george-102

This has everything you expect from German films from the 1950s, with lavish song routines, chocolate-box German scenery, and a setting in a 1920s/1930s Germany as it might have been with no Great Depression and no Adolf Hitler. But, though I can't give more details because of the risk of spoiling the plot, it stands out because of its unusual take on divorce. The ending is definitely not what I thought it was going to be, and must have shocked many in the original audience.

The film is also notable for the acting of two characters. The actress Romy Schneider, here in an important supporting role, would later come to be one of Germany's best-loved actresses, for example when she played the title role in Sissi. But most interesting was the actress who played Willy's manager, who I think must be Ellen (Hertha Feiler), who adopts a deliberately "modern" style, and is largely responsible for frustrating the ending one might have expected.

I saw this a year ago and I still lie awake thinking of it. This is how the Nazis would like you to think of concentration camps. We see the inmates engaged in ordinary work, or at a football match or concert. It looks just like a normal happy society, until you notice that here absolutely everyone is thin to the point of being skeletal. I can still remember the facial expressions of some of the inmates, though those are indescribable. I felt guilty for watching this piece of exploitation. I wonder what reward the inmates were promised for trying not to look too unhappy, a bowl of soup?

Covers the last month of the election campaign of a young enthusiastic conservative politician to the German parliament ("Bundestag"). The trouble with films about politics is that it's tempting for them to drag out the usual stereotypes ("conservative" = corrupt, "left-wing" = idealistic and naive), but this film avoids that. Instead it concentrates on the daily grind of the election campaign, with the candidate trying to hand out his campaign leaflets and free biro to passers-by who aren't interested, having to fill the base of a stand in a public toilet to stop it blowing over in the wind, and so on. It would be unfair to comment on Herr Wichmann himself, since he is a real person, but overall I found the film surprisingly optimistic about German politics. True, there are no great ideals floating around, but on the other hand the sort of sleaze and corruption we normally associate with politicians is absent. Perhaps the best scene is when Herr Wichmann and three of his rivals are challenged to design a common campaign poster, and they look like four quite normal and nice people.