People in God's hands (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | People in God's hands |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1948 |
| length | 80 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Rolf Meyer |
| script | Gustav Kampendonk |
| production | Young Film Union Rolf Meyer, Hamburg |
| music | Werner Eisbrenner |
| camera | Albert Benitz |
| cut | Martha Dübber |
| occupation | |
| |
People in God's Hand is a German feature film by Rolf Meyer, made in the summer of 1947, starring Paul Dahlke .
action
The bald farmer Renken was expelled from his clod in East Prussia by the Russians in 1945 and, after a stay in a West German refugee camp, ended up in Lower Saxony, where he wants to start over with his son Karl. This young man is marked by the turbulence of World War II and the early post-war throes. Karl Renken stands between two women: One, his well-behaved, down-to-earth wife Lena, lives on the estate she cultivated during the war in the Lüneburg Heath , has now leased parts of the land and has also taken in refugees. Karl's father wants to make himself useful on site and wants to bring the farm back into shape. The other woman in Karl's life is called Marianne and she served as a news helper during the war. Karl lives with her temporarily in Hamburg.
Lena really wants to bring her husband, who is strolling around the Hanseatic city, home. Karl's relationship with the more sophisticated Marianne is determined by ups and downs and seems to promise the young man more pep than the monotonous life on the farm. Lena travels to Hamburg, she wants to fight for Karl. Both spend a night together in a bunker hotel. When Karl's lover is pushed roughly by her partner, she falls unhappy with her head on the edge of a piece of furniture. Marianne testifies that it was an accident, but dies shortly after being admitted to the hospital. Despite Marianne's testimony, Karl has to go to prison for suspected manslaughter. After serving his prison sentence, Karl meets old Prof. Brach, who found accommodation on his farm run by Lena. He reports that in his absence, his father took care of the farm. Karl then returns home to his clod. His wife Lena has now given birth to a son there.
Production notes
People in God's Hand was created in Lower Saxony in July 1947 and was the first production by the newly founded company Rolf Meyers, the Junge Union-Film based in Bendestorf, Lower Saxony . The makeshift studio was set up in a dance hall in Bendestorf. The outdoor shots were taken in Hamburg, in the Lüneburg Heath and in Brakel .
The film structures were created by Gabriel Pellon , Helmuth Volmer was production manager. The premiere took place on January 27, 1948 in Hamburg. The Berlin premiere took place on April 8, 1948 (West) and September 17, 1949 (East).
People in God's Hands was a huge public hit. The film became a considerable financial success with 3.2 million viewers; Until the currency reform on June 20, 1948, it brought in about 480,000 RM and then 1,010,000 DM.
Reviews
The time found hardly any praising works for Meyer's production debut. There you could read in February 1948: “The German post-war film has courageously tackled the problem of getting away from the dream factory of cheap illusions and spiritually x-raying and illuminating our bitter present. The producers [of] ... 'people in God's hands' also went to work with great seriousness. (...) You actually think you can still feel the enthusiasm and film enthusiasm of the recording staff and the actors. If, despite this, no artistic masterpiece was produced, then this is by no means due to a lack of goodwill, nor is it solely due to the extraordinary material difficulties of production, rather it is due to the fact that in the script the great love of truth took a back seat to the little love for cute trivialization . Shouldn't our post-war fate be tackled where it is most problematic, most glaring and therefore most dramatic, instead of where it is guided by coincidences, remains somewhat equal and mediocre and leads to harmless happy ending? "
For the Lexicon of International Films , this production was a "build-up film with a very superficial conflict resolution, towards the end increasingly less level."
Individual evidence
- ↑ Brief outline of the company's history
- ^ Alfred Bauer: German feature film Almanach. Volume 2: 1946–1955 , pp. 27 f.
- ↑ Income according to the Hanover Film Institute
- ^ Critique in Die Zeit, edition of February 5, 1948
- ↑ People in God's hands. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed June 9, 2019 .
Web links
- The bible story in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- People in God's hands at filmportal.de