Wolf among wolves (film)

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Movie
Original title Wolf among wolves
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1965
length 410 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Hans-Joachim Kasprzik
script Klaus Jörn ,
Hans-Joachim Kasprzik
production DEFA , KAG “Berlin”
on behalf of the DFF
music Günter Hauk
camera Otto Hanisch
cut Ursula Rudzki
occupation

Wolf unter Wölfen was filmed by Hans-Joachim Kasprzik as a black and white television four-part series based on the novel of the same name by Hans Fallada from 1937 and was first shown on GDR television on March 14, 1964 . It was the first DEFA production to be shown in West Germany, where it premiered on March 6, 1968.

content

Wolfgang Pagel lives in Berlin in 1923. His family has always been fine, but his passion for gambling threatens financial ruin. He and his mother then fell out, especially since in their eyes his planned wedding with the shoe seller Petra is not befitting. When Pagel succeeds at the last moment in raising some money by selling a painting by his father, his girlfriend has already been put on the street by her landlady. Only very inadequately dressed, she was arrested by the police and sent to prison. Pagel fails to help her, and so he gets drunk, which steers his future fate in a new direction. In the restaurant he meets his former superior, Rittmeister von Prackwitz. He lets himself be persuaded to go to Neulohe's estate and work as a supervisor. He had already hired Studmann's hotel employee, who had just become unemployed, as an estate manager.

At the Neulohe manor, Wolfgang Pagel finds himself in a world of pseudo prosperity and decency, in a family and political swamp. Due to his political entanglements, von Prackwitz got into financial difficulties and had to pay the horrific rent to his shrewd, vile father-in-law, the landowner von Teschow. Due to outstanding wages, his workers left the estate, and so von Prackwitz tried to get prisoners out of the penitentiary for the upcoming harvest. After some of the prisoners flee and the police are called in, these workers are also absent. Overall, it can be seen that von Prackwitz is completely unsuitable as a businessman due to his unstable character. Instead of looking for solutions to his problems, he gets lost in arguments and laments about his situation, which is always the other's fault.

Ms. von Prackwitz would like to maintain her standard of living and the orderly circumstances of the past, which are increasingly being lost due to her husband's incompetence. Studmann's estate manager is of great help to her, as he conscientiously fulfills his duties and proves to be an outspoken diplomat and objective negotiating partner. Her fifteen-year-old daughter Violet, who has a secret affair with Freikorps Lieutenant Fritz, brings further unrest to the family business. Lieutenant Fritz is planning a coup against democracy and is blackmailed by the dodgy servant Huberträder, because he has discovered his intentions and the hidden weapons. After the coup failed, Lieutenant Fritz shoots himself because he realizes the pointlessness of it all.

Despite all of Studmann's efforts, the estate cannot be saved financially and he has to leave the company himself without recognition of his achievements. The more things get out of hand at Neulohe, the more Wolfgang Pagel finds his way back to his own inner balance. When he learns that Petra has found a secure job in Berlin and still loves him, he too turns his back on the estate after the Prackwitz family catastrophe and goes back to Berlin. There he makes up with Petra and also with his mother. They are proud to have endured this difficult test and to be reunited. They have made experiences, gained insights, learned from mistakes, and now face their future with a modest but contented existence.

Production details

With a total length of 410 minutes, the film was produced in four parts and as a black and white film:

episode title Film length First broadcast
(GDR)
1st chapter The city and its restless people 107 minutes March 14, 1965
Part 2 Sultry over the land 88 minutes March 16, 1965
3rd part The devil's hussars are coming 84 minutes March 18, 1965
4th part End and beginning 128 minutes March 21, 1965

The shooting took place in Berlin , Brandenburg , Frankfurt (Oder) and the DEFA studios in Babelsberg .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Transmission data from the Internet Movie Database , accessed on February 24, 2016.
  2. ↑ Filming locations from the Internet Movie Database , accessed on February 24, 2016.