Full heart and empty pockets

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title Full heart and empty pockets
Original title Full of hearts and empty pockets
… e la donna creò l'uomo
Country of production Germany , Italy
original language German
Italian
English
French
Publishing year 1964
length 100 minutes
Age rating FSK 18
Rod
Director Camillo Mastrocinque
script Franz Antel
Kurt Nachmann
Edoardo Anton based
on a story by
Otto Roskowitz
production Franz Antel
Giuliano Simonetti
music Ennio Morricone
camera Riccardo Pallottini
cut Adolph Schlyssleder
occupation

Full heart and empty pockets is a German-Italian comedy film made in Rome in 1963 with massive swipes at Italian mentalities, corruption and moral concepts. Under the direction of Camillo Mastrocinque , Thomas Fritsch plays a modern Hans im Glück ; at his side, Alexandra Stewart and Senta Berger take on the leading female roles.

action

The young German Rik Hofer has been living in Rome for three months without having achieved anything there. One day luck smiles at him on the Via Veneto when he is 10,000. Becomes a guest in a restaurant where he actually only wanted to eat two plates of spaghetti. The restaurant chef hands him the prize of 50,000 lire, and Rik can also choose a meal of his choice. The young, blonde journalist Laura sits down next to Rik, hoping to get at least a little story from the somewhat shy foreigner for the local section of her newspaper, La voce di Roma (The Voice of Rome). A little later, Rik, who is now with some cash for the first time, meets the sophisticated Elga in front of a nightclub, a black-haired Ganovin who pretends to be the innocence pursued by a certain Luigi. Both young people go to the club, while Luigi, who arranged this encounter between Rik and Elga, stays outside the door. In the strip club, Elga tells the naive from Germany a heartbreaking story, and a little later both young people end up in Elga's bed in their apartment. While the crook sent Rik to the bathroom with a request to look for a cigarette, she stole his 50,000 lire from the restaurant. However, Rik observes her with a look in the mirror and gets his own money back, which Elga put in her handbag, at the next opportunity. He accidentally takes a photo with him that shows Elga in a captivating pose with a stranger.

On the way back to his apartment in the early morning, Rik collides with a peddler, who then becomes angry in a hot-blooded Mediterranean way. To appease him, Rik bought him a tube of shaving cream for 1000 lire. Rik discovers a couple in "his" bed in his apartment, which has meanwhile been rented by the landlady. In the apartment of his only friend in Rome, Rik makes two discoveries: He not only stole the said photo from Elga, but also took too much money from her handbag, so that he now has 80,000 lire instead of the 50,000. In addition, the peddler's shaving cream turns out to be shoe polish. There is an advertising tag on the cream tube that says that Rik, as the proud owner of the tube, won first prize in a competition called the “Golden Venus”. The first prize is nothing less than a fancy sports car. Laura is present again at the award ceremony. She and Rik agree to meet for dinner the following evening. When the sports car is handed over to Rik with a kiss on the left and a kiss on the right by Jane, the right-hand man and lover of the company magnate Dottore Botta, Laura is a little jealous. Jane offers to drive Rik home with the car he won because the new owner doesn't have his driver's license with him. At Rik's request, Jane stops shortly in front of Elga's domicile because he wants to give her back the money he stole, but Elga and her boyfriend are already up and away. When a rain shower approaches, Jane and Rik decide to take shelter in their apartment. Freed from their soaked clothes, the two young people also end up in bed.

Jane is a little worried as Botta's lover when he suddenly appears in the love nest while Rik is still sleeping in Jane's bed on the first floor. Knowing the mysterious photo with Elga and the other man, Jane makes it clear to Botta that this young German could still be of use to him and persuades her much older lover to employ Rik in his company, which is in fact highly indebted. The following evening, Laura convinced Rik to decline the job offered by Botta. Instead, he promises Laura to accept her offer and to start at La voce di Roma , where she is also employed. Then both dance out into the Roman night, and Laura and Rik kiss for the first time at a fountain. Before it can come to the 'extreme' in Laura's apartment, where friend Sabine pays attention to morality with eagle eyes, Laura makes sure that Rik makes his way home.

The next day, Rik's lucky streak continues. At the instigation of Jane, who hopes to gain an advantage from Rik's presence, a new company is founded in Botta's office, in which Rik holds a (rather symbolic) percentage of the company. This one percent is donated by Botta himself, the lion's share, 89 percent, is held by an old friend of Botta's, the worn-out poker player Countess Borgia - old and impoverished nobility. Much to Rik's surprise, he is also slated to take on the post of general manager of the company. The pure fool does not yet suspect that it should only serve as a figurehead and front man. With Rik as the group fig leaf, Botta plans to do the really big business without appearing in public himself. Botta wants to get into the state highway construction to Sicily. Botta instructs Jane to send the new "General Manager" Rik a deposit of 800,000 lire on his monthly salary. When Laura learns from Rik that he got an offer from Botta that he couldn't refuse, she is disappointed in him. Botta now only has one important hurdle to overcome if he wants to get hold of the Italian tax money: He has to obtain a road construction permit, which is only granted by the general director of the state road construction company, Dottore Matarassi. Matarassi is the very man in the revealing photo on Elga's side. This photo is worth gold, because the married civil servant can be blackmailed with it.

On behalf of Botta, who demands nothing less than that his girlfriend and right-hand man prostitute himself at Matarassi, Jane immediately goes to the high-ranking state official in order to put him under extortionate pressure. The corrupt Matarassi is willing to cooperate with a 25 percent participation as a bribe and the publication of the compromising photo. Jane trades it down to ten percent, but has to make herself available for a night of love for this discount. Matarassi mentions in passing that he intends to go to Sicily in the sleeping car the following night. Just as “by chance”, Jane appears in Matarassi's neighboring compartment. The documents are exchanged for cash and Jane gives herself completely to the much older gentleman willy-nilly. At the same time Botta is cheating on Jane with his secretary, the wheat-blonde, busty Giulia.

The following day, Jane Botta was able to deliver the happy news that the deal with Masaratti was dry. Company “director” Rik Hofer arrives and briefly puts down his portfolio, which looks exactly like Botta's one (which is no wonder, since both folders were bought by Jane). When Rik leaves the conference room, he takes the folder with him in which Botta Matarassi's high-risk motorway plans with the adjacent properties that Botta has already bought or that have an option to buy are kept with him. Meanwhile, in his office, Rik receives a letter from Laura's friend Sabine. This tells him how sad Laura is about Rik's decision that he got involved with the half-silk entrepreneur Botta. In the evening Rik is received by a Signora Ambrogio Minelli who has ensnared him from the beginning. This very rich lady from Milan's upper class is also clearly very interested in the freeway properties for which Botta has purchase options. Signora Minelli thinks she will have an easy game with the obviously naive German and immediately offers the "company director" to buy the allegedly "completely worthless" land from him immediately. When the billionaire disappears from the room for a moment, Rik discovers that the route plans for the motorway are in his folder. He promptly ends up in bed with Signora Minelli, and both negotiate the sales modalities with the route plan lying in front of them on the bedspread. A sales price of 50 million lire is negotiated between kisses and caresses. The next morning, Rik signs the sales contract. Rik believes he has made the deal of the century and ripped off the Milanese woman, the idiot from Germania. When the betrayed fraudster Botta learns that Rik has sold his "gold mine" for a mere 50 million lire instead of the estimated three billion lire to the Minelli, he is furious and wants to attack Rik when a phone call reaches Jane. She happily passes the message she received from this phone call on to Botta, who was just angry red: The motorway will not be built “and Minelli can turn her property into a cemetery for herself and her dear family,” as Jane remarks maliciously. And once again Rik Hofer is a modern Hans in luck.

Signora Minelli snorts with anger. She believes that Botta deliberately tricked her and calls Laura's boss, Cobbelli editor-in-chief of La voce di Roma , which of course also belongs to the Minelli group. She wants the newspaper to start a whole series of articles against Botta. At the same time, Rik and Laura meet again and talk to each other. It comes to a separation, because Laura realizes that she was obviously wrong about Rik: While he wants to have a career and finds nothing offensive about working for Botta, she expects decency, honesty and sincerity from the man of her life. When she arrives at her editorial office, Cobbelli immediately gives Laura the rush order to start the series of articles against Botta. She's not overly enthusiastic about it because of her old attachment to Rik. From now on, Rik is just as steeply downhill as it was shortly before: Botta's check for a million lire bonus as thanks for the 50 million from Signora Minelli is not covered, the sports car he won was confiscated because Botta denied The supplier of the vehicle could never pay, and then Laura calls him and warns Rik that the series of articles against Botta will also drag him into the abyss. "We have enough documents to pocket him for 200 years," she explains to her ex-boyfriend drastically. Rik, still fair even in an accident, immediately calls Botta and warns him that something is brewing about him.

The next day the newspaper went to press with the headline on the front page: "Botta Gangster No. 1". Rik comes to the print shop to finally say goodbye to Laura and tell her that he is just as broke as he was when they met. Rik explains that he doesn't even have enough money to drive home. Laura then tries to get hold of an advance from her boss to enable Rik to escape from Italy. In the meantime, newspaper owner Minelli has also arrived in Cobbelli's office, sitting on the sofa in good harmony with Botta, who is also present. He pretends that he cannot cloud any water, but he wants to ensure that the article does not appear. Botta still has an ace up his sleeve that is of course typical for him: He's offering a “dirty deal”. After the next parliamentary elections, the influential Minelli could recommend him, Botta, as Undersecretary of State, so that he could also take care of road construction issues. Then the decision against the construction of the motorway would be repealed, he would keep the 50 million lire and the Signora could still make too much money on the currently worthless land, namely the two billion sought after. Both businessmen, who are not very scrupulous, get along brilliantly and, quite partners in crime, take action. Botta withdrew from the business world and went into politics; There is, he is firmly convinced, to get more anyway, as his many years of experience in bribery matters teach him. In fact, the series of articles does not go to press. Editor-in-chief Cobbelli leaves the conference room stunned and informs Laura that she has been dismissed and that she can get her severance payment.

Instead, the next day, La voce di Roma will appear on the cover with exactly the same picture that was intended for the series of reviews of Botta's machinations. Only this time it adorns the headline: "Botta, the coming man of the political renewal of Italy". Disappointed and disillusioned, Laura crumples the new newspaper in the presence of Rik, who can now stay in Italy. However, Rik wants to go back to his father and finally “learn to work properly,” as he explains. But he will return, Rik assures Laura, and then this will be another Rik, “one who might suit you”. The coachman, who accompanied Rik's ups and downs as the narrator in the background, closes this story with the following words: "He may not know it yet, but his real happiness only began at this moment." Then the not-yet-couple becomes drove to the train station.

Production notes

Franz Antel, otherwise mostly a director, acted here as producer and screenwriter and described his work as a modern version on the subject of " Hans im Glück ". Full heart and empty pockets was created with international cast in 1963 in Rome (exterior shots) and in the Bavaria studio in Geiselgasteig (studio scenes) and was premiered on February 27, 1964 in Berlin's marble house.

Carl Szokoll was production manager. Herta Hareiter designed the film structures, Millina Mignone the costumes. Film editor Adolph Schlyssleder also acted as assistant director. Klaus König and Kurt Kodal worked as simple cameramen to head cameraman Riccardo Pallottini . The 25-year-old Manfred Spies made his debut here in front of the camera.

Most of the participants speak their text in their native language. Although she is not a native German speaker, the native Mexican Linda Christian speaks her text in German.

Classification and criticisms

The film plays in an enjoyable way with terms such as morality, pseudo and double standards, modesty, loyalty and youthful naivety and also refers to the presence of everyday corruption in the coexistence of modern Italy. In addition, a smooth transition from sexual libertinage to prostitution is insinuated, an alleged appearance of the times in modern Roman society. One scene particularly illustrates this: when Jane cheats on her lover Botta (on his behalf!) With Matarassi and lets him mate her in the sleeping car immediately after receiving the top secret motorway plans, Botta justifies his own cheating at the same time His willing secretary Giulia - she asks Botta: "Why did you want to go to bed with me?" - with the words: "Oh, you know, actually only because of the remorse. I really love Jane. And if I force them to do something bad, I'll do something bad too ... to compensate. So that we have nothing to reproach each other. ”Giulia's reply, involuntarily sarcastic:“ You both really have to love each other very much. ”Botta sighs and takes a deep breath. Then he says "Yes, without a doubt" and attacks Giulia again.

Especially the Catholic film critics had, as expected, massive objections to full hearts and empty pockets in view of this basic tendency of this film, which was scourged as "amoral" . This and the fact that the blonde, German actress Margaret-Rose Keil can be seen topless for a brief moment in the bed scene with Gino Cervi, probably also explains the high age rating of 18 and over. Here are some individual assessments:

“'Hans im Glück' is an orphan against this Thomas Fritsch. His luck is forged in the beds and luxury apartments of Rome. Not solid enough, however. After a series throw by Fortuna, the charmingly smiling little fellow sits on a director's chair, but unfortunately the director general is a crook and thus the emphatically 'half-silly' career collapses. (...) The random story about a good-for-nothing of today has some amusing scenes and dialogues, but goes more clumsily than pointedly ironic to the 'business level' of dolce vita. Most enjoyable is the way Fritsch jr. with seductive Evas of all types of beauty: Alexandra Stewart, Senta Berger, Dominique Boschero, Linda Christian. "

In Paimann's film lists it says: "So a modern career story in which Thomas Fritsch once again [is] highlighted in a typified manner ... quite amusing ...."

In Films 1962/64 you can read the following: "Modern fairy tale that claims to criticize immorality and corruption, but actually sympathizes with them."

The lexicon of the international film notes: "The attempt at a tongue-in-cheek moral comedy, which, however, with a remarkable external effort, offers nothing more than emotional kitsch and homely eroticism."

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz Antel: Twisted, in love, my life , Munich, Vienna 2001, p. 150
  2. Source: Hamburger Abendblatt, May 27, 1964
  3. Full heart and empty pockets In: Paimann's film lists
  4. ^ Films 1962/64. Critical notes from three years of cinema and television. Handbook VII of the Catholic film criticism. Düsseldorf 1965, p. 188
  5. ↑ A full heart and empty pockets. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed December 10, 2015 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used