Recovery (film)

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Movie
Original title recovery
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1956
length 106 minutes
Rod
Director Konrad Wolf
script Karl-Georg Egel
Paul Vienna's
Konrad Wolf
production DEFA
music Joachim Werzlau
camera Werner Bergmann
cut Friedel Welsandt
occupation

Recovery is a German DEFA feature film by Konrad Wolf from 1956 based on the radio play of the same name by Karl-Georg Egel and Paul Wiens .

action

Friedel Walter leaves the hospital in Ahlsund, where he works as Dr. Müller worked without turning around. His path leads him, with a recommendation from his patient Max Kerster, to Ernst Mehlin, to whom he confesses that he had been using the title of doctor unjustifiably for several years. It turns out that the two know each other, because Friedel Walter today head of a district of the GDR in the era of National Socialism saved the life. During Melin's conversation with the responsible public prosecutor about the life of the wrong doctor, the film looks back on the past ten years.

Friedel Walter works in a KdF home as a vocal entertainer who is supposed to put everyone in a good mood every evening in the casino there. He broke off his medical studies because he refused to join the National Socialist German Student Union . He was happy to accept the job as an entertainer because he didn't have to go to the front . For almost three weeks Friedel has had a visit from Irene Schorn every evening because they both fell in love. During a break from introductions they go to the beach and watch a shootout on the Baltic Sea that they think would be fireworks. In fact, however, speedboats try to prevent a cutter from going to Sweden . In the boat are the communists Max Kerster and Ernst Mehlin, who was shot in the lung. That's why they have to break off their escape from Germany and drive back to Ahlund. The search for a doctor turns out to be difficult, as Mehlin is wanted, but Irene is able to convince her friend to help the wounded man. Nothing stands in the way of a renewed escape to Sweden. However, since Friedel missed his appearance because of the relief operation, he was released from the KdF home. In order not to have to go to the front, he plans to flee to Switzerland and even buys two tickets to Constance . But Irene doesn't want to go, which is why Friedel drives alone. During a stop on the track it is on a station of a military police arrested -Streife and to the front in France sent.

Friedel Walter is employed here as a paramedic because he has a basic medical knowledge due to his discontinued studies. While in retreat, he comes under fire during an operation on a wounded man near Düsseldorf , and his superior, the doctor Dr. Müller, dies. With the presence of mind Friedel puts on his smock and successfully completes the operation. The arriving British Army soldiers capture him and register him under the name of Dr. Müller, because you can find his papers in the smock. Friedel doesn't dare to contradict. After he was released from captivity , he immediately went to Ahlsund to look for Irene Schorn without success.

In search of his former girlfriend, he also goes to the registration office, whose employee discovers that he is a doctor and puts him in touch with the local hospital. The timid attempts to clarify his true identity are unsuccessful. He will be employed in the hospital by Professor Beheim with immediate effect and will also have his own living room there. The next morning Friedel got to know his future ward, but he didn't get to see the patient in room 8 until the end, because this was a difficult case that had been there for five years. The professor explains that this is the old resistance fighter Max Kerster, who was caught in a bomb attack in the last days of the war. Because of a bomb splinter, he is paralyzed from the navel down, which will not change either. The new doctor is advised that he must never find out. Leaving the patient to believe that their attempts to move their toes have already been crowned with success, relieve their pain with morphine .

For a long time, Dr. Müller doesn't watch the patient's agony and self-pity and he tells him the truth about his condition. In a lengthy conversation, Max regains courage for a new life, as Friedel gives him hope that one day he will be able to drive a self-propelled vehicle . Although things are looking up with Max, his morphine requirement is dropping and he is enjoying life again, there is trouble with Professor Beheim, who now takes all responsibility to Dr. Müller transfers. Above all, he should explain the new situation to the relatives. While looking for Mrs. Kerster, he meets Irene and thinks that he just rang the wrong doorbell. It turns out, however, that Max is the husband of Irenes, who is happy about Friedel's medical degree, since he is now a doctor. When she hears Friedel in the hospital with Dr. Müller is approached, she thinks, Friedel Walter would have been his stage name during his work as a singer.

After a successful operation, Max can stand up again on his own. He has passed an entrance exam for university studies and is on the mend. By chance he realizes that Friedel and Irene have known each other for a long time. But he also learns that Friedel saved his comrade Ernst Mehlin's life after his gunshot wound on the escape to Sweden. Friedel recognizes Irene's deep love for Max, only she is not aware of it until both speak openly. Friedel Walter finally wants to deal with the hoax as Dr. Stop Müller and face the authorities. So he says goodbye to Max, to whom he confirms once again that Irene loves him. He also received a letter from him to Ernst Mehlin with the request to support him. A court hearing comes, in which a mild verdict is passed, Friedel Walter will be able to catch up on his medical studies.

Production and publication

Recovery was shot as a black and white film under the working title Farewell and Homecoming and premiered on February 16, 1956 in the Babylon cinema in Berlin . It was first broadcast on German television on February 29, 1956.

The scenario comes from Karl-Georg Egel and Paul Wiens and Willi Brückner was responsible for the dramaturgy. Most of the outdoor shots were shot in Stralsund .

criticism

Horst Knietzsch wrote in Neues Deutschland about the director and the cameraman:

“Wolf shows, even if sometimes tentatively, a feeling for nuances, the great expression, the great visual impact. He is the creative designer of the literary model. Werner Bergmann carefully uses the camera in its rights and, together with the director, uses the great possibilities of image composition. In doing so, he overshoots the target a few times in the use of symbols: the reasons for this lie in the scenario. "

In the Berliner Zeitung -ob- remarked:

“The harmony between play, music and photography is remarkable. The created types are lovely people because they were honestly observed and seen again. "

The lexicon of international film writes that in this thematically and dramatically interesting film adaptation of a "German fate", the artistic weaknesses are primarily due to the pathos that was caused by the time. "

Awards

  • 1956: Film festival for the III. International Fair in Damascus: bronze medal

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Neues Deutschland from February 25, 1956, p. 6
  2. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of February 17, 1956, p. 3
  3. ↑ recovery. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed October 20, 2018 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used