A film strong and beautiful enough to live in my memory many years after the one time I saw it in college. It presents a highly atmospheric tapestry of comedy, drama and sweeping photography depicting life in postwar Germany, and is eminently deserving of release on video (or DVD). Its emergence in revival is extremely rare; what goes?
3 Reviews
A Most Extraordinary Film Seen When I Was Young
konglau38 August 2007
This is a most extraordinary film seen when I was young. Remember it must have been in the early 1960s, when Mao was hatching the Cultural Revolution, and it was dubbed into Mandarin by the Shanghai Film Studio. I can clearly remember that I saw the film in Shenyang with the Chinese title Tiancai (Genius), in Northeast China, and one of the Chinese actresses doing the dubbing was my ex-girlfriend, Zhu Xijuan who had then already gained prominence through her leading role in the Red Detachment of Women Hongse Jiangzi Jun (that was why I broke up with her.)
Could not find the film in any of my searches on Chinese sites (CORRECTION: since initial posting, I did find some information of this film on a couple of mainland Chinese sites using the German title 'Wir Wunderkinder', but with no mention that this film had already been dubbed into Chinese several decades ago, neither could the film be found by using the Chinese title in searching.) and I don't feel surprised at all. What struck me most at the time of viewing was the similarity of social atmosphere during the rise of the Third Reich with that of China just before the Cultural Revolution. There is no DVD/VCD production of this film now in China (although pirated versions of Western films are very common) and I think Chinese censorship may be part of the cause. After all, the Chinese translation and dubbing then were all very effective, it stirred my awareness then, what would happen if Chinese audiences got infected with such liberal ideas now?
Really hope a DVD version of this film can be made so I can ask my daughter (she's abroad) might get a copy for me when I'm still able to watch it.
Could not find the film in any of my searches on Chinese sites (CORRECTION: since initial posting, I did find some information of this film on a couple of mainland Chinese sites using the German title 'Wir Wunderkinder', but with no mention that this film had already been dubbed into Chinese several decades ago, neither could the film be found by using the Chinese title in searching.) and I don't feel surprised at all. What struck me most at the time of viewing was the similarity of social atmosphere during the rise of the Third Reich with that of China just before the Cultural Revolution. There is no DVD/VCD production of this film now in China (although pirated versions of Western films are very common) and I think Chinese censorship may be part of the cause. After all, the Chinese translation and dubbing then were all very effective, it stirred my awareness then, what would happen if Chinese audiences got infected with such liberal ideas now?
Really hope a DVD version of this film can be made so I can ask my daughter (she's abroad) might get a copy for me when I'm still able to watch it.
Solid watch overall
Horst_In_Translation4 July 2016
Warning: Spoilers
"Wir Wunderkinder" or "Aren't We Wonderful?" is a West German German-language film from 1958, so this one will have its 60th anniversary two years from now. It is in black-and-white and runs for approximately 105 minutes. The director is Kurt Hoffmann and the two writers are Heinz Pauck and Günter Neumann. They adapted Hugo Hartung's novel and the writer is also known for Piroschka and the movie starring Lilo Pulver. But back to this one here. Looking at the year, it should not be surprising to anybody that Germany was still trying to come to terms with what happened in the last 25 years and this is also very true for film and for this film in particular. However, parts of the film also take place before the Nazi regime and after it, so it is not all about this dark time. And in general, this film here is quite different, because it is, despite the occasionally serious context, a comedy through and through. It reminded me occasionally of an old black-and-white version of "Goodbye Lenin" perhaps. The humour is similar. Sadly, I did not care as much for the characters as I hoped I would, which keeps me from giving it a better rating. But it was still a fairly rewarding watch and it is one of those rare solid films from 1950s Germany, especially interesting to people with an interest in the era and historic context. Worth checking out. Thumbs up.
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