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This is the first film version of the famous children's book by Johanna Spyri in German language. It tells the story of a little swiss girl who lives with her grandfather Alp-Öhi solitarily in the swiss mountains. Someday Heidi is taken away to Frankfurt/Germany where she makes friends with Clara, a little girl who sits in a wheelchair, but becomes homesick... "Heidi" is a carefully made, affectionate film with good actors and good direction by Luigi Comencini, an Italian director who has had made some film in the neorealistic style and later entertainment films with the best known Italian actors. The film certainly benefits by the fact it was made in Switzerland, where the story in fact takes place. The style of this film is influenced by the visually ambitious so called "Bergfilme" (mountain-films) for example by Arnold Fanckh or Luis Trenker, as well as it seems influenced a little by the style of the Italian "Neorealism". This film version even tells about the social reality of the 19th century. Enjoyable is it's absence of kitsch so many mountain-films as well as children's films are infected by.

A good film. (Much better than it's sequel "Heidi und Peter" which I saw the day after)

On the surface of the story "Der Fall Rabanser" is a solid, quite interesting thriller about a journalist who is suspected of a murder. Director Kurt Hoffmann is known for competent entertainment and for bright comedies, but what is strange and very interesting about this movie is the dark mood which surrounds everything. The characters in it seem secretive, melancholic, as if they were burdened with something from the past. The criminal case entraps innocent people. And above all there is this dismal illumination, the shadows eclipse the faces of the people in their dark rooms and shades the whole scenery. The good cast includes some well known German actors of the times during the WW II and the post war era. Watch out for the 'young' Inge Meysel in a little part, one of Germany's best known television actresses in one of her earlier roles (although she was around forty then) before she became known as Germany's so called "mother of nation" ("Mutter der Nation") in television series and TV movies. A good movie from a period you maybe wouldn't expect it from. 7,5 out of 10.

If you want to see this film it helps being not too attentive. This film has a nice surface which promises an entertaining, adventurous film but unfortunately "Flight from Ashiya" instead is full of clichés, stereotypical characters and of often unintentionally funny story lines. "Highlight" is the story of Yul Brynner which takes part in Africa and which involves a super-exotic woman and a doll's house's Africa. The end of this part of the film is ridiculous and at the same time disgusting and a perfect example of the exploitation of a character for a very cheap effect. The most funny is the pathetic narrative voice-over commentary which claims that everything in this film really happened - which indeed would surprise me... All in all "Flight from Ashiya" unfortunately is a perfect argument for all the people who despises classic Hollywood films for being stereotypical and false, which this film surely is.