Le Capitaine de Köpenick

This true historic story tells a lot of the Kaiser's era as imperator of germany up to 1918. Rühmann prooves being an excellent comedy-actor. By charm spectators are seduced into the first decade of the 20th century, where life had there no witticism, and keep on Rühmann's side in the movie.

The year 1956 marked the high point of the West German film industry. More than 800 million visitors were welcomed in West German cinemas. 264 million tickets (source: InsideKino) were purchased for German-language films alone. German cinema has not experienced such a successful year since. The film of the year was THE CAPTAIN OF KÖPENICK with Heinz RÜHMANN (1902 - 1994) in the title role. Helmut KÄUTNER's film was nominated for the GOLDEN LION at the Venice Film Festival. The following year there was even an ACADEMY AWARD nomination. In West Germany, 14,445,000 visitors saw the film in cinemas, which corresponds to a box office of the equivalent of EUR 8,667,000. A gigantic success!

The play by Carl ZUCKMAYER (premiere: March 5, 1931) struck a chord with the audience in its tragic exaggeration of German deference to authority and enthusiasm for the military. GERMAN FILM AWARD winner Heinz RÜHMANN (he received his second film award in 1961 for THE BLACK SHEEP) played one of the roles of his acting life as cobbler Wilhelm Voigt. As a small man who comes into conflict with the law, takes possession of a uniform and quickly occupies the town hall in Köpenick, RÜHMANN played his way back into the hearts of the German-speaking audience after his involvement in the Nazi cinema.

Other roles that shine include GERMAN FILM AWARD winner Martin HELD (awarded in 1955 for CANARIS), Hannelore SCHROTH, GERMAN FILM AWARD prize winner Walter GILLER (awarded in 1960 for ROSEN FÜR DEN STAATSANWALT / ROSEN FOR THE STATUS ATTORNEY and in 1962 for ZWEI UNTER MILLIONEN / TWO UNDER A MILLION), Maria SEBALDT and Siegfried LOWITZ.

The wonderful Berlin actress Edith HANCKE (1928 - 2015) has a particularly tragic appearance in one of her first film roles as Lieschen, a girl suffering from tuberculosis who is comforted by Schuster Voigt.

Of course, filming could not take place in Köpenick, which was part of East Berlin at the time of filming. Instead, motifs were found in and around Hamburg.

An immortal classic of the West German film industry! Definitely worth seeing!

In 1940 one of Germany's finest directors and its most popular actor combined to make a delightful piece entitled 'Clothes make the man' and teamed up again sixteen years later with this adaptation of Carl Zuckmayer's satire on the dangers of militarism which had been previously filmed twice by Richard Oswald. Although the milieus are totally different, both films have a not dissimilar theme, dealing as they do with how one's social standing and how one is viewed are determined by the way one is costumed.

Both films are essentially vehicles for the immensely talented and much-loved Heinz Ruehmann whose persona encourages the viewer's sympathies. Although greatly admired by Hitler and co., he had cleverly managed to appear neutral whilst his influence enabled his ravishing wife Hertha Feiler to star in films despite her grandmother being Jewish. Both he and director Helmut Kautner somehow succeeded in remaining apolitical.

This latter film takes a satirical swipe at both the military mentality and the Prussian cult of the uniform whilst the visual juxtapostions of the military elite and the hoi polloi are well realised. Quite a few buffoons on display of course with a particularly fine performance by Martin Held whilst Hannelore Schroth as his wife does her best in a thankless role. It is not without its serious moments and Ruehmann's plea as the hapless Wilhelm Voigt for humanity over rules touches the heart.

It is a faithful adaptation with excellent production values and would have delighted Ruehmann devotees whose presence guaranteed a healthy box office but for this viewer at any rate the director seems, unusually for him, to have played it safe on this occasion and not taken any chances which results in the film somehow lacking the requisite bite.

What it does in no uncertain terms is to call to mind Peter Ustinov's observation: "The Army is the final repository of the fool."

Forget Heinz Ruehmann playing Heinz Ruehmann interpreting the "Hauptmann von Koepenick", concentrate on some of the remarkable supporting actors and actresses to have at least some fun. And then, try to get 1931's "Hauptmann von Koepenick" with Max Adalbert...

In a slight but well observed little fable about societal hierarchies, snobbery and injustice, Heinz Rühmann is fine as the ex-con who finds wearing a military uniform can get him everything otherwise hopelessly out of reach. It's a humorous tale, but there's nothing in it that will actually make you laugh, and it takes a whole hour to get to the interesting part of the story, which is much too long. It doesn't really add up to anything much but it's an agreeable enough watch, lovably capturing Old Europe in all its handsome grandeur and ridiculous pomposity, and shot with a good deal of character in early Eastmancolor.