Royal Children (1962)

Movie
Original title	Royal children
Country of production	GDR
original language	German
Publishing year	1962
length	89 minutes
Age rating	FSK 12
Rod
Director	Frank Beyer
script	Walter Gorrish , Edith Gorrish
production	Hans Mahlich DEFA : Artistic Working Group "Red Circle"
music	Joachim Werzlau
camera	Günter Marczinkowsky , Karl Drömmer (second camera)
cut	Hildegard Conrad
occupation
Annekathrin Bürger : Magdalena Armin Mueller-Stahl : Michael Ulrich Thein : Jürgen Marga Legal : Mother Seifert Charlotte Küter : Hanna Bartels Monika Lennartz : Katja Gertraud Krei giving : Ursula apprentice Natalja J. Iljina : Wera Talla S. Novikowa : female pilot Leonid Svjetlow : Sascha, Soviet soldier Nikolai J. Lukinov : Soviet major Walter Lendrich : Schröter Günter Naumann : Soldier Herbert Fred Delmare : Soldier Albert Erik Veldre : Soldier Hans Manfred Krug : Captain

Königskinder is a DEFA film by Frank Beyer from 1962.

action

Magdalena and Michael are children of Berlin working-class families. When Michael was sentenced to 15 years in prison after he came to power because of his underground work in the KPD , Magdalena took over his duties, but was quickly exposed. Jürgen, a former friend who has joined the SA , wants to warn Magdalena, but he only speaks on the phone to her mother, who does not understand his warning because he cannot speak freely. More by chance, Magdalena escapes the SA men and goes into hiding. Jürgen desperately involved in the SA operation.

Michael had to serve in a punishment battalion in 1943 . Here he meets Jürgen again, who has meanwhile become a non-commissioned officer. The punishment battalion is characterized by mutual distrust of the soldiers, Jürgen cannot choose between the joy of seeing his old friend again and the fear of attracting attention. There is mistrust between the former friends from the start. Nevertheless, Jürgen saves Michael’s life when he is denounced by a comrade because he wanted to know what “Don't shoot!” Means in Russian, without Michael finding out that he will be saved. In a trench there is an argument between Michael and Jürgen, which ends with Michael knocking down his old friend and overflowing with the Red Army . Shortly thereafter, he returns on behalf of a Soviet commander and persuades his troops to surrender, thus saving them from a massive Soviet attack and certain doom. Here Michael learns from Jürgen about the rescue from denunciation.

Michael hopes to find Magdalena in Moscow , but just as he and Jürgen arrive there in friendship again, she leaves Moscow to jump as a partisan via Königsberg .

Remarks

Frank Beyer himself described the story as follows: “The story of the royal children takes place in a much wider dramatic fable. It swings from the simplest human situation to the extreme dramatic escalation under the laws of the brutal fascist war. ” , Frank Beyer in Progress-Dienst, No. 23/62

Web links

• Königskinder in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Königskinder at filmportal.de
• Königskinder in the lexicon of international film
• Royal children at the DEFA Foundation

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Release certificate for royal children . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , November 2009 (PDF; test number: 44 0V V).
2. ↑ top-videonews.de: Königskinder, GDR 1962 (accessed on November 25, 2009)
3. ↑ cinema.de: Königskinder - About this film (accessed November 25, 2009)
4. ↑ russian-dvd.de: Königskinder (accessed November 26, 2009)