Roses for the prosecutor
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Roses for the prosecutor |
 | |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1959 |
| length | 98 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Wolfgang Staudte |
| script | Georg Hurdalek |
| production | Kurt Ulrich |
| music | Raimund Rosenberger |
| camera | Erich Claunigk |
| cut | Klaus Eckstein |
| occupation | |
| |
Roses for the Public Prosecutor is a feature film by the German director Wolfgang Staudte from 1959, which deals with the situation in the German judiciary of the Adenauer era as a biting satire . The leading roles are cast with Martin Held , Walter Giller , Ingrid van Bergen and Camilla Spira .
action
In the last days of the Second World War , Private Rudi Kleinschmidt was defeated by Judge Martial Dr. Wilhelm Schramm accused of stealing two cans of Scho-Ka-Kola chocolate (aviator chocolate). Kleinschmidt defends himself by saying that he bought the chocolate from Dutch black market dealers. Schramm applies for the maximum penalty for theft and degradation of military strength , the death penalty . On the way to the execution at the edge of the forest, Schramm is just signing the judgment to document that it was carried out when the squad was attacked by an enemy aircraft. Schramm and the firing squad flee. The security guard lets Rudi Kleinschmidt escape. On the run, he catches the page of the death sentence swirling through the air with the execution report signed and stamped in advance.
A few years after the war, Rudi was doing more than well as a seller of trick playing cards. In a summer garden he meets two moving truck drivers who want to take him to Hamburg. On the way there they come through a town where Rudi has stopped. He still knows someone here - Lissy Flemming, who has meanwhile risen to the position of owner of a bar and pension, who takes him in. When Rudi praises his trick playing cards on the street, one of the bystanders seems strangely familiar. It is the former judge-martial Schramm, who is now a senior public prosecutor. Schramm had in the denazification his role as the Nazi regime military lawyer concealed and was therefore back in the judicial service adopted .
Schramm still rules at home with authoritarian pre-war views, raves about the "old days", complains about the "American Negro music" on the radio and, looking around furtively, buys the " Deutsche Soldatenzeitung " at the newsstand . A bouquet of white roses was delivered to him that morning. His wife suspects an extramarital relationship, but Schramm reassures her. The roses come from the wife of the Zirngiebel, who was accused of anti-Semitic statements, and are the agreed sign of his successful escape. Schramm was of the opinion that he could not bring charges "because of that"; therefore he withheld the arrest warrant and thereby enabled Zirngiebel to escape.
Schramm also suspects that he knows Rudi and has inquiries made about him. Rudi has found out about Schramm's profession and visits one of his court hearings to take a closer look at him. During the trial, Schramm received a slip of paper with Rudi's personal details. After the trial, Schramm accuses Rudi of “up to something”, but still cannot place him in his past. In the evenings Schramm almost completely loses his temper, because he still doesn't know what's going on with this strange street vendor, when his stepson Werner comes home late and a can of "Scho-Ka-Kola" falls out of his pocket while he is talking to Schramm. Schramm now recognizes who he is dealing with.
The fact that Rudi shows up now of all times, since Schramm's career advancement is in sight, can only mean that Rudi wants to cause him difficulties because of his past. Schramm decides to get rid of him and lets his relationships play. Rudi is threatened by a police officer with flimsy justification that his collection of playing cards will be confiscated if he does not voluntarily leave the city. Rudi agrees, but then decides to stay in town and sell ties on the street. A police officer takes away his business license. Schramm's son followed the police action; without revealing his identity, he warns Rudi that someone has him "on the kieker ". By chance, Rudi learns that this unknown "someone" is Schramm. In the evening, in good company in the inn, he tells three friends about the incident: the erratic insurance agent Haase, the opportunistic businessman Hessel and the slimy building contractor Kugler.
While Haase dictates an armored letter to Schramm's superiors, but doesn't put it in the mailbox, Hessel laments in his shop, which Frau Schramm frequented, but in the end remains inactive. Kugler, on the other hand, goes to Schramm and tells him about the "rumors" that are circulating, and in return expects his commitment to finally get municipal building contracts.
Desperate Schramm is considering bribing Rudi and for this purpose goes the next day to the pension where Rudi lives. He is relieved to find out that Rudi has moved out.
Rudi has since given up and decided to leave the city for good. On the way to the train station, he passes a shop window that is decorated with "Scho-Ka-Kola" cans. On a sudden inspiration, he breaks the window, steals two cans and is promptly arrested. During his interrogation, he explains that he only did this so that "the old thing" could come to light. When Schramm learns of the arrest, he first wants to flee; but then he decides to remove the incriminating death sentence from Rudi's evidence that he always carried in his wallet. So it is impossible for Rudi to prove his accusation. That is why his lawyer implores him to let the matter rest and to accept the punishment for the theft in the upcoming court hearing. Rudi agrees, discouraged.
In the trial against Rudi, Schramm, of all people, represents the prosecution, which he would not have needed in his function as senior public prosecutor for this simple criminal charge. His superior and the president of the court are amazed at this; they decide to attend the hearing as an observer. When he interviewed Rudi, Schramm became more and more nervous. He portrays Rudi's act as not serious, arguing more like a defense attorney, but then gets confused because he remembers the earlier trial before the court-martial and finally accidentally applies for the death penalty. This is how the process finally comes to light. Schramm leaves the courtroom in a panic and walks out of the courthouse in his robe .
In the newspapers, headlines such as “judicial scandal” or the report that the chief public prosecutor has been given leave of absence are reported on the events.
Rudi grabs his things and wants to go back to Hamburg. Of all people, he meets the moving van drivers who were already familiar from the beginning of the film and who take him back with them. Rudi's girlfriend runs after the moving van, and when he sees it in the rearview mirror, he decides not to continue the journey and to stay with Lissy.
Others
Staudte was inspired for this film by the actual case of the Offenburger student councilor Ludwig Zind , who was later sentenced to one year in prison for absent anti-Semitic statements.
The shooting took place in July 1959 in Kassel , Göttingen , Hanover and in the film studio in Göttingen. Although the city of Kassel is clearly recognizable in the film - locations are u. a. the hall Kassel who stepped street , the square in front of the main station, the Florentine court and the Frankfurt road - it is not mentioned. In addition, the city's coat of arms is clearly visible on the sleeve of a policeman who appears in the film.
In some scenes a group of doppelgangers from leading Nazis (Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels and Bormann) gives the chief prosecutor moral support.
The premiere took place on September 24, 1959 in the Hamburg cinema Barke.
Reviews
“With bitter irony, the time-critical film depicts the suppression of the fascist past and the persistence of old authoritarian tendencies in the Federal Republic. Although it lost some of its sharpness and clarity due to numerous concessions to the entertainment cinema of those years, it still remains accurate and constantly up-to-date in key points. Brilliant: Martin Held as a public prosecutor. "
"An important example of cinematic work in the past."
"With the conflict between the two men, Staudte [...] unfolds a bitter, yet very entertaining panorama of 'restored' post-war Germany."
"One of Staudte's last works, you can see the commitment of his earlier films, who were obsessed with the truth."
"Staudte staged an amusing comedy with brilliant acting."
Awards
- 1960: Federal Film Prize in silver for producer Kurt Ulrich (premium: 80,000 DM), for screenwriter Georg Hurdalek and leading actor Walter Giller.
- 1989: Nomination for the Federal Film Prize for Wolfgang Staudte on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany.
literature
- Dieter Krusche, Jürgen Labenski : Reclam's film guide. 7th edition, Reclam, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-15-010205-7 , p. 489
- Gustav Meier: Film City Göttingen. 2nd edition, LVS-Verlag, Northeim 1998, ISBN 3-933804-01-9 , pp. 253-261
Web links
- Roses for the Prosecutor in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Roses for the public prosecutor at filmportal.de (including world premiere posters, photos)
- The killers are over us . In: Der Spiegel . No. 28 , 1959, pp. 72-73 ( online - 2 September 1959 ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.imdb.de/title/tt0053227/locations , http://www.stadtarchiv.goettingen.de/texte/stadtgeschichte_1900_2000.htm
- ^ CineGraph - Lexicon for German-language film - Wolfgang Staudte
- ^ Lexicon of international films (CD-ROM edition), Systhema, Munich 1997. See also roses for the public prosecutor. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed April 28, 2018 .
- ^ Adolf Heinzlmeier , Berndt Schulz : Lexicon "Films on Television" (extended new edition). Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , p. 687 (Rating: 2½ stars = above average!)