, is repeated at the end of the last against a different background, the final subtitles of episodes 1 to 3 each refer to the title of the following.
With episode 5, Uncle Steffen in distress , the design of the main title is also changed, the name of the episode now appears against a drawn background. In it the ship runs onto a reef. In the following story A shark attacks , the trio is saved from this (and a swordfish) by a cyclone that carries them ashore.
Part 7 and 8, Uncle among the ogre and escaped from death , contain the only real cliffhanger in the series. As well as a racist and ethnographically incorrect cliché that was widespread at the time, according to the cannibals living in Africa.
In Jumbo as Rescuers , Fritz and Fratz can use bananas to convince an elephant to inflate a crashed balloon. With this they then fly to India, where the last three episodes play The Landing in Wonderland , The Mysterious Temple and Tiger Hunt .
reception
Thomas Renoldner praises the quality of the craftsmanship of the animation itself, with regard to the fluidity of the motion sequences and the lifelike representation of elements such as water, clouds, etc. as well as the often artistic execution of three-dimensional, painted picture backgrounds. However, he thinks that the films, due to their conservative style, fall short of the possibilities of animated films, which Bruno Wozak and Karl Thomas would have explored better beforehand. The figures are not fantasy creatures, but rather child-friendly [...] people who experience all kinds of adventures in exotic countries, but always remain within a ›realistic‹ framework.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c Christian Dewald, Sabine Groschup, Mara Mattuschka , Thomas Renoldner (eds.): The art of the single image. Animation in Austria - 1832 until today. Verlag Filmarchiv Austria, Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-902531-66-7 , p. 92 ff.
- ^ Thomas Renoldner, Lisi Frischengruber: Animated film in Austria. Part 1: 1900-1970. Asifa Austria, Vienna 1998.
- ↑ Narrow film database of the film historian Ralf Forster . Retrieved February 11, 2016.
- ↑ Online listing of the DEFA hot films with images of the cans . Retrieved August 29, 2013.