Ce diable de garçon

"Die Feuerzangenbowle" is absolutly one of the Best Movies ever and the Best German Movie at all. In my personal Ranking the "Feuerzangenbowle" is under my TOP 8 Movies. Between "The Life of Brian" it's the funniest Movie. It's made during the II. World War near Berlin. At one Time the British and US-Bomber came and at the other Time this Movie was made. Such a funny Movie in such a Dark Time. In the Beginning the Movie was forbidden by the Nazis but the they need every Laugh for the poor German Humans.

The Cast of this Movie it outstanding in the German History. There are not only Stars, no - but every Character is perfect casted. The leading Man Heinz Rühmann is the Best Actor in the History of German Movies. And here he has his Best Part before his Character-Time from the End of the 50s to the End of the 60s. He played the leading Role in the Oscar nominated Movie "The Captain of Koepenick" and a supporting Role - his only Hollywood Movie (he was too old this Time and don't wanted to leave Germany for longer Time) - Stanley Kramer's "The Ship of Fools". The "Halliwell's" means, he is Great in this Movie. It's truly sad for non-German speaking Persons that they can't see his Movies (you can but at the most important Countries like USA, UK, Canada, France, Japan and Australia are non-English or non-Motherlanguage not often shown and seen)

sorry for my bad English (I learn and try - learning by doing)

That a over 50 year old movie would make students of all faculties pour into the campus theatre year after year is a phenomenon. The secret of this films huge success is the message which hardly anybody is able to miss - that school in spite of all the hard work was fun! Remembering one's own school time will cause an emotional state of well-being, and there you have it!

Aside from these factors, the movie's humor is timeless, the actors were very talented and their characters just wonderfully weird. Many people have seen this movie so often they can speak every line - and with larger audiences, the film is starting to evolve into an interactive experience à la Rocky Horror Picture Show, with the audience shouting at the characters and carrying alarm clocks, candles and flashlights into the theatre to switch on in the exact right moment.

If there is one true German cult movie - this is it!

Germany was losing the war, its cities were being bombed to smithereens, so it's easy to see why Goebbels felt the need for quality escapist entertainment like this gentle, funny school comedy.

Heinz Ruhmann plays a successful writer who was educated by tutors and never attended school, and who decides to return to his hometown disguised as a pupil to find out what he missed. What ensues is a lot of sweet-natured tomfoolery, with lots of tricks played on the teachers - something which nearly got the film banned because of its supposedly 'anti-authoritarian' tendencies.

There's no real message except that 'schooldays are the best days of your lives', and perhaps that's its secret - for it remains among the most popular of all film comedies in Germany and is cult viewing around Christmas time. Ruhmann is in his element in this film, but particular mention should go to the wonderful Erich Ponto as the eccentric chemistry teacher, who is quite best thing in the film.

It begins with a group of authors around a bowl of hot punch, reminiscing about their schooldays, the pranks they played, and how the teachers were all good guys anyway. Among their number is Heinz Rühmann, who never had schooldays. He was privately educated and is now a successful poet, novelist, and playwright. He decides he has missed much, so he shaves off his beard and mustache, cuts his hair, and dons a pair of glasses. He next joins a provincial school as a senior, and proceeds to indulge in all the tricks, japes, and escapades that he missed out on.

This is, of course, a chance for 41-year-old Rühmann to offer his audience a grand old time, as he evades the punishment for his skylarking by means of sophistry and taking advantage of the stultified decorum of the institution. His japes are funny, and that alone would be good enough. Yet take a look at the way the teachers are portrayed: a bit stuffy, but good-hearted and with the best interests of their pupils at heart, even if they often don't quite know how to do their jobs. We see the events through Rühmann's eyes, more experienced than his fellow students, and wiser than his unworldly teachers. It's a surprisingly warm comedy.

I've just seen this movie with several german friends and, although my German is really poor and there were no subtitles (only a good friend helping me to understand it), I found it quite a sweet classic film which I feel really happy to have discovered. The simple and yet funny story about a man that "returns" to childhood in order to make all sorts of jokes to the grownups is just so well carried out that, despite not even being german-speaker, can be easily watched with a smile on the face. Sure enough, most of the jokes can't be understood for non-german speakers (and sometimes not even for german themselves!) but the performers play sincerely great roles and at many times a face is worth a thousand words. To sum up, a film I would like to see once again (I hope next time with subtitles, at least ;) and quite a cult-movie in its home country, where many people watch it as a tradition once a year... It's tender, it's sweet, somehow naïve... Eine wuenderschoene Filme, wuerde ich sagen!