Kinder, Mütter und ein General (1955)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Laslo Benedek

Writers:

Herbert Reinecker (novel) and
Laslo Benedek (writer)

Release Date:

4 March 1955 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

As Germany's fortunes in the latter part of World War II wane, several young boys, in their enthusiasm to do something "for the fatherland"...

Plot Keywords:

Mother Son Relationship | WWII | 1940s | Boy Soldiers | Based On Novel

Awards:

Won Golden Globe. Another 1 win

Cast

Hilde Krahl	...	Helene Asmussen
Ewald Balser	...	General
Therese Giehse	...	Elfriede Bergmann
Ursula Herking	...	Dr. Behrens, Ärztin
Alice Treff	...	Pastorin
Beate Koepnick	...	Inge
Marianne Sinclair	...	Näherin
Adi Lödel	...	Harald Asmussen
Dieter Straub	...	Leo Bergmann
Holger Hildmann	...	Sohn der Ärztin
Karl-Michael Kuntz	...	Edmund, Sohn der Pastorin
Walter Lehfeld	...	Werner, Sohn der Näherin
Peter Burger	...	Robert, Inges Bruder
Bernhard Wicki	...	Hauptmann Dornberg
Claus Biederstaedt	...	Verpflegungsgefreiter

Also Known As:

Children, Mother, and the General (International: English title)
Hauen Sie ab mit Heldentum (West Germany) (working title)

Runtime:

Germany:110 min

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:12 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Walsrode, Lower Saxony, Germany

Company:

Intercontinental Film GmbH

Movie Connections:

Featured in Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski (1999)

Early Trial of "Die Brücke" (The Bridge)

This was kind of a drill for "Die Brücke", the masterpiece coming some 4 years later. Several young boys have volunteered to fight with the remains of the German Army on the Eastern Front and their mothers take on a desperate journey to get them back home. This is told in black and white, with only small doses of softening and taking stand for the German cause, basically a human drama of motherly uncompromising love, officers and generals torn between duty and human common sense and boys, who feel like deserters, if they would be forced to be boys again. And also a little love story between of the widowed mothers and an Officer. Everything is there, dominating performances by Therese Giehse and Bernhard Wicki, but just a warm-up for the much more focused and uncompromising Masterpiece to follow.