Hands up or I'll shoot
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Hands up or I'll shoot |
| Country of production | GDR |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1966 |
| length | 79 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK o.A. |
| Rod | |
| Director | Hans-Joachim Kasprzik |
| script |
Rudi Strahl , Hans-Joachim Kasprzik |
| production | DEFA studio for feature films |
| music | Günter Hauk |
| camera | Lothar Gerber |
| cut | Ursula Rudzki |
| occupation | |
| |
Hands up or I'll shoot is the last unreleased DEFA film from the time of the 11th plenary session in 1965. The comedy was shot between 1965 and 1966, but never made it to GDR cinemas. After a reconstruction of the film in 2008, it celebrated its cinema premiere in June 2009 after more than 40 years.
action
In the gangster comedy hands up or I'll desperately shoot Holms, a highly motivated people's policeman, at his crime-free scene. His idyllic cloud home has the lowest crime rate of all cities in the GDR. While Holms has his depression treated by a psychiatrist, his good friend and ex-crook Pinkas tries a very special measure to help the bored criminal inspector. Together with his ex-crook friends, he steals the valuable monument from the market square and gives Holms the fall of his life.
During a turbulent chase, Holms not only manages to overcome his gloom, he also wins his secret love, the beautiful Lucie, for himself in the end.
Prohibition history 1965/1966
The gangster comedy Hands up or I shoot by Hans-Joachim Kasprzik , like many other DEFA films of that time, got into the mills of the 11th plenum of the SED Central Committee after the shooting was over in January 1966 . The conference, originally planned as an economic plenary, became a settlement with critical artists and cultural workers in the GDR . Current film productions whose directors dared to criticize the society of the time and address and speak out taboo subjects were banned. The film culture of the GDR was of high artistic quality, but was often restricted by the strict guidelines of politics.
In February 1966, after the first rough cut of hands up or I shoot through the DEFA studio for feature films, a discussion with the studio management took place, during which changes to the editing, commentary and dialogue were determined. Author Rudi Strahl and director Hans-Joachim Kasprzik made a list of 22 "corrections" that were supposed to play down provocative sayings and comments.
Despite major cuts, approval was denied to the allusive comedy. Hands up or I'll shoot was banned for the first time with the verdict that the film puts the work of the state and security organs in the wrong light and does not correspond to the “current tasks to fight crime more intensely”. The film was viewed again in 1970 after the scriptwriter Rudi Strahl approved a theatrical play, the basic idea of which was based on hands up or I'll shoot . While the comedy “Another thing turning” was being performed on numerous stages in the GDR without any complaints, hands were raised or I was shooting “finally rejected for political and cultural-political reasons”.
Reconstruction 2008/2009
In the film archive of the Federal Archives of restoration phase camped at the beginning of some 570 film cans with materials to Hands up or I'll shoot , including ten roll film editor, the original mixture of clay and a Lichttonfassung, the 1966 demonstration in front of the bodies of the DEFA and the head office film had been prepared . These formed the starting point for the reconstruction of the film carried out by the DEFA Foundation and the Federal Archives .
The individual uncut files were stored unsorted in the archive for over 40 years. Similar to a puzzle, it took years of careful research and work to put the individual film materials together into a whole. It was not until 2008 that the DEFA Foundation, together with the film archive of the Federal Archives, was able to view the negative and positive material that had been handed down and to use the script to restore the complete gangster comedy.
During the sifting of the remaining material, u. a. also discovered documentary scenes from the locations Naumburg / Saale, Quedlinburg and Stolberg / Harz, which were not included in the film in 1966. In addition, the cans contained color tests of dream sequences with the main character Holms, which were colored differently. These color sequences were not included in the cut version from 1966 or the one from 2009. No test recordings were found, nor were any of the sentences and scenes cut out for political reasons. The cartoon opening credits including music, however, were completely available.
Web links
- Hands up or I'll shoot at filmportal.de
- defa spectrum
- Information about the film
- Hands up or I'll shoot in the Internet Movie Database (English)