Hussars in Berlin
Husaren in Berlin is a German DEFA historical comedy directed by Erwin Stranka in 1971. The film, based on the true events of the Berlin hussar coup, premiered on June 26, 1971 at the Grünau open-air theater in Berlin and was shown on July 16, 1971 GDR cinemas.
action
In 1757, during the Seven Years' War , the Saxon innkeeper Augustin tried to bring his daughter Andrea to Berlin to marry the powder supplier Splitgerber. On the way they are picked up by hussars who are also on their way to Berlin to occupy the city. The young hussar Pali falls in love with Andrea and Captain Hatik is also impressed by the young woman. The hussars want to wait for the consent of the Austrian empress to attack Berlin, but the situation turns out to be favorable, so that the hussars initially advance aimlessly to Potsdam in a chaotic situation and invade Berlin from there.
Since the number of hussars is still quite small, Captain Hadik strategically distributes his men throughout the city, although only two men are posted in one place, but this is intended to simulate superior strength to the Prussians. Augustin has also appeared in town with Andrea. She is now wanted by Pali. In doing so, he rather accidentally succeeds in getting to the mother of the Prussian king and taking her prisoner. In turn, he can deliver the hussars' demands to the rich citizens of the city, including a carriage and a considerable amount of cash. Since the businessmen already suspect how they can get the money stolen from them back from the citizens twice by means of skillful interest payments, everyone is ready to give money to the hussars.
Meanwhile, Augustine tries to get Andrea off Pali. He has been assigned to the castle guard and disguises Andrea as a deserter , whereupon she is drafted into the Prussian army. Pali believes she was shot as a deserter. When the hussars and their men start to storm the royal palace, Pali recognizes Andrea on the other side and they both embrace. Following their example, all the hussars and Prussians are now fraternizing. The king's mother has fled in disguise and the city key that Hadik receives goes from hand to hand, as the hussars know that the victory can only be savored for a few hours. Shortly after the castle was besieged, Hatik withdrew his men. The city key is passed on to Augustin, who gives it to the Prussians and leaves the city with Andrea and Pali. He has now accepted Pali as his son-in-law, especially since Splitgerber once gave his marriage vows while drunk and is actually already married.
criticism
The GDR's contemporary criticism wrote that the film's humor was limited to the “punchy and imaginative dialogue”, for which, however, “the appropriate cinematic expression was not always found”; at times the film is too actionless for the genre.
"The curious [underlying] story resulted in an amusing coat and sword film with the tried and tested Manfred Krug", summarized Frank-Burkhard Habel .
The lexicon of international films wrote: “In addition to the historical fact, the film invents events about love, questionable terms of honor and war profiteering. Unsuccessful attempt at a comedy. "
literature
- F.-B. Habel : The great lexicon of DEFA feature films. The complete documentation of all DEFA feature films from 1946 to 1993. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-349-7 , pp. 257-258.
Web links
- Hussars in Berlin in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Hussars in Berlin at filmportal.de
- Hussars in Berlin at the DEFA Foundation
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hasso Hartmann: A curious story . In: Filmspiegel , No. 15, 1971, p. 8.
- ↑ F.-B. Habel : The great lexicon of DEFA feature films. The complete documentation of all DEFA feature films from 1946 to 1993. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-349-7 , p. 257.
- ^ Hussars in Berlin. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed December 6, 2017 .
See also
- The stolen battle (another film with Manfred Krug about the war year 1757)