Das Haus in Montevideo

Curt Goetz has a unique place in German entertainment as a writer, playwright, actor and director.

He has a very refined humor, is a master of speech and profound allusions. The type of character he often played has no more a place in German cinema but as a laughing stock - it is a conservative man with rather backward mannerisms, but always with a heart and a keen understanding of people and events. (It may be not by chance that Scott Guber of "Boston Public" springs to mind.)

In this movie Goetz creates a scenario of bad morals and high standards, where especially those with the high standards are made fun of. And those standards are viewed very critically, without any educational attitude (the main character played by Goetz is a teacher!).

A very funny movie with a very humane subtext.

A play from a German tradition long since abandoned - unfortunately.

Curt Goetz understood how to write comedy and how to play the parts to perfection. "Das Haus in Montevideo" is about a very proper school "professor" whose firmly rooted ethics are awfully tempted when his sister, the "black sheep" of the family, sends from her exile in Montevideo an offer for the oldest daughter, which is utterly immoral, thoroughly despicable, yet hard to refuse. The people in the theater still laughed after the lights came back on, and everyone went at least twice to see it.

For me, this is the best German comedy of all times. First I saw it as a child and it still works for me now, ca. 25 years later. Curt Goetz and his wife had a lot of humor and it's great to join them. The remake with Rühmann is not half as good as the original. And this is the same with the other films from Curt Goetz.

In December 1950 Curt Goetz and Valerie von Mertens were for the first time after their exile back on the German stages. Their first and immediate success was the play Das Haus in Montevideo. Obviously prompted by this, Curt Goetz adapted the play for film and took the direction in his own hands.

Went it all quickly, maybe? The adaptation went no further than adding a few scenes to give the impression that the play was now a film script. Goetz's direction is aimed at the play and the cast, not aimed at film direction. The result is that it is nothing more than a registration of the play, in which the humour and wit never gets the chance to rise to the surface. Now it is only important as documentation of Curt Goetz/Valerie von Merten's life and work.. Plain, sometimes less than that, cinematography add to the tedium.

An also not completely successful but far better adaptation was made by Helmut Käutner in 1963.