If you thought the Goethe-Institut Toronto, founded 55 years ago, was the first place to show German films in Toronto, think again. The Revue Cinema, opened in 1912 on Roncesvalles Avenue in Toronto's West End and now a second-run and arthouse theatre saved from the wrecking ball by a circle of film aficionados, used to host the large German community that immigrated to Canada after World War II.
Reason enough for the Goethe-Institut and the Revue to celebrate that enduring cinematic heritage with three rarely seen German classics on 35mm in the upcoming screening weekend Déjà Revue: German films of the 1950s.
In preparation, a look behind the scenes -or quite literally
the screen- of the Revue reveals the theatre's rich archive including gems like 1919 silent films as well as a handful of
hand-painted posters announcing the mix of post-war German escapist comedies and serious literary adaptation on offer in the early days:
Germany 1956. By Helmut Käutner, based on the 1931 play by
Carl Zuckmayer, who also wrote THE BLUE ANGEL. THE CAPTAIN (
famous speech here) was one of three Zuckmayer adaptations Käutner did in the 1950s, this one starring well-known actors Heinz Rühmann, Martin Held, and Hannelore Schroth.
The tragi-comedy is based on the true story of Wilhelm Voigt, a German impostor who dressed up as a Prussian military officer in 1906 and held the mayor of Berlin-Köpenick for ransom. Since the original locations in the eastern part of Berlin were inaccessible, the film was made in Hamburg.
The play and the film (as well as Richard Oswald's much-lauded 1931 film version and Käutner's 1945 radio drama) are largely seen as ridiculing the absurdities of bureaucracy and people's blind belief in state institutions. Two years prior,
Käutner had won the Prix International at Cannes for his anti-war film THE LAST BRIDGE.
The choice of Rühmann as the lead was controversial because the actor had played in many Nazi comedies. Stars Curd Jürgens (THE SPY WHO LOVED ME) as well as Hans Albers (THE BLUE ANGEL) were being discussed instead, but Rühmann would enter German film history with this role.
10 million people saw the film in its first five months, and it was eventually shown in 53 countries. This was such a success, the first in post-war Germany, that the film was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar.
"Take a very close look at Rühmann, and not for one second will you think of him as Quax (in the 1941 war propaganda comedy of the same name) but of Grock, of Chaplin, of Charlie Rivel.“ commented Die Welt when the film came out.
In 2017, look out for Robert Schwentke's upcoming THE CAPTAIN, which relocates the misappropriation of a uniform to dupe authorities and to survive to the last days of the Second World War.
Germany 1957. By Kurt Hoffmann,
based on the unfinished 1954 novel (first conceived in 1905) by Nobel prize winner Thomas Mann and Erika Mann -- interestingly the same time Patricia Highsmith published The Talented Mr. Ripley. The comedy drama
CONFESSIONS OF FELIX KRULL, shot in Hamburg and Lisbon, starred the dream team of Horst Buchholz (Germany's answer to James Dean, who we are showing you in his breakout role in TEENAGE WOLF PACK, and in this poster hilariously Americanized as "Henry Bookholt") and Swiss Frauleinwunder Liselotte "Lilo"/"Lisa" Pulver.
Thomas Mann wrote himself into the book as Lord Kilmarnock, played here by Walter Rilla. Read the book, then watch the film -- and compare the divergent endings.
Steven Spielberg must have read it when making "Catch me if you can."
THE WOMAN OF MY DREAMS (Germany 1944) by Georg Jacoby, starred Marika Rökk, Germany's answer to Ginger Rogers, and was a lush UfA production and hit musical comedy in the darkest hour. The critics were and are generous, praising "the amorously entertaining Viennese style, realized with charmingly simple means." (New Zurich Newspaper 1950). "Enduring hit songs, funny characters, elaborate choreography electrify this revue film, showing (the pregnant) Marika Rökk at the height of her career“ Film-Dienst magazine judged later. The film premiered on 25 August 1944 at Berlin's Marmorhaus and Germania Palace cinemas.
THE THIEF OF BAGDAD is a 1952 German musical comedy directed by Karel Lamac with an all-star cast of Theo Lingen, Paul Kemp, Sonja Ziemann and Rudolf Prack. Alas, Der Spiegel judged: "the biggest dud of the month." The perhaps most intriguing trivia about it is that the director inserted into the opening credits an image of a statue of liberty cutting a letter from the title – thus protesting cuts he was forced to make by public funders.
HAB' EIN SCHLOSS TIEF IM WALD (Have a Castle Deep in the Forest) had the originally no less crazy title "Der Elefant im Porzellanladen" (The Bull in the China Shop) and was a 1958 romcom by Heinz Paul with handsome Dietmar Schönherr that did not fare much better with critics, perhaps due to the fantastical plot: The son of a castle owner gets engaged to a "gypsy", whom his father met in prison. Why it was rated "16+/not to be shown on holidays" I don't know. Either way, a "Hans Musser" is not in the cast (perhaps a Revue in-joke?).
This double bill of musical comedy Heimatfilms --popular mainstream movies with a regional setting-- must have made for one hell of an evening of Heimweh, of longing for home.
AM BRUNNEN VOR DEM TORE (roughly Beside the Village Fountain), Germany 1952, by Hans Wolff, starring Sonja Ziemann and Willy Fritsch, was released in the USA years later. The film, named after a traditional German folk song, has a potpourri of musical numbers worthy of Bollywood and includes classics such as "Ännchen von Tharau" and "Du, du liegst mir im Herzen."
The Encyclopedia of International Film did not look upon it favourably: "sentimental Heimatfilm mélange of folklore, military operetta and crime love drama. Kitschy, with affected hypocrycy, amateurishly directed“. The really exciting drama, though, revolved around the early sponsorship scandal following the atrocious reviews of the time, in which the Berliner Zentralbank vehemently distanced itself from any further collaborations with the producers, which put a serious damper on their careers.
SCHÜTZENLIESL, Germany 1954, by Rudolf Schündler, with Herta Staal and Helmuth Schneider, and the billed Joe (Josef) Stöckel, a well-known Munich Volksschauspieler --an actor who appears mostly in folk plays and in roles representing ordinary people. He starred in 170 films and was obviously deemed a draw in the Toronto German community.
The plot: Champion markswoman Gretl (I like the feminist impulse here) is in love with border guard Stefan, against her father's wishes. Then Gretl sees Stefan embrace an old acquaintance and misinterprets the situation. The rest is romcom history.
by Jutta Brendemühl
images: photos by Jutta Brendemuehl
The old marquee in the first photo collapsed in 2007 and now decorates the theatre's stage.
