People on Sunday (1930) Menschen am Sonntag (original title)

Directors:

Curt Siodmak
Robert Siodmak
(more)

Writers:

Billy Wilder
Curt Siodmak
(more)

Release Date:

4 February 1930 (Germany)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

Edwin, a taxi driver, lives with Annie, a neurasthenic model. They plan to spend Sunday at the Nikolassee beach with Wolfgang...

Plot Keywords:

Semi Documentary | Berlin Germany

Cast

Erwin Splettstößer	...	Himself (taxi driver)
Brigitte Borchert	...	Herself (record seller)
Wolfgang von Waltershausen	...	Himself (wine seller)
Christl Ehlers	...	Herself (an extra in films)
Annie Schreyer	...	Herself (model)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kurt Gerron	...	Himself
Valeska Gert	...	Herself
Heinrich Gretler	...	Himself
Ernö Verebes	...	Himself

Directed by
Curt Siodmak		(as Kurt Siodmak)
Robert Siodmak
Edgar G. Ulmer
Fred Zinnemann
Rochus Gliese		(uncredited)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Curt Siodmak
Robert Siodmak		source material
Edgar G. Ulmer
Billy Wilder

Produced by
Seymour Nebenzal	....	producer
Edgar G. Ulmer	....	producer

Original Music by
Elena Kaets-Chernin		(2000)
Otto Stenzeel

Cinematography by
Eugen Schüfftan

Art Direction by
Moritz Seder

Camera and Electrical Department
Ernst Kunstmann	....	assistant camera
Moritz Seeler	....	lighting technician
Fred Zinnemann	....	cinematography assistance

Music Department
Frank Strobel	....	conductor (2000)

Production Companies

• Filmstudio Berlin

Distributors

• Filmmuseum Distributie (2007) (Netherlands) (theatrical) (re-release)
• BFI Video (2005) (UK) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Strengholt Licensing (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Menschen am Sonntag" - Germany (original title)

Runtime:

74 min

Country:

Germany

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

USA:Not Rated | Germany:o.Al.

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

Filmstudio Berlin

Trivia:

The film was a major hit when it was released in Germany in 1930. Five of the people who worked on the film who went on to direct films in Hollywood: Curt Siodmak, his brother Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer, Fred Zinnemann and Billy Wilder.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood: End of an Era (#1.6)" (1995)

Sunday in Berlin

On a Sunday, four young befriended people make an excursion to the lake Wannsee in Berlin to spend their free time in the sun with boat trips, bathing and flirting.

This low budget production demands to remain at the surface of everyday life and to show certain scenes, coincidences and trivialities of it. It is mostly interested in the details and shows the other side of the hectic, restless Berlin - the peace of a summerly Sunday. Here, the people are removed from the daily rush, and it is discernible how the makers agree with their protagonists. They celebrate the self-confidence of the young generation - which is not yet overshadowed by the big crisis at the beginning of the 1930s - and demonstrate the physical joy of life, the carefreeness and playfulness. The other side of this urban way of life is, which apparently only banks on superficialness and the momentary, promiscuity and the wounds coming from this, the harshness and the cold of changing feelings. It's cynically depicted in one long tracking shot over tree-tops (indicating symbolically sexual intercourse) that ends at a pile of thoughtlessly ditched trash.