Sheriff Teddy (film)

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Movie
Original title Sheriff Teddy
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1957
length 68 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Heiner Carow
script Benno Pludra
Heiner Carow
production Paul Ramacher
for DEFA
music Günter Klück
camera Götz Neumann
cut Friedel Welsandt
occupation

Sheriff Teddy is a German children's film of the DEFA of Heiner Carow from the year 1957 . It is based on the children's book of the same name by Benno Pludra , who was also involved in the script.

action

13-year-old Kalle lives in West Berlin and is the leader of the teddy gang there. In his everyday life as “Sheriff Teddy” he is in charge and with tests of courage and strength he asserts himself against children who undermine his authority and want to become leaders of the gang themselves. One day his parents move with him to East Berlin . Kalle is teased by the gang members because he now has to submit to the system and wear a scarf. In fact, Kalle has a hard time in his new class. He refuses, does not want to introduce himself on the first day of school, questions the historical correctness of the statements of the teacher Friday about the reign of Frederick the Great and attracts the children negatively due to his tendency to violence. In the schoolyard he carries a brass knuckles with him, with which he wants to put his greatest critic Andreas in his place. Andreas knocks the ring out of his hand and takes it when a teacher appears. In class, Andreas drops the brass knuckles on the floor and teacher Freitag confronts him. Andreas claims to have found it and to want to give it up anyway. Kalle, however, accuses him of lying that the brass knuckles belong to him. Teacher Freitag keeps Kalle for a one-on-one interview. Later there was a fight between Kalle and Andreas because Kalle had distributed adventure books in the schoolyard. Teacher Freitag now visits Kalle's parents and speaks to the father. He also sees the guilt in Kalle's big brother Robbi, who has stayed in the western sector and keeps afloat with semi-legal businesses. Later, Kalle's father forces his son to tear up all the books.

Kalle wants revenge on Andreas and activates the teddy gang. Together they want to attack Andreas in the evening, tie him up and hide in a ruin. As a special humiliation, Kalle suggests cutting off Andreas's pants. The gang agrees, but Andreas is not home on the evening of revenge. Kalle, who was supposed to get him out on the street, is invited to dinner by Andreas' mother instead, but leaves after a while in a rush. The gang members call him a liar, as Kalle was with Andreas long enough to warn him. The gang attacked Kalle when suddenly Andreas appeared. He stands by Kalle and drives the gang members to flight. However, one of the boys manages to smash the front door window. Kalle is angry with Andreas and runs away. The next day, Kalle no longer wants to sit next to Andreas at school. However, both boys are marked by the brawl and find something in common that makes them allies in the end. They now meet after school and talk about bicycles, among other things. Andreas is a big fan of bike races and owns a bike that only lacks a decent speedometer. He had saved the money, but instead had to pay for the broken door glass. Kalle is ashamed, especially since Andreas helps him to organize parts for his planned “zone bike”. He wants to buy Andreas a speedometer with his money, but the money is not enough. So he steals the speedometer that is on display in the school's teaching material cabinet and gives it to Andreas. The dizziness comes out and Kalle is exposed in front of the class. The indignant father awaits him at home, who cannot believe that his son is a thief. Kalle takes money and flees to his brother in West Berlin. A few days ago he spoke to him on the street and offered him a job. Now Kalle tries in vain to buy contraband for his brother. His brother sends him off, but changes his mind. Kalle is supposed to help him and his cronies break into an East Berlin factory that makes optical devices. Only Kalle would get into the building because of its size. Andreas overhears the plan and alerts his friends, whom Andreas finally meets at the factory. They face Kalle when he tries to break into the factory. Together they also catch Kalle's brother and his two cronies and alert the police. This arrests brother Robbi and his cronies. Andreas stands up for Kalle, who knocked down his own brother when he attacked Andreas. A little later, Kalle and Andreas meet. Andreas has the finished bike for Kalle with him because he was able to organize the last necessary individual parts for the bike. Kalle proudly does a lap on his own bike and is thrilled.

production

Sheriff Teddy is based on the children's book of the same name by Benno Pludra, who was also involved in the script. The film was shot in Berlin in 1956, including on Rosenthaler Platz and Schlesisches Tor as well as on Friedrichstrasse. The costumes were created by Helga Scherff , the film structures were made by Alfred Tolle . The film had its premiere on November 29, 1957 in the Central House of the Young Pioneers in Berlin. In 2010 it was released on DVD by Icestorm . It was the feature film debut of director Heiner Carow.

The film was initially praised by contemporary critics as a continuation of Gerhard Klein's Berlin series - Alarm im Zirkus , Eine Berliner Romance , Berlin - Ecke Schönhauser ... -. Carow had learned the craft of directing from Klein. After the end of the thaw in the GDR, both Berlin - Ecke Schönhauser ... and Sheriff Teddy were criticized for placing negative heroes at the center of the plot and emphasizing negative everyday aspects (so-called films of the "gray series").

criticism

The criticism of the GDR praised Sheriff Teddy , who captured the "spirit of our youth". The film is "unadulterated and humanly true", it takes the children seriously, belittles them and does not teach and is not patronizing.

The film-dienst praised Sheriff Teddy as "atmospherically precise DEFA children's film that is sensitive to the work with young actors and whose political-pedagogical elements have largely been pushed back." In 1957, Klaus Wischnewski emphasized that "their [the fable ] political tendencies and their educational value [...] arise from their dramaturgical consequence ”.

Current critics wrote that the film has hardly lost any of its tension even today.

literature

  • F.-B. Habel : The great lexicon of DEFA feature films . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-349-7 , pp. 542-543 .
  • Sheriff Teddy . In: Ingelore König, Dieter Wiedemann, Lothar Wolf (eds.): Between Marx and Muck. DEFA films for children . Henschel, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-89487-234-9 , pp. 104-106.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Klaus Wischnewski: A great film - for little people . In: Deutsche Filmkunst , Berlin / DDR, No. 12, 1957, pp. 361–363.
  2. ↑ a b Sheriff Teddy . In: Ingelore König, Dieter Wiedemann, Lothar Wolf (eds.): Between Marx and Muck. DEFA films for children . Henschel, Berlin 1996, p. 106.
  3. ↑ Christoph Funke: Der Morgen , December 3, 1957.
  4. ↑ Rosemarie Rehahn : Young Destiny - Today and Yesterday. DEFA showed "Sheriff Teddy" and "Hunted until morning" . In: Wochenpost , December 14, 1957.
  5. ↑ Sheriff Teddy. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used