Heart of Stone (1950)
"Das kalte Herz" (original title)

Peter Munk, a poor charcoal burner, lives with his mother in The Black Forest. Poverty prevents him from marrying Lisbeth, the girl he loves. When he comes across the Little Glass Man, the ... See full summary »

Director:

Paul Verhoeven

Writers:

Wilhelm Hauff (novel), Marieluise Steinhauer (dramaturgue),

Stars:

Lutz Moik, Hanna Rucker, Paul Bildt

1 win.

Cast

Credited cast:
Lutz Moik	...	Peter Munk
Hanna Rucker	...	Lisbeth
Paul Bildt	...	Glasmännlein
Paul Esser	...	Ezechiel
Lotte Loebinger	...	Peter Munks Mutter
Alexander Engel	...	Lisbeths Oheim
Hannsgeorg Laubenthal	...	Hannes
Karl Hellmer	...	Meister Anton
Walter Tarrach	...	Amtmann
Eva Probst	...	Bärbel
Herbert Kiper	...	Hochzeitslader
Erwin Geschonneck	...	Holländer-Michel
Karl Heinz Deickert	...	Elias
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Lieselotte Arnold
Helmut Bautzmann

Storyline

Peter Munk, a poor charcoal burner, lives with his mother in The Black Forest. Poverty prevents him from marrying Lisbeth, the girl he loves. When he comes across the Little Glass Man, the good spirit of the forest, the young man asks him for assistance. His wish is granted and he becomes rich. But the fool soon loses all his money after gambling at the inn. In desperation, he asks Dutch Michael, the evil spirit of the forest, to help him to become rich again. The mean giant agrees and gives Peter all the riches in the world, but on one condition: the young man will exchange his heart for a cold stone. He can now marry Lisbeth but can a heart of ice make you and the others happy...?

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Plot Keywords:

based on novel

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Genres:

Family | Fantasy | Romance

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Details

Country:

East Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

8 December 1950 (East Germany)

Also Known As:

A Lenda da Floresta

Filming Locations:

DEFA-Studio für Spielfilme, Babelsberg, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

DEM 3,200,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Deutsche Film (DEFA)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Agfacolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

DEFA's first color production and first fairy tale.

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Connections

Remake of Das kalte Herz (1924)

User Reviews

One of the best East-German fairy-tale movies ever, worth watching

Who has watched that film in his childhood will probably never forget it. It ranks with classics like Sinbad or ET in my memory. The story is taken from a German fairy-tale by Wilhelm Hauff. Like many German fairy-tales the setting is the Black Forest, which is nevertheless an interesting fact, keeping in mind that it was cold-war times and the Black Forest part of West-Germany. Apart from being a piece of very subtle socialist propaganda, it is an impressive work of art. The movie plays with German archetypes in a masterly way, the character of the Hollaender Michel is one thing that stays in mind, the state-of-the-art special effects are another one. East-German movie production came never again anywhere close to it. It is a very interesting experience to watch that movie again some 20 years later and notice the dream-like narration in complete accord with the allusions to class-struggle and the last breaths of a unified German conscience at that time. Very nice, and never really appreciated for its accomplishments... I give it 9 of 10, the last frame is too obvious...