Emil and the Detectives (1964)

Emil goes to Berlin to see his grandmother with a large amount of money and is offered sweets by a strange man that make him sleep. He wakes up at his stop with no money. It is up to him and a group of children to save the day.

Director:

Peter Tewksbury

Writers:

AJ Carothers, Erich Kästner (novel) (as Berthold Bürger)

Stars:

Walter Slezak, Bryan Russell, Roger Mobley

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Walter Slezak	...	Baron
Bryan Russell	...	Emil Tischbein (as Bryan Russel)
Roger Mobley	...	Gustav
Heinz Schubert	...	Grundeis
Peter Ehrlich	...	Müller
Cindy Cassell	...	Pony (as Cindy Cassel)
Elsa Wagner	...	Nana
Eva Ingeborg Scholz	...	Frau Tischbein (as Eva-Ingeborg Scholz)
Wolfgang Völz	...	Wachtmeister Stucke
Franz Nicklisch	...	Desk Sergeant
Brian Richardson	...	Professor
Robert Swann	...	Hermann
David Petrychka	...	Dienstag
Ann Noland	...	Frieda
Ron Johnson	...	Rudolf

Storyline

When Emil travels by bus to Berlin to visit his grandmother and his cousin, his money is stolen by a crook who specializes in digging tunnels. Emil must get the money back as it is for his grandmother. While following the thief, Emil runs into Gustav, an enterprising young boy who gathers up all his friends to help Emil find the money. Emil's cousin also gets involved and they get into more trouble than they bargained for when Emil's pickpocket turns out to be mixed up with a couple of notorious bank robbers.

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Plot Keywords:

thief | boy | tunnel | pickpocket | bus | 

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Taglines:

The Zaniest Crime Comedy of the Year!

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Genres:

Comedy | Family | Drama | Crime

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

The 300 marks Emil is taking to his grandmother would equate to about $75 at the time, or about $622 in 2019.

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Goofs

The seats are numbered on the bus Emil takes from Neustadt to Berlin. At 0:04:38 the number 13 is on the back of Emil's seat. At 0:04:54 the number 1 is on the toddler's seat in front of Emil. At 0:05:13 the numbers 1 and 2 are on the empty window seat immediately behind the driver and the aisle seat to its right where August Grundeis is initially seated. Apparently, the toddler's side of its interaction with Emil were shot in the front of the bus.

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Quotes

Gustav: Some skrunky thing to do.

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Connections

References Seduction by the Sea (1963)

User Reviews

Mediocre at its best, sluggish at its worst

During his lifetime, Walt Disney helped to make some great family films (both animated and live action) that are well know to this day. But there were also some films that fell through the cracks and are pretty much unknown today. "Emil and the Detectives" is one such movie, and upon watching it, it's pretty clear why the movie has been forgotten - it's not very good at all. I have not read the classic children's book the movie is based on, but it has to be a lot better and engaging than this movie plays out. The movie is often too goofy for its own good, from the strident narration to the unsubtle performances, becoming annoying when a more gentle approach would have been better. Also, the movie often moves at a really slow pace, and really lacks energy when mystery or suspense would be appropriate. The only real interest the movie has is when it showcases the shot in Berlin backdrop. I suspect kids as well as adults won't be very forgiving towards the movie, so there's no sense in tracking this down unless you are a true Disney fan.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 December 1964 (USA)

Also Known As:

Emilio y los detectives

Filming Locations:

Alsfeld, Hesse, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1