Heißer Sommer

Imagine Frankie and Annette taking a vacation with nine guys and 10 girls. Now imagine them as Communist youth, spreading the joys of collectivism and the freedom to have sex with whomever they please! Unbelievably catchy songs, surreal choreography (including dancing haystacks), and a kitschy script make this a must-see for anyone who loves tractor musicals.

Well what can be said of the 'Socialist Musical'? When I saw this film advertised on Television, I was looking quite forward to it. I was expecting to sit down to 90 minutes of East Germans caroling their voices in soaring melodies extolling the heroic virtues of a glorious Socialist future, beaming faces carrying portraits of Lenin and Walter Ulbricht while farmers tilled the soil in song and factory workers rode out the latest Trabant Triumph. However, I was sadly disappointed.

Hot Summer, as it is called in English, is a delightfully bland East German musical made in 1967. The star of the film, Chris Doerk was somewhat of an East German pop star and this film was her vehicle. Basically Hot Summer deals with a group girls and a group of guys all off to the Baltic sea to enjoy their summer holidays. They've got the check-mini skirts, the patent leather shoes and these guys and girls are going to Rock and Roll their way into the 60's in East Germany. And it doesn't get much better.

The separate groups of guys and girls decide to have a competition and see who can arrive at the Baltic sea from Berlin first. I can't remember who won, but it wasn't important. What was important was the dramatic storyline. The guys decide to play tricks on the girls and then snogg (Kiss) them and vice versa. And there were the songs, slotted in at every available opportunity, and proceeded to become downright annoying. But hey, that's Socialism. The storyline was absolute drivel and dragged on considerably. I'm convinced the Production crew lost the script and ended up just re-using scenes. However, the scene where one of boys appears at the door to a barn wearing tight black jeans, plaid shirt, teddy boy hairdo and thumb firmly planted in his belt loop while his hips gyrate so fast it would have earned him an Order of Lenin singing some dreadful song is a scene definitely worth seeing.

If you like chick flicks and an adorable cast plus bubble gum entertainment, this might be a movie for you. It's a cult classic here in the Neue Bundesländer and my parents even owned the soundtrack back in the 1960s and 1970s. Don't expect so much GDR-stereotypes but Musical-stereotypes in general. The film was filmed in the region I grew up in so it's way nostalgia for me - even though I was born in 1981. The stars - Chris Doerk and Frank Schoebel - were an item back then and very popular actors/singers in the GDR. This movie has been turned into a stage musical for the summer 2005 season and it'll take place by the Baltic sea. I am sure that all the (old and new) fans are going to come out and enjoy the show.

This is undoubtedly the worst movie I've ever seen. I can't get it through my brain how a director could seriously produce such rubbish. The film has no plot, there is no character development, the choreography is nothing better than third-grade mimicking, the throw-away music is absolutely atrocious and, well, whatever else needs to be considered when judging the quality of a film, is without a doubt terrible here too.

I wonder how the director was able to sleep to night.

I finally decided to watch this movie because I am highly interested in East German cinema (by DEFA). Most of the GDR's best-known movies are usually set during WWII or its after effects with heavy communist leanings. I have not had time to watch several "Red Westerns" that I own, but dramas such as "Jacob the Liar" and "Naked Among Wolves" were quite masterfully done, so I was eager to watch something different from the good ol' East German studio.

"Hot Summer" just seemed so strange: a teenage musical coming from a Communist country, one not completely known for being "fun" in any way, and I was surprised with this movie. Of what I have read (no, I haven't seen the documentary noted in other reviews), the lead actors in this movie had made several of these "beach musicals," all of which were popular, but banned from distribution by the state. I guess the authorities finally decided to produce a musical, and the restrictions are noticeable within the movie (the "law" student needed to remind the other teens about what is illegal, the co-ops reigning supreme, the equality between women and men with NO outward sex or strong forms of affection).

The movie has to do with a group of boys and girls going to the Baltic for summer break (not quite the Cote d'Azur!). Musical numbers fill and add to the narrative, which includes the story of a boy-crazy girl (Britt) who is being fought over by two of the boys. Other potential relationships are played-down or missing (after all, you need to be controlled, mentally and physically in such a country, so one can only present so much as not to be totally censored for going across the ideologic line).

The movie is set amongst agricultural cooperative and fishing community, of course. The music is quite good (the album was a huge seller in the GDR). The choreography was also excellent. The problem arises from the disjointed story, which is not quite timed right or told clearly (there is barely any real story). I had to replay several parts to understand what was happening. For example, the movie quickly changes from a song and dance musical about boys versus girls to a heavy drama. The mood changes so quickly, I didn't have a chance to truly enjoy the preceding number. After the movie ends, I realized that I wanted more, but, alas, I am watching it through Western eyes, and I have to remind myself it was made in East Germany.

Overall, the movie is more of a novelty, one from the era of a heavy handed government who attempted to make a movie that was far from reality, but maintaining ideological standards. After all, the GDR was not a wonderful utopia. Movies needed to conform to ideology, and individual auteur identity is greatly squelched here. The actors and actresses are quite attractive, but the audience needed those types (much like the USSR needed socialist realist figures), in order to show that "we aren't all that bad!" Historically, it is a fascinating movie!

To me, the best number is the song that really puts down Britt, after she is found to be playing the boys for suckers all along.

One mention: It is unfair to compare this movie to "Grease," and the Avalon/Funicello movies were way to comical and slapstick. This is a different movie, that owes a lot to those types of movies, though. Don't be suckered by the cover.

Not a horrible movie, by far, but not one of the greats from the GDR. The problems are mainly because of censorship and agenda, which restricted personal input and freedom of expression. It is for students of cinema and, perhaps, theatre people looking for ideas through the movie's great music and dance numbers, but not for this casual viewer. The casual viewer would probably want their life back.

6 of 10 for story; 9 of 10 for music and choreography.--------- E.