This is a movie from 40 years ago directed and written by Günter Ehmck. His daughter (I assume) also plays a part in this movie. The film is obviously based on the famous book of Otfried Preußler. He was maybe 50 years old when this was made and died 2 years ago. It runs for 110 minutes and features Gert Froebe as the title character. Froebe of course you all know from "Goldfinger" from 10 years earlier. He is known for playing antagonists in children's book adaptations as one of his final performances was Geiermeier in "The Little Vampire". Back to this movie, Froebe's costume (the giant nose, thick black hair and beard), his behavior and his random yelling are simply hilarious. He truly created a unique character here. But this film has much more than his memorable performance. The two young actors do a fine job as well. One of them is a prolific actor to this date (just like the actor who plays Dimpfelmoser). The other has acted nowhere else except this movie and taken another career path.
And then there is the music. The character description by the band featured in this film really add a lot and I enjoyed the goofy rhymes. At one point, Froebe even joins in with them. Also, some other famous songs are used as tunes, such as "Hänschenklein". There is a 2006 movie about the famous robber starring Armin Rohde and the music was maybe the one aspect that it was missing the most, except Rohde's final song during the closing credits. There are a few more differences. The boys in the new movie were a lot younger while Amarylis was considerably older. And the biggest aspect in favor of the new movie was Piet Klocke. He played Dimpfelmoser and that character is entirely forgettable in the old movie. I enjoyed both films, but for different reasons. Also I felt that Hotzenplotz and Zwackelmann (especially the latter) felt far more threatening and scary in the newer version. And finally you could add that this version from the 70s is 50 minutes longer. Zwackelmann enters the film 43 minutes in. At this point, he is already out of the picture again in the 2006 version.
Talking about this 1974 movie again, my possibly favorite scene was the meeting of Hotzenplotz and Zwackelmann at his castle. Watching the two interact is so much fun. All the castle action is great. It is all so random and that is exactly what makes it hilarious. There is one scene where Zwackelmann starts dancing while walking the stairs and I had to laugh out loud when I saw it. Or also the scenes when he is upset and starts spitting fire all of a sudden. Zwackelmann, by the way, was played by Josef Meinrad, an actor you may have come across in the Sissi movies.
All in all, I had a good time watching this. It is incredibly over the top, but this usually works nonetheless in children's films and it certainly does here. Yes, there are a couple scenes which add nothing to the entire story, but that is not a problem as they frequently still work nicely as comedic moments. Recommended.
And then there is the music. The character description by the band featured in this film really add a lot and I enjoyed the goofy rhymes. At one point, Froebe even joins in with them. Also, some other famous songs are used as tunes, such as "Hänschenklein". There is a 2006 movie about the famous robber starring Armin Rohde and the music was maybe the one aspect that it was missing the most, except Rohde's final song during the closing credits. There are a few more differences. The boys in the new movie were a lot younger while Amarylis was considerably older. And the biggest aspect in favor of the new movie was Piet Klocke. He played Dimpfelmoser and that character is entirely forgettable in the old movie. I enjoyed both films, but for different reasons. Also I felt that Hotzenplotz and Zwackelmann (especially the latter) felt far more threatening and scary in the newer version. And finally you could add that this version from the 70s is 50 minutes longer. Zwackelmann enters the film 43 minutes in. At this point, he is already out of the picture again in the 2006 version.
Talking about this 1974 movie again, my possibly favorite scene was the meeting of Hotzenplotz and Zwackelmann at his castle. Watching the two interact is so much fun. All the castle action is great. It is all so random and that is exactly what makes it hilarious. There is one scene where Zwackelmann starts dancing while walking the stairs and I had to laugh out loud when I saw it. Or also the scenes when he is upset and starts spitting fire all of a sudden. Zwackelmann, by the way, was played by Josef Meinrad, an actor you may have come across in the Sissi movies.
All in all, I had a good time watching this. It is incredibly over the top, but this usually works nonetheless in children's films and it certainly does here. Yes, there are a couple scenes which add nothing to the entire story, but that is not a problem as they frequently still work nicely as comedic moments. Recommended.
