Alice in the Cities (1974)

A German journalist is saddled with a nine-year-old girl after encountering her mother at a New York airport.

Director:

Wim Wenders

Writers:

Wim Wenders, Veith von Fürstenberg (contributing writer)

Stars:

Yella Rottländer, Rüdiger Vogler, Lisa Kreuzer

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Rüdiger Vogler	...	Philip 'Phil' Winter
Yella Rottländer	...	Alice
Lisa Kreuzer	...	Lisa - Alice's Mother (as Elisabeth Kreuzer)
Edda Köchl	...	Angela - Friend in New York
Ernest Boehm	...	Publisher
Sam Presti	...	Car Dealer
Lois Moran	...	Airport Hostess
Didi Petrikat	...	Friend in Frankfurt
Hans Hirschmüller	...	Police Officer
Sibylle Baier	...	The Woman
Mirko

Storyline

German journalist Philip Winter has a case of writer's block when trying to write an article about the United States. He decides to return to Germany, and while trying to book a flight, encounters a German woman and her nine year old daughter Alice doing the same. The three become friends (almost out of necessity) and while the mother asks Winter to mind Alice temporarily, it quickly becomes apparent that Alice will be his responsibility for longer than he expected. After returning to Europe, the innocent friendship between Winter and Alice grows as they travel together through various European cities on a quest for Alice's grandmother.

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Plot Keywords:

road movie | journalist | airport | travel | search for self | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German English Dutch

Release Date:

17 May 1974 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Alice in the Cities

Filming Locations:

Germany

Box Office

Budget:

DEM500,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$58,388

Company Credits

Production Co:

Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), Filmverlag der Autoren

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The section of Chuck Berry playing in the concert was actually shot by documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker at Toronto in 1969. Wenders himself had shot the footage of Chuck Berry playing live in Frankfurt in the 70s, but could not afford the hefty copyright cost to use it in the film. Pennebaker provided Wenders the clip of '69 with much reasonable fee, but Wenders and his team had to transferred it into B&W to match the rest of the film. Pennebaker was not credited at the end of the film, and interestingly, his own 1969 Toronto concert film of Chuck Berry did not include the song (Memphis, Tennessee) which was used in Wender's film.

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Goofs

Crew are reflected in the side of the car (at around 46 mins) (sound man, microphone and other crew)

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Quotes

Chuck Berry, Himself: [singing] Long distance information give me Memphis, Tennessee, Help me find the party trying to get in touch with me, She could not leave her number but I know who placed the call, My uncle took the message and he wrote it on the wall. Help me information to get in touch with my Marie...

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Connections

Featured in The Story of Film: An Odyssey: Movies to Change the World (2011)

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Soundtracks

Angie
Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
Performed by The Rolling Stones

User Reviews

a critique of noise

pay attention to the sounds in this film. philip cannot stand the sound of america--the tv, the radio, the noise of the city. upon arrival in europe he falls asleep to the soothing noise of classical music.

my favorite statement, which i take to be about the age old notion of "paradis amerika," is when alice and philip play hangman in the plane. The word used is traum. alice says only things that really exist can be used as words for this game. paradis amerika cannot kill you, because it doesn't exist.

a wonderful film.

i give it three riders of the apocalypse.