Heidi (1937)

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Movie
German title Heidi
Original title Heidi
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1937
length 88 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Allan Dwan
script Walter Ferris
Julien Josephson
production Darryl F. Zanuck
music David Buttolph
camera Arthur C. Miller
cut Allen McNeil
occupation

Heidi is an American family film directed by Allan Dwan from 1937. Child star Shirley Temple plays Heidi. The film was based very loosely on the novel of the same name by Johanna Spyri .

action

Her aunt Dete brings Heidi to her grandfather Adolph Kramer. He lives on an alpine pasture above a Dörflis in the Eastern Swiss Alps near Maienfeld . The villagers are not thrilled that Dete wants to leave the child to the "Alp-Oehi" because they know how quick-tempered he can be and that he avoids the community in the Dörfli. Dete doesn't care, her job in Frankfurt is more important to her, so she wants to get rid of Heidi as soon as possible.

At first the Alp-Oehi is not at all enthusiastic about having to look after Heidi, but quickly succumbs to her lovable nature. After a few weeks he can no longer imagine a life without his little granddaughter. He shows her how to make cheese and milk goats, he gathers wood with her for the winter and even drives her toboggan. He also reads bedtime stories to the little girl. One of the stories is about a poor Dutch girl who is able to win over a prince by means of a wooden shoe dance . This fairy tale is depicted vividly, as if Heidi and her grandfather were watching a film and the little girl in the film looks like Heidi.

Pastor Schultz tries to persuade Adolph Kramer to reconcile with the villagers and to send Heidi to school in the village. However, Heidi's grandfather doesn't want to know anything about this at first. But Heidi gets him to attend mass in the Dörfli with her and at the end of the service everyone sings together.

It's Heidi's birthday and grandfather carved some beautiful wooden shoes for her . He also promised her that a party would be celebrated. In addition, he wants to run errands with her in the village as soon as he gets back from logging . While Heidi is longingly waiting for her grandfather, her aunt Dete suddenly appears and tells the child that she should come along for a moment, that she has a surprise and Heidi will be back with grandfather shortly. When grandfather returns from chopping wood, Heidi has disappeared and all calling and searching doesn't help. As he runs down to the village, he just sees the sledge driving away with Heidi. Pastor Schultz tells Adolph Kramer that Dete took the child with him to Frankfurt . The grandfather then sets off on foot to Frankfurt to look for Heidi and bring him back.

In Frankfurt, Dete brings Heidi to the elegant Sesemann family, where the girl is supposed to become a playmate for the disabled daughter Klara. Dete receives a commission for this. Fräulein Rottenmeier, the housekeeper, is not enthusiastic about the native nature of the mountain child and Heidi would have liked to get away quickly, but she has to bow to the owner's request, who wants Heidi's company for his daughter. However, she sees her wish endangered to make herself indispensable for Klara and thus also for Mr. Sesemann, perhaps even to marry him.

Heidi is unhappy in the strange city. Even her close friendship with Klara can not console her for her homesickness . It is true that she finds an ally in the house servant Andrews. But she is plagued by the longing for the mountains and her grandfather. Since she cannot change her situation, she helps Klara. She encourages her and so Klara tries to learn to walk again with Heidi's help. Heidi also thinks of blind Anna from Dörfli, Peter's grandmother. Since this is already old and has few teeth, it is difficult to bite hard bread. And here in the Sesemann house there are so many soft rolls. So she collects them for the time she goes home. Thanks to Heidi's carefree manner, the children always have reason to laugh heartily, for example when Heidi, Luisa, a monkey, opens the window, which leads to all kinds of funny situations. When Mr. Sesemann finally returns from a long trip, he is very impressed by Heidi's warm-hearted manner. He doesn't want to let the child go anymore. He disregards Heidi's homesickness because Dete described his grandfather as a bad person.

On Christmas Eve, Heidi receives a large glass ball from Mr. Sesemann , in which there is a small hut with an old man in front of it. If you shake this ball, it snows. Heidi is completely carried away by this gift. But Mr. Sesemann is also given a very special gift, supported by Heidi, Klara gets out of her wheelchair and walks a few steps towards her father, making him very happy. Miss Rottenmeier, however, is angry because she sees her plans a long way off. Shortly afterwards she grabs Heidi's glass ball and angrily throws it on the floor. Thereupon her Consul Sesemann announced and advised her to leave his house as soon as possible.

Adolph Kramer made it to Frankfurt just for Christmas and is now looking for his granddaughter there. The police become aware of him as he runs after all the children and so he ends up at the police station . Although he says that he is looking for his little granddaughter, he is still locked in a barred cell. After an endless night, he manages to escape the window. Almost at the same time, Miss Rottenmeier sneaks into Heidi's room early in the morning. She tells the child that they can go to the grandfather and so Heidi goes with them. In truth, however, the governess, who blames the child for the fact that her beautiful plan went wrong, wants to sell the little girl to passing gypsies . When Heidi notices something, she vigorously defends herself and calls out loudly for help. Adolph Kramer hears Heidi's calls and rushes over as quickly as he can. He pushes Fraulein Rottenmeier into the snow and tries to escape with the child in a horse-drawn sleigh , but is pursued by the police officers, whom Fraulein Rottenmeier has told that he has kidnapped the child, and is beaten. Heidi explains to the police officers that this is her grandfather. But they don't believe her, only when the girl tearfully asks the police to fetch Mr. Sesemann, everything clears up.

Heidi returns to the Alm overjoyed with her grandfather. In the summer, Klara and her father, along with loyal Andrews, visit Heidi and her grandfather on the Alm. Beaming with joy, Heidi Andrews shows how to milk goats. The blind grandmother, Peter, the pastor and Fraulein Elsa, together with the grandfather and Heidi, line up happily around the large wooden table in front of the hut, eating, drinking and laughing and are happy together with Heidi.

particularities

  • This film is the first sound film version of Heidi .
  • Compared to later film adaptations, a clearer good-evil scheme was worked out, which is particularly reflected in the characters of Dete and Miss Rottenmeier.
  • As usual with Shirley Temple films, a singing and dancing scene was incorporated. The Dutch girl in the fairy tale scene is also played by Shirley Temple.
  • There is also a colored version of the film.

Production notes and background

The shooting of the film took place from May 17, 1937 to July 1937. The film was shot at 20th Century Fox Studios in Los Angeles , Big Bear Lake in San Bernardino County , California , Lake Arrowhead and San Bernardino , California in the National Forest.

Heidi premiered on October 8, 1937 in Glendale , California . Heidi's leading actress, Shirley Temple, and her grandfather's actor, Jean Hersholt, were present at the premiere. On October 15, 1937, the film was then generally released in US cinemas . Heidi started in Germany in 1938.

According to Hollywood Reporter News , Twentieth Century Fox bought the rights to Johanna Spyris' book Heidi in 1936 from Sol Lesser . Violet Kemble-Cooper in the role of Miss Rottenmeier has been replaced by Mary Nash due to an upcoming operation. Shirley Temple was at the height of her popularity in the US when she was filming Heidi . It is said that Allan Dwan, the film's director, was initially not exactly happy to work with the child star. In her autobiography, Temple later commented on the fact that the initial skepticism did not last and that their relationship was noticeably warmed up.

The film was hugely successful when it launched in 1937 and earned Shirley Temple a spot on America's top box office list for the third year in a row. Shirley Temple herself loved the film, which immediately became a family classic.

criticism

Dennis Schwartz - 'Ozus' World Movie Reviews' - said: "Under the hands of Dwan, this warm-hearted film adaptation of the classic children's book by Johanna Spyri comes much better than expected."

literature

  • Johanna Spyri: Heidi. Heidi's apprenticeship and wandering years . Arena, Würzburg 2004, ISBN 3-401-05706-5 (With pictures by Hans G. Schellenberger. Unabridged version of the original text from 1880.).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dorothee Wenner: Die Zicke von der Alm In: taz.de, July 18, 2001.
  2. ↑ a b c d Heidi. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved March 27, 2013 .
  3. ↑ Heidi Dennis Schwartz: “Ozus' World Movie Reviews”. Retrieved March 27, 2013.