Fräulein

Those who prefer dramas as "Germany: Year Zero" may find "Fräulein" a bit too glamorized depiction of the drama of German people during and after World War II. Made during Cold War years, and every now and then spoilt by American propaganda, it is though an interesting story, dealing with a young woman from Köln who fights her way through war and armistice in Berlin, preserving her virginity every time she is forced into prostitution or quick sex with German clients or Russian soldiers. Dana Wynter gives a restrained one-note performance, but keeps the viewers interested with all the dramatic turns in her life, even if the denouement is typical Hollywood formula.

It is really a wonderful love story set in war time and post war Germany. Dana Wynter was her usual terrific self. This movie was shown on a cable channel a few years ago. I believe it was Amercian Movie Classics during the time their movies were commercial free and the host was Bob Dorian. I have not seen it since. It should be released as a classic on DVD.

One wonders why so many excellent screen classics and exceptional "made for TV" movies are never released in video or at least shown on regular or cable TV stations. Well, I guess we will never know. As a fan of this movie and one who would love to see it again, I'll keep hoping.

Some of the great movies of all time such as "Gone With the Wind", "Doctor Zhivago" and "War and Peace" have set their characters adrift against a backdrop of momentous historical events.

"Fräulein" is certainly set against awesome historical events, but the filmmakers seem to have tackled the drama with one hand tied behind their backs - and the old Hollywood Production Code probably did much of the tying.

The film is set in Germany at the end of WW2. Erika Angermann (Dana Wynter), a young German woman encounters an escaping American prisoner, Major Foster MacLain (Mel Ferrer) who plays a significant role in her life. She flees from the Russian zone to the American Zone and undergoes many of the things women in Germany experienced at the end of the war. The sense of degradation and humiliation visited upon the defeated nation is touched on in a number of sequences.

However Erika's episode with the Red Army stretches credulity. Although upwards of 2,000,000 German women were raped by the avenging Red Army, Erika manages to stay chaste, miraculously slipping through their fingers, despite being so eye-catching that in reality she would probably have been the object of a full-scale pincer movement.

The film was based on a novel that had a harder edge, but of course a Hollywood movie in 1956 had to tone things down. Even with those limitations, more could have been done to capture a sense of the great upheaval and dislocation of millions of people that took place. Despite some footage shot on location, the direction and photography for the most part is pedestrian.

A few sequences do resonate: Erika briefly seen as one of the Trümmerfrau or rubble woman; Lt. Hugo Von Metzler (Helmut Dantine), the once proud officer reduced to making lampshades; the cruel way in which Erika is set up as a prostitute by people she trusted.

Dana Wynter (who was born in Germany) was an actress who made an impression on me growing up in the 1950's ("Something of Value", "D-Day the Sixth of June"); she seemed the epitome of beauty and elegance. Maybe Hollywood didn't know what to do with her; surely she should have become a bigger star.

"Fräulein" is interesting for the time in which it was set and its beautiful star. Unfortunately it settled for being a romance rather than something more telling.

The story begins during the latter portion of WWII. Captain MacLain (Mel Ferrer) is an escaped American POW and it seems very unlikely that he'll manage to make it back to the Allied lines. However, unexpectedly, a German family, the Angermanns, hide the Captain from the authorities and eventually he is able to make it back to his people.

Shortly after this, Germany falls to the Allies. Since the family is now in eastern Berlin, the have to deal with the Soviet invasion. Women throughout the city are raped and Erika Angermann (Dana Wynter) has to do much to avoid this fate. To do so, she must move towards the American lines...hoping their soldiers are less cruel. Now, although she isn't being forced in sexual situations, there's almost no other choice as jobs are scarce and many German women turn tricks to avoid starvation. What is to happen with Erika? And, what about that Captain from the beginning of the film...what will he have to do with Erika and her future?

This story is very well done. It's an unusual story based on some actual events and manages to be both a drama, and later, a romance. Well worth seeing.

This is Dana Wynter's film, there is no question about it. It is her story as the daughter of a German professor in Cologne who gets killed in one of the last air raids of the war, whereafter she is lost and has to survive by any means, possible or impossible. She ends up in Berlin where she has to lead an existence like one of the ruins, until chance moves in. It's a great story, and although Mel Ferrer is the male lead, he is actually only a supporting actor to Dana Wynter, who makes her smile. There are many fine sequences, but one of the best is the appearance of Theodore Bikel as a Russian officer saving her from harassment by his soldiers and actually saving her life, while he gets drunk out of infatuation with her, wishing to marry her and take her as a bride to Bucharest and giving a hell of a party, before he vanishes out of the film to further unknown adventures in Bucharest. Another poignant scene is her encounter with her crippled former fiancé, who is too well aware of that the world of their love its gone forever and acts accordingly. Throughout the film Dana Wynter keeps her poise, she never smiles, she is dead serious too well aware of the war that has ruined her world and possibilities, and yet her personality brings some magic that makes people help her on - the story of her room mate is of vital importance and should be followed carefully, from the moment she steals her vodka and to the final crisis. This is a film to love and enjoy, and there is no propaganda in it. Berlin is caught in the realism of its ruins, like the whole film is genuinely realistic. Henry Koster was thoroughly reliable throughout his career and made many classics, although he never was generally put in the first rank.