Millstone around the neck
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Millstone around the neck |
| Country of production | GDR |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1958 |
| length | 73 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Frank Vogel |
| script |
Max Walter Schulz Frank Vogel Wolfgang Ebeling (Dramaturgy) |
| production | DEFA |
| music | Gerd Natschinski |
| camera | Erich Gusko |
| cut | Friedel Welsandt |
| occupation | |
| |
Klotz am Bein is a German DEFA film comedy directed by Frank Vogel from 1958.
action
The construction of five houses for a workers' housing association has been delayed due to a lack of workers . It is winter and foreseeable that the houses will be finished by autumn at the latest. However, this takes too long for the young electrician Gustav. He is frustrated and finally wants to live in his own four walls. So far he has lived with his wife Christl, a saleswoman, with his in-laws as a sublet. One day he receives a visit from his aunt Minne, who informs him that he has inherited an apartment building from his deceased aunt Erna that is worth 12,000 marks. He is delighted that a house is even better than an apartment and that he is no longer dependent on membership in the building cooperative. The house turns out to be a dilapidated old building, lacking furniture and neither water nor electricity. Christl refuses to move into the building and begs Gustav to lean on the inheritance. However, he ignores all warnings, announces his exit from the cooperative and in the end moves into the house alone.
Gustav starts renovating the house with the help of his father-in-law Weber, but father Weber does more damage than it would be useful. After a chimney broke and a water pipe was hacked through improper digging by Weber, Gustav had enough. Father Weber is also upset because Gustav has called him a "bungler" and now refuses to work on the house. Gustav not only has problems with the house, but also with Aunt Minne: According to the will, she is entitled to a cash sum of 5,000 marks because Gustav received the house. Gustav cannot raise the money, however, and so Minne finally turns to a lawyer.
Christl reconciles with Gustav, who sees this as her consent to move into the house. He secretly moves all the furniture from her room in Weber's apartment into the house, which now appears much more homely. Christl is forced to move into the house. Gustav tries to terminate his membership in the building cooperative several times, but his friend Willi does not accept leaving: like everyone else, he worked and paid and should not just throw away his work; Willi hopes that after a while Gustav will start to see reason.
Winter is finally drawing to a close and it is starting to thaw. The meltwater penetrates through the roof of the dilapidated house, soaks the ceilings and finally drips into the makeshift living area of Gustav and Christl. Now Gustav also realizes that the house is not habitable. With father Weber he begins to move the furniture out of the house. Christl is now organizing support and Willi is immediately ready to help transport the furniture with a truck. Gustav accepts himself again as a member of the building cooperative, which is entitled to his own apartment this year. Aunt Minne's demand for 5,000 marks is fulfilled differently than she thought it would be: she receives the house key for the old building, as Gustav refuses the inheritance.
production
Klotz am Bein was Frank Vogel's directorial debut, for which he also received the directorial diploma. The film was shot in 1958 under the working title Der sparsame Gustav . Helga Scherff created the costumes, Artur Günther designed the film . Klotz am Bein premiered on November 14, 1958 in the DEFA-Filmtheater Kastanienallee in Berlin's Prater and was shown in GDR cinemas on the same day. The ORB showed the film on December 13, 1993 for the first time on German television.
criticism
The Berliner Zeitung recognized the “connection of the fluctuating elements with a basic social idea”, but found the film to be superficial and “quite undemanding”. Frank-Burkhard Habel described the film as a “thin-blooded comedy” and the film dienst as a “artistically rather poor comedy”.
literature
- Block on the leg . In: F.-B. Habel : The great lexicon of DEFA feature films . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-349-7 , p. 330.
Web links
- Ball and chain in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Block on the leg at filmportal.de
- Block on the leg at the DEFA Foundation
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b block on the leg . In: F.-B. Habel: The great lexicon of DEFA feature films . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, p. 330.
- ↑ Klotz am Bein on defa-stiftung.de
- ↑ HUE: [block on the leg] . In: Berliner Zeitung , November 19, 1958.
- ↑ Block on the leg. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .