La rage de vivre

Youngsters film by cult director Alfred Vohrer with Heidi Brühl and Christian Wolff

After the great success of the film "Die Halbstarken" (1956) with Karin Baal and Horst Buchholz, which premiered on September 27, 1956 in the UFA Palace in Essen, the West Berlin Ultra-Film, which to date has only dubbed foreign language films, dared to do so had the opportunity to finally make his own films. And so the dubbing director Alfred Vohrer (1914-1986) finally became a real film director.

"Crime After School Ends" (1959), which premiered on June 24, 1959 in West Berlin's Marmorhaus, is not the first of his films in a series of films about teenagers and problem youth, but it is certainly Vohrer's best. Afterwards, successful producer Artur Brauner became aware of him. The rest is German film history.

Primary school student Fabian König (Christian Wolff) is already a popular daredevil at school. When he complies with a request from his teacher, he comes into conflict with the police and is subsequently unfairly expelled from school. Having gotten onto the wrong path, he and his friends (including Corny Collins as the cunning and seductive Viola von Eikelberg) founded a youth gang that became increasingly successful in their criminal activities. By chance, Fabian meets the pretty Ulla Anders (the charming Heidi Brühl, who has outgrown Immenhof and its ponies), who lives in St. Pauli with a foster mother who has something completely different in mind for the lovely Ulla. Due to unfortunate circumstances, the brave Fabian comes under serious suspicion and ends up in prison. There he is only found by the prison doctor Dr. Knittel (Peter van Eyck) new courage to face life.

Even if the plot seems a bit predictable and gossipy, "VERBRECHEN NACH SCHULSCHLUSS / Crime After School" is an excellent film that is exciting and even offers some really good action scenes. The rather slight Christian Wolff impresses in some fist fights as a real badass who can really give his opponents a hard time. In general, Christian Wolff, who 30 years later would become the star of the ZDF hit series "Forsthaus Falkenau" (from 1989), is the big surprise of this film. He impresses as a good-looking womanizer and as an assertive tough guy who can also use quiet tones. For this role he was rightly awarded a critics' prize at the film festival in San Sebastian, Spain.

The filming took place in Hamburg and on Sylt, where the wonderful Heidi Brühl can of course also be seen on a horse (a little reminder of her magical Immenhof films). She is convincing as an endangered innocence and thus becomes the romantic ideal of the stumbling hero. A year later, in 1960, Heidi Brühl was to land a super hit with the hit "WIR WOLLEN NIEMALS AUSEINANDERGEHEN / We never want to go apart", with which she almost appeared at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1960. It's a shame that it didn't happen!

The attractive Corny Collins, who would become Christian Wolff's first wife in real life, is convincing as a scheming and jealous opponent.

Peter van Eyck is a welcome addition to any film, even if he only plays a smaller role here.

The film, based on a factual novel by Walter Ebert, was well received by audiences at the time and was also shown in the USA under the title "The Young Go Wild".

This undeservedly almost forgotten film by the "early" Alfred Vohrer is a gem that should definitely be seen. Clear recommendation!!!