We child prodigies
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | We child prodigies |
 | |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1958 |
| length | 108 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Kurt Hoffmann |
| script |
Heinz Pauck Günter Neumann |
| production | Film construction GmbH, Göttingen ( Hans Abich Rolf Thiele Eberhard Krause ) |
| music | Franz Grothe |
| camera | Richard fear |
| cut | Hilwa from Boro |
| occupation | |
| |
Wir Wunderkinder is a German film adaptation from 1958 by director Kurt Hoffmann . The film is based on the satirical novel of the same title by Hugo Hartung , published in 1957, and was produced by Göttingen Filmaufbau GmbH Göttingen . The main roles are cast with Johanna von Koczian , Hansjörg Felmy , Wera Frydtberg and Robert Graf .
action
The viewer follows the life of the young Hans Boeckel over 40 years (1913 to 1957): from the - supposed - meeting of his classmate Bruno Tiches with Kaiser Wilhelm II to the Federal Republic of Germany's economic boom .
Boeckel becomes a journalist , loses his position during the time of National Socialism - which he considers to be a temporary phenomenon - as expected. His first friend Vera von Lieven emigrated with her father, as did his Jewish school friend Siegfried Stein. Boeckel gets to know Kirsten, a Danish woman, who takes a seat on his lap with the words: “I am a Danish woman.” Finally she brings him to Denmark , where they both get married. Kirsten and her family help him through the difficult times until he can finally work successfully for a newspaper again in the 1950s .
His story is contrasted with that of his sinister school friend Bruno Tiches, who makes it with opportunism from the Nazi functionary to the black marketeer to the general director. In 1955 he was again one of the dignitaries in Germany and was even considered one of the inventors of the German economic miracle.
When Boeckel writes an article in which he explains what he thinks of Tiches, namely nothing, his former school friend appears at Boeckel's superior and demands a revocation. However, Boeckel does not even think of revoking the truth. In a rage, Tiches leaves the editorial office, pulls the elevator door open - without noticing the warning sign - and Bruno Tiches heads downhill, this time for good. Many older men with black top hats and petrified faces are at his funeral. The funeral speech of the Ministerial Council even ends with the words: "We want to continue living in his spirit."
Production notes
Shooting began on May 13, 1958. The interior shots were taken in the Bavaria Atelier in Munich-Geiselgasteig, the exterior shots in Munich , Verona , Sicily and Denmark . Scenes with Helmut Brasch were not used in the finished film. The premiere took place on October 28, 1958 in the Sendlinger Tor-Lichtspiele in Munich.
rating
Wir Wunderkinder is (alongside Rosen for the Public Prosecutor , Wolfgang Staudte , and Die Brücke , Bernhard Wicki , both 1959) one of the few West German films of the 1950s that critically deals with the Third Reich . The film assumes a certain powerlessness of the decent, who had nothing to oppose the rise of the immoral and stupid Nazis . The fact that even in the post-war period “force majeure” had to be used to put the villain Bruno Tiche in his place is to be understood both as a criticism of contemporary society and as a resignation to the inevitably stronger opportunists .
The cabaret framework of the two narrators, Wolfgang Neuss and Wolfgang Müller, is remarkable : using old cinema techniques , sitting on a stage in front of the film-in-film screen , they present the individual scenes from Boeckel's story, chapter by chapter: Neuss explains the images, Müller underlines she musically on the piano. This nostalgic method quickly proves to be a suitable way to counter the dramatic story of Boeckel with polished exchanges of words and biting songs and to add numerous tips against typical German ways of life.
In the Illustrierte Film-Bühne / United with the Illustrierte Film-Kurier No. 4456 , Boeckel and Tiches were classified as follows on page 4:
- Hans Boeckel is described as a person of “decent disposition and cheerful disposition”. Bruno Tiches, on the other hand, has “the attitude that is currently in demand and a mind only when it is of use to him”.
- As a schoolboy, Hans did his job well, but also committed stupid things for which he was of course punished. Bruno, on the other hand, saw his job as doing stupid things for which he was then rewarded on top of that.
- At the time of inflation, Hans sold newspapers “in order to be able to study right and wrong”. He did not know whether the newspapers belonged to the “right or the left”. Bruno, on the other hand, sold stocks and foreign currency during the inflation "in order to be able to live well and dearly". He deserved a lot because "his right hand didn't know what his left had just done".
- When Hans fell in love, it was not easy for him, because he only fell in love with girls who were serious. On the other hand, when Bruno fell in love, he wasn't serious. Because his choice fell only on easy girls.
- Hans was a civilian. His favorite song is characteristic: Joy, beautiful spark of the gods . Bruno adorned himself with a splendid uniform. His favorite song was: O you beautiful Westerwald .
- Hans lost his position "because he couldn't stand at attention" and wanted to. Bruno “stood at attention for a long time until all positions were lost”.
- After the war, thanks to the German economic miracle, Hans was able to achieve something again. But Bruno was also able to do that, that's a “German miracle”.
- Hans could be described as a “typical German”, but this also applies to Bruno.
criticism
“An imaginative ironic film with weighty intentions and in some cases excellent approaches to satire, but on the whole serving more to amuse the audience than to gain knowledge of time and self. At least worth seeing. "
“Unsentimental, partly cabaret study of the pre- and post-war period in Germany; A nuanced view of the times and a grandiose parade of old and new stars in German cinema. [...] A statement on the 'economic miracle' full of seriousness and irony. (Rating: 3½ stars - exceptional) "
Awards
- We Wunderkinder received the 1960 Golden Globe Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category .
- As early as 1959, the film was awarded the German Film Prize in silver and prize money of 80,000 DM. Robert Graf also received the Federal Film Prize in silver ( Best Young Actor ) for his performance .
- Gold medal of the 1st Moscow International Film Festival 1959.
- Predicate valuable from the film evaluation office
literature
- Hugo Hartung : We child prodigies. The nevertheless cheerful novel of our life . Piper, Munich and Zurich 2000, ISBN 3-492-22960-3 .
- Dieter Krusche, Jürgen Labenski : Reclam's film guide. 7th edition, Reclam, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-15-010205-7 , pp. 617f.
- Michael Wenk: “Aren't we wonderful?” Kurt Hoffmann's film satire “Wir Wunderkinder”, the “nonetheless cheerful story of our life” . In: We prodigies. 100 years of film production in Lower Saxony . Society for Film Studies, Hanover 1995, pp. 65–78.
Web links
- We prodigies in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Wir Wunderkinder at filmportal.de (including premiere poster, photos)
- Staff and cast list at deutscher-tonfilm.de ( memento from December 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- We Wunderkinder (Kurt Hoffmann, 1958) at historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de
Individual evidence
- ^ CineGraph - Lexicon for German-language film - Kurt Hoffmann
- ^ We Wunderkinder In: Handbook V of the Catholic film criticism, 3rd edition, Verlag Haus Altenberg, Düsseldorf 1963, p. 491
- ↑ Wir Wunderkinder at Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , p. 936