Hands up! (1942)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Hands up! |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German , Slovak |
| Publishing year | 1942 |
| length | 63 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alfred Weidenmann |
| script | Alfred Weidenmann |
| production | DFG, Berlin Reich Propaganda Headquarters of the NSDAP, Berlin |
| music | Horst Hanns Sieber |
| camera | Emil Schünemann |
| cut | Liesel Scriba |
| occupation | |
and HJ-Pimpfe | |
Hands up! is a one-hour German propaganda film by the debut director Alfred Weidenmann with Erich Dunskus in the lead role. The aim of this film was to advertise and praise the German children being sent to Slovakia , an ally of Hitler's Germany, during the Second World War . Of course, the children are also taught in the open air.
action
Far away from the war in 1941, German pimps of the Hitler Youth spent a relaxing time on the edge of the High Tatras in Slovakia, a friend of Nazi Germany . This also includes rides on horseback and the subsequent horse care. Then the Pimpfe let off steam in a soccer game against local Slovak boys. The teenagers' daily life in the camp is suddenly interrupted when all outdoor activities have to be stopped due to bad weather, storms and continuous rain. Soon the Pimpfe, who would much rather let off steam, are mourning under the roof of the camp, as it pours like buckets for days. The time goes by with drama and singing performances only with difficulty. Soon the general mood is at its lowest point and one is getting more and more irritable. Then - finally! - something exciting happens.
Two wanted criminals are said to be in the area. The local village gendarme is all alone on site and overwhelmed with the hunt for crooks. So he asks the Hitler Youth leader to make the boys available to him for catching crooks , in the tradition of Emil and the detectives . The Pimpfe are enthusiastic: The weather is still very bad, but at least you can go outside again, let off steam and even experience something exciting. Estate manager Malek translates the description provided by the Slovak police officer of the two crooks whom u. a. attempted bank robbery, bicycle theft and marriage fraud is accused. The Hitler Youth leader divides the groups and instructs them what to do. For the Pimpfe, the hunt for criminals is pure adventure, even if the paths outside are muddy and the clothes are soon soaked. Even a raft trip and a course ride over hill and dale are included in the search.
The boys' spirits are getting better and better, even when the weather is bad, it is always better to run around than to crouch on top of each other in the youth home. Meanwhile, two hooded figures push their bikes through the landscape near the children. The two identified strangers turn out to be Malek's acquaintances. Two of the boys then dress up as Slovak girls in order to conduct less conspicuous research. Towards the end of the day, a group of boys reaches an inn where they seem to have identified the two wanted. There is dancing and drinking in the dining room, and the two fake girls actually discover the two fugitive criminals. Despite meticulous observation of the inn, the two crooks can run away. The boys run after the fugitives into the dark forest and can finally catch them. “Hands up!” It says and shouts at them. The boys can eventually overwhelm the two wanted ones.
The day was brought to a successful end, the horn to march back is blown. The two men captured are dragged into their camp by the Pimpfen. Once there, the rest of the children are already waiting for the troop. But the surprise is great when the two hooded “criminals”, disguised with false beards and eye patches, are brought before the Slovak police officer brought in from the village: They are none other than the teacher and the Hitler Youth leader. Both adults wanted to finally put an end to the boredom misery of the Pimpfe after many days in the dry and therefore staged this little adventure with a scavenger hunt and cast themselves as crooks on the run. Or as one of the two wrong crooks explains at the end: "How do you put an end to the rain frenzy and boredom."
Production notes
Hands up! was created in autumn 1941 on site in Slovakia ( Žilina and the High Tatras ). The shooting of the outdoor shots began on September 5, 1941, the studio shots were taken from October 20, 1941. The premiere was on October 25, 1942 in Berlin's UFA-Palast am Zoo as part of the opening of the youth film hours 1942/1943.
The Dutch production design veteran Mathieu Oosterman supplied the film construction as M. Oostermann; it was his last work for the cinema. Arnold Funk was the production manager, Kurt Moos was the production manager. Hans Storr set the tone. The Pimpfe choir sing the song "Regen, Regen".
Obviously, this little propaganda film, which won numerous prizes (see below), was also a commercial success: by the end of August 1943, over three million viewers flocked to their hands! - Screenings, 75 percent of them young people, the rest parents.
Background and interesting facts
The head of the main film department in the Reichsjugendführung, Alfred Weidenmann, who had not yet appeared as a feature film director, who was primarily an author of loyal youth books (Jakko) , “in which he glorified the National Socialist worldview, propagated unconditional obedience and submission to the 'Führerprinzip' demanded “, made a name for itself and thereby gained the trust of the Nazi regime, turned up hands immediately ! six episodes of the Hitler Youth film show Young Europe . With that he appeared to the Goebbels authorities as the right man to direct hands up! . During the course of the war, Weidenmann was increasingly seen as the bearer of hope for the Nazi youth film, which had been neglected for a long time, especially since its follow-up work Junge Adler in 1944 was very popular with the government.
Awards
Propaganda Minister Dr. Joseph Goebbels , the initiator of this film, made sure that hands up! received numerous state Nazi titles:
- State-politically and artistically valuable
- Youth value
- Educational film
It also got hands up! At the competition of the European youth film in Florence in 1942 a prize donated by Goebbels for best youth film.
reception
In the 1944 study “Youth and Film”, which was officially prepared for the NSDAP, Anneliese Sander analyzed the development of youth film in the Nazi state from an official party point of view. She came to the following conclusion: “ Hitler Youth Quex, cadets and hands up! are milestones in the development of German youth film making. The film Junge Adler , which is currently in progress, promises further progress. "
“This time it was about a typical youth film with educationally“ flawless ”tensions in the plot. The fable was adapted to current events: The children from the air-endangered Ruhr area found their second home in a KLV camp in friendly Slovakia. Conceived for the youth, created by the youth, this film was also intended for the parents: In the party's film screenings, they got to see this film about the undisturbed life of their children in the High Tatras. "
literature
- Rüdiger Steinlein: The National Socialist Youth Feature Film. The author and director Alfred Weidenmann as the bearer of hope for National Socialist cultural policy; published in: Art of Propaganda. The film in the Third Reich. Publications for the journal for German studies. Bern, 2nd edition, 2008. P. 217 ff.
Web links
- Hands up! in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Hands up! at filmportal.de
- full film on youtube
Individual evidence
- ↑ Even if the title is often mentioned in literature without an exclamation mark, the same can be clearly seen in the film opening credits
- ^ Boguslaw Drewniak: The German Film 1938-1945 . A complete overview. Düsseldorf 1987, p. 592
- ↑ Kay Less : The large personal dictionary of films , Volume 8, p. 300 Berlin 2001
- ↑ Harro Segeberg (ed.): Mediale Mobilmachung I. The Third Reich and the film. Media history of film, volume 4. Munich 2004. p. 353
- ^ Ulrich J. Klaus: German sound films, 12th year 1942/43. P. 63 (023.42), Berlin 2001