Fräulein

Some of the great movies of all time such as "Gone With the Wind", "Doctor Zhivago" and "War and Peace" have set their characters adrift against a backdrop of momentous historical events.

"Fräulein" is certainly set against awesome historical events, but the filmmakers seem to have tackled the drama with one hand tied behind their backs - and the old Hollywood Production Code probably did much of the tying.

The film is set in Germany at the end of WW2. Erika Angermann (Dana Wynter), a young German woman encounters an escaping American prisoner, Major Foster MacLain (Mel Ferrer) who plays a significant role in her life. She flees from the Russian zone to the American Zone and undergoes many of the things women in Germany experienced at the end of the war. The sense of degradation and humiliation visited upon the defeated nation is touched on in a number of sequences.

However Erika's episode with the Red Army stretches credulity. Although upwards of 2,000,000 German women were raped by the avenging Red Army, Erika manages to stay chaste, miraculously slipping through their fingers, despite being so eye-catching that in reality she would probably have been the object of a full-scale pincer movement.

The film was based on a novel that had a harder edge, but of course a Hollywood movie in 1956 had to tone things down. Even with those limitations, more could have been done to capture a sense of the great upheaval and dislocation of millions of people that took place. Despite some footage shot on location, the direction and photography for the most part is pedestrian.

A few sequences do resonate: Erika briefly seen as one of the Trümmerfrau or rubble woman; Lt. Hugo Von Metzler (Helmut Dantine), the once proud officer reduced to making lampshades; the cruel way in which Erika is set up as a prostitute by people she trusted.

Dana Wynter (who was born in Germany) was an actress who made an impression on me growing up in the 1950's ("Something of Value", "D-Day the Sixth of June"); she seemed the epitome of beauty and elegance. Maybe Hollywood didn't know what to do with her; surely she should have become a bigger star.

"Fräulein" is interesting for the time in which it was set and its beautiful star. Unfortunately it settled for being a romance rather than something more telling.

Despite Fassbinder's admiration for Douglas Sirk this glossy production in colour and 'scope by his compatriot Henry Koster more closely resembles the younger director's 'The Marriage of Maria Braun' than anything Sirk himself made (which might not be mere coincidence since leading man Mel Ferrer was later in Fassbinder's 'Lili Marlene').

Because allegiances had switched in the intervening ten years since the time in which it was set the Russians are far less attractively portrayed than the Germans; but at least Theodor Bikel gets to sing!

would like to buy this in DVD or VHS any inf. on this. when will this be out on the things i mentioned. i enjoyed this movie. this is one of the better movies that was made. so if you can help me to purchase this movie i would appreciate it very much. thank you for letting me make a comment on this movie. i cannot say enough about these old movies they should have more of them on DVD or VHS. i do not know why they are not putting all the old movies on DVD or VHS you would or could make a lot of money. because there are a lot of old folks that would buy these movies. when i was a young man i have seen a lot of movies if they were on tape i would not hesitate to buy them. i was also looking for the tarzan movies with johnny weissmuller. all of them not just 6 they have out now. thank you again

I liked this sweet, but caustic movie of post-World War II. It could be tearful for others besides me, but I think that people who like this type of movie will also enjoy this film. So many people were caught up in similar circumstances during this war and afterward and is very similar to some situations in Korea and Vietnam. It is basically a love story, but full of pathos and irony that was so typical of the times of WWII and afterward. Some reviewers may take issue with the tale of a German girl helping a US soldier, then being held by the communists, but it is a mere sidestory to the true love story that exists in the story and film. f you liked the following movies: From Here to Eternity - Hiroshima, Mon Amour - Love is A Many Splendored Thing - Sand Pebbles, then you will enjoy Fraulein.

Dana Wynter had presence ( not all actors do ) and I feel she was vastly underrated. Here she is given the lead in a film that attempts to reconstruct Germany at the time of its defeat, and the advance of the Soviets into Berlin. With the brutal death of her father in Cologne Erica goes to Berlin, and there inadvertently enters a house of prostitution. Interestingly told it is full of stereotypes ( less for the Germans than the Soviets ) and this in many ways detracts from the films serious approach. Perhaps Koster was not the right director, but the scenario borders on the sensationalist aspect of the Soviets, and that in the main was their need to rape any woman on sight, including of course Erica. Mel Ferrer ( not the best actor ) is the G. I. who comes like a shining knight to save her, and here end of spoilers. Filmed well in Cinemascope there are good moments, but it is Dana Wynter's film and in my opinion she carries it more or less single handed to a higher level. Another ' lost ' film that I accidentally saw on television. Worth seeing but on my part with deep reservations about authenticity.