As Far Your Feet Can Take (1959)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title as far as your feet take you
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1959
length 347 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Fritz Umgelter
script Fritz Umgelter
production Walter Pindter , NWRV television Cologne
camera Jochen Maass , Walter H. Schmitt
cut Marie Anne Gerhardt
occupation

As far as your feet can carry is a German multi-part TV series from 1959 based on the novel of the same name by Josef Martin Bauer .

In 2001, a film version of the material was also made, see As far as your feet carry (2001) .

action

This six-part series is a faithful film adaptation of the book. However, some parts of the plot are only addressed while they are described in detail in the novel, for example the story of Troell's first unsuccessful escape attempt or the report about fellow prisoner Willi Bauknecht, who initially managed to escape via the Bering Strait to Alaska But then it was extradited back to the Soviet Union by the then still allied Americans .

The film ends with Erich Baudrexel, who recognizes his nephew and whose words are: "You are a completely different person."

effect

This first film adaptation of the novel by the director Fritz Umgelter was an attempt ten years after the return of many prisoners of war to make this section of history understandable. The series had features of a documentary , although it had a feature film character according to the script. It wasn't until 2010 that research into a radio feature revealed inconsistencies in the novel that could question whether the story actually happened that way.

For three generations of viewers , the series acted as a “ street sweeper ” who dominated the conversations for weeks. In 1959 it was the first big crowd puller of the young German television and the first resounding success of a television series. It is noteworthy that the individual episodes did not have the same length, as was common later on. The shortest episode (4) had 47 and the longest (1) 86 minutes.

Reviews

“'As far as the feet can carry' was the first real German television production and offered not only exciting entertainment, but also 'balm' for the soul of the people, as an innocent German was shown in the role of a war victim. So the production also fit ideologically into the climate of the Cold War era without offering too much political explosive. The series wrote a piece of television history and for several decades was at the upper end of the popularity list of a German television program guide. "

- Lexicon of international film

production

Filming took a good five months. The interior shots were shot in the Bavaria Studios in Geiselgasteig , the exterior shots in Finland and in the Swiss mountains. In Bavaria, the main locations were the power plant in Burghaig, a district of Kulmbach , and the sawmill of the spinning mill in Mainleus . Ernst Lipkowsky was a member of the board of directors and operations manager of the spinning mill and Fritz Umgelter's father-in-law.

literature

Web links

supporting documents

  1. ↑ "As far as your feet can carry". A world success - poetry and truth ( Memento from October 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), text on the radio feature , Br-online.de .
  2. ↑ As far as your feet can carry. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed January 21, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. ↑ Already once Film Set , No. 23, Volume 60 March 23, 2015.