Hocus Pocus (1953)

Movie
Original title	Hocus-pocus
Country of production	Germany
original language	German
Publishing year	1953
length	89 minutes
Age rating	FSK 12
Rod
Director	Kurt Hoffmann
script	Curt Goetz
production	Hans Domnick
music	Franz Grothe
camera	Richard fear
cut	Fritz Stapenhorst
occupation
Curt Goetz : Peer Bille Valérie von Martens : Agda Kjerulf Hans Nielsen : President of the Court Ernst Waldow : Public Prosecutor Erich Ponto : Mr. Graham Elisabeth Flickenschildt : Witness Kiebutz Margrit Ensinger : Anna Sedal, maid Joachim Teege : Munio Eunano, witness Fritz Rasp : Servant Mila Kopp : widow Hugo Lindinger : juror Franz Grothe : conductor Tilo von Berlepsch Fritz Brandt

Hokuspokus is a German comedy film by director Kurt Hoffmann . The black and white film from 1953 was the second film adaptation of the play of the same name by Curt Goetz , who wrote the script himself and played the leading roles together with his wife Valérie von Martens . The world premiere took place on September 1, 1953 in the Tower Palace in Frankfurt am Main .

action

Slender Agda Kjerulf is accused of murdering her husband, the unsuccessful painter Hilmar, on a boat trip together. After her lawyer resigns from his mandate, the mysterious Peer Bille steps in as a witty and active defense attorney, who, however, is exposed as the defendant's lover and confesses to the murder. Eventually, the judge's friend, Mr. Graham, makes a momentous discovery, and the process takes an unexpected turn.

background

The shooting took place from April 20 to June 13, 1953 in the Goettingen film studio and in the vicinity of Goettingen. The film architects were Hermann Warm and Kurt Herlth .

The play was filmed for the first time as early as 1930 - directed by Gustav Ucicky with Lilian Harvey and Willy Fritsch in the leading roles. In addition, Uckicy staged a second, English-language film adaptation with the same staff and part of the ensemble (again including Lilian Harvey), in which Laurence Olivier had taken over the part of Willy Fritsch. A third film adaptation followed in 1965/66 , again directed by Kurt Hoffmann; this time with Heinz Rühmann and Liselotte Pulver in the leading roles.

criticism

• Lexicon of international film : judicial comedy that leads the viewer by the nose in a witty and subtle humor.
• The Wiesbaden film evaluation agency awarded the production the title valuable .

literature

• Curt Goetz : Hocus pocus . In the other : Hocus pocus and Die tote Aante and other incidents . Stage Works, Volume 2. Droemer-Knaur, Munich and Zurich 1964, (156 pages)

Web links

• Hoax in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Staff and cast at deutscher-tonfilm.de ( memento from December 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
• Hocus-pocus at filmportal.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 89 minutes for cinema projection (24 images / second), 86 minutes for television playback (25 images / second), film length: 2440 meters
2. ↑ Hocus pocus. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed June 2, 2017 .