Wenn die Glocken hell erklingen

The usual one-dimensional life in the Heimat is this time centered around the shrill voices of the Viennese Boys Choir without no one around to keep them from singing, on the contrary. The story is as simple and exciting as the snow on the mountains and excessively sentimental. Direction and acting are poor. There is, however, one scene (the father talking about his horse with his daughter's lover, who thinks that the father is talking about his fiancee) that is side splitting funny; maybe Willy Birgel thought: Let's do at least one scene worthwhile.

Dated from 1959 this movie captured the spirit of the time and audience in Central Europe. After the trauma of World War II this region craved for romance and feel-good stories. "Wenn die Glocken hell erklingen" delivered exactly that. Casting the world famous Wiener Saengerknaben as the troop of children going on a holiday camp, lifted the film to a higher level. Their vocals are a delight and the 'Panis Angelicus' is executed brilliantly. Criticasters in modern times would say that their singing is not relevant to the story. But this misses the whole point of the movie. It is the story that is irrelevant, as long as it made the audience feel good. The Alpine scenery of the movie is breathtaking, although the acting is average and not above the level of present-day soaps. However, the potential of the actors does shine through. Michael Ande, playing the young boy 'Mecki', went on to a great career in acting as is shown elsewhere here on IMDb. In all, given the fact that it was made low budget and that the movie is certainly outdated, it is nevertheless a worthwhile testimonial of its time.