House of Life (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | House of life |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1952 |
| length | 104 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Karl Hartl |
| script | Karl Hartl Felix Lützkendorf |
| production | Helios-Filmproduktion GmbH, Munich |
| music | Bernhard Eichhorn |
| camera |
Josef Illig camera work Franz Koch |
| cut | Gertrud Hinz-Nischwitz |
| occupation | |
| |
House of Life is a German love drama by Karl Hartl from 1952 . It is based on the novel of the same name by Käthe Lambert .
action
In the maternity hospital of Dr. Peter Haidt will become Dr. Elisabeth Keller and head nurse Hedwig are confronted with new women's fates every day. There is Else Kuschitzky, who has just given birth to her third daughter and cries every day while breastfeeding. Her husband is so disappointed with the missing son that he does not want to visit her at the bedside. Josepha Spratt, widowed twice, has given birth to a child, but does not dare to tell her adult son from his first marriage about it. The young Christine rejects her unborn child because her boyfriend abandoned her, while singer Inge Jolander worries not only about her appearance but also about her voice. And sports reporter Grit Harlacher finally learns that in the future she will have not just one, but two additional mouths to feed. Peter, Elisabeth and Hedwig can solve all of these problems: Grit is pleased with the news; Doctors use a trick to get Else's husband not only to stop by the clinic, but to stand up for his daughters. And after a conversation with Peter, Josepha's son is also happy about his new sibling. After the birth of her child, which only begins to breathe after a long time, Inge Jolander is ultimately no longer interested in her appearance and voice, as she is simply looking forward to her time as a mother. And Christine finds a new friend in the home's gardener.
In addition to work, interpersonal relationships are also part of everyday life as a doctor. Peter and Elisabeth get closer and he finally makes her a marriage proposal, which she accepts. In doing so, she causes disappointment with her best friend Hedwig, who is in love with Peter herself. She reveals a long-kept secret to Elisabeth: Elisabeth cannot have children. As a child she had an accident - Elisabeth still remembers that a man was chasing her on the train and she jumped out of the moving train in a panic - and had to undergo multiple operations. Due to organ adhesions, it was considered unlikely at the time that she could have children. Her foster father, Privy Councilor Merk, did not tell her anything about it, but confessed it to Peter when he asked for permission to marry. Elisabeth doesn't know anything about that and she leaves in a hurry. She goes to the clinic where she was operated on at the time. Her medical record confirms what Hedwig told her. She returns to the maternity hospital, shaken. In a discussion with Peter, she informs him of her sterility . She wants to break the engagement, knowing that Peter wants his own children. However, the latter admits that he has known about her sterility for a long time, but does not want to give it up. They would have enough children in their professional environment whose first steps they can accompany together.
production
House of Life was created in the Bavaria Film Studios in Munich - Geiselgasteig with exterior shots from Munich. The soundtrack was recorded by the Munich Philharmonic . The film construction came from Franz Bi and Botho Höfer , the production management was taken over by Heinz Abel .
The film premiered on September 12, 1952 in Cologne's Schauburg and Düsseldorf and was also released in GDR cinemas on April 15, 1954. In 2004 the film was released on DVD.
criticism
On the occasion of the premiere, Der Spiegel called Haus des Lebens a “film ode to child breeding […] Director Karl Hartl made an ideal 'woman's film': an interview in a maternity hospital with a cot in the first ray of sunshine, hearty baby bottoms, tears of all kinds and now and then a caesarean section . […] In between, a pseudo-tragic love story between the sprightly ship's doctor Gustav Fröhlich and Fraulein Dr. Cornell Borchers. A prime example of neo-German pseudo-realism. "
For film-dienst it was a "pseudo-realistic [r] film that speculated on the uncritical need for sensation in the post-war period. Hollow and insubstantial, it ripples along as a kind of forerunner to today's television series. ”“ A forerunner of the doctor's soap opera, ”also found Cinema .
Web links
- House of Life in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- House of Life at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ New in Germany: House of Life . In: Der Spiegel , No. 39, 1952, p. 30.
- ↑ House of Life. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ See cinema.de