Lili Marleen (1981)

Director:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Writers:

Lale Andersen (novel)
Rainer Werner Fassbinder (additional dialogue)

Release Date:

14 January 1981 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama | Music | Romance | War

Plot:

In Switzerland German singer 'Willie' falls in love with Jewish composer 'Robert' who offers resistance to the Nazis by helping refugees...

Plot Keywords:

Nazi | Song | Radio | Soldier | Germany

Cast

Hanna Schygulla	...	Willie
Giancarlo Giannini	...	Robert
Mel Ferrer	...	David Mendelsson
Karl-Heinz von Hassel	...	Henkel (as Karl Heinz von Hassel)
Erik Schumann	...	von Strehlow
Hark Bohm	...	Taschner
Gottfried John	...	Aaron
Karin Baal	...	Anna Lederer
Christine Kaufmann	...	Miriam
Udo Kier	...	Drewitz
Roger Fritz	...	Kauffmann
Rainer Will	...	Bernt
Raúl Gimenez	...	Blonsky (as Raul Giminez)
Adrian Hoven	...	Ginsberg
Willy Harlander	...	Prosel

Runtime:

120 min | Brazil:111 min

Country:

West Germany

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Netherlands:12 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Singapore:R(A) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Bavaria Filmstudios, Geiselgasteig, Grünwald, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR)

Trivia:

Shot in English for American distribution; later dubbed in German

Goofs:

Continuity: Robert is put in a Gestapo cell to find out who he is; apparently at least a week passes. Finally the ruthless ones find out that he knows Willi, the star, and decide to have them confronted, yet at this point he looks his clean-shaved best and is even better dressed than on the night of his arrest.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Die Nacht der Regisseure (1995)

Engaging but frightfully British...

Jolly good show eld chap - bit of a must see if you like that eld song... I don't know what the makers of this film were thinking, but it was obviously something along the lines of "Dash it all! We appear to got ourselves into a spot of bother here! Too many of the chaps and gels have accents which aren't quite up to par! Well, not to fear - technology to the rescue! I'll just call up the chaps at the club and get them to lend their distinguished Queens English voices to making this film a ripping english yarn about a German singer and a Swiss Jewish music artist..."

Well, the dubbing of an obviously English film with 'upper crust' English accents had me rolling in the aisles, snorting with laughter at some points throughout the film - it all rather distracted from what was really a very good film. Although the editing was a bit choppy in places (1970's relict directing?), the film faily trundles along providing a genteel look at the distractions and hardships WWII had on life in Europe. True, towards the end, one can sympathise with Giancarlo Giannini's 'torture' scene where the Germans lock him up in a room to listen to a couple of lines from the song, 'Lili Marleen' over and over again... How much was Giannini acting and how much was genuine suffering??? But, if you can overlook the dreadful dubbing, this is a good film!