Wenn am Sonntagabend die Dorfmusik spielt

Mr. W.P. Zibaso has been responsible for many floppy scripts in post war German movies, but here he has arrived at the lowest point possible. In addition we see bored actors like Rudolf Prack (also at the bottom of his performances), O.E. Hasse (can you believe it?)as a saw-mill owner and other greats from the German genre 'Heimatfilm' of the fifties, like Walter Müller, Ingeborg Körner and a completely disinterested, sluggish director by the name Rudolf Schündler. The story plays in the attractive surroundings of the Black Forrest and is very similar to the smash-hit 'Schwarzwaldmädel' from 1950. Still - one star is the utmost you can consider for this bore.

The way Rudolf Prack and Bruce Low appear in this movie is like we want to keep them in mind: As forever young. - The story is quite parallel to the one of "Schwarzwaldmelodie" (1956), with a mere exchange of cast and characters: In the later movie, Rudolf Prack is replaced by Claus Biederstaedt, while Walter Giller adds profile to the migrant musicians. - Thus, "Heimatfilms" are not for entertainment, but are of high interest to the cultural philosopher and social psychologist.

In this less than mediocre Heimatfilm (Black Forest flavour) about Jonny, a jazz trumpet player, the standard-format story is that poor and worn-out that for at least half of the total time folklore music and dancing and a ditto procession are shown. As another victim of city life (in this case the tax collector) Jonny flees to the Black Forest, but he is that bad a trumpet-player that I wondered why he was not send to the Black Forest long ago.

Rudolf Schünzel's direction is tepid to say the least and shows no interest in the material. During a badly done horse racing sequence a radio-commentator as a voice-over is heard, that made me long for Spike Jones' Feetlebaum. Also the cast, including big names as Hans Stüwe and O.E. Hasse, does not show any interest and is uniformly dull. The unavoidable Heimatfilm star Rudolf Prack as wood-cutter is worse than ever and plays as wooden as the wood he is cutting.

If you are a fan of the music you might be slightly entertained, but listening to a couple of cd's is a good alternative.