Schtonk (1992)

The slightly fictionalized story of an art forger, a journalist desperate for a big story, and the biggest press scandal in German history: the Hitler Diaries.

Director:

Helmut Dietl

Writers:

Helmut Dietl (screenplay), Ulrich Limmer (screenplay)

Stars:

Götz George, Uwe Ochsenknecht, Christiane Hörbiger

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 7 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Götz George	...	Hermann Willié
Uwe Ochsenknecht	...	Fritz Knobel
Christiane Hörbiger	...	Freya von Hepp
Rolf Hoppe	...	Karl Lentz
Dagmar Manzel	...	Biggi
Veronica Ferres	...	Martha
Ulrich Mühe	...	Dr. Wieland
Martin Benrath	...	Uwe Esser
Hermann Lause	...	Kurt Glück
Karl Schönböck	...	Professor Strasser
Rosemarie Fendel	...	Mrs. Lentz
Georg Marischka	...	Von Klantz
Thomas Holtzmann	...	Notary Cornelius
Hark Bohm	...	Catholic pastor
Willy Harlander	...	Bavarian customs officer

Storyline

Fritz is a falsifier drawing a picture of Eva Braun, the girlfriend of Adolf Hitler. He meets Hermann and tells him about some Nazi- material he knows about. Herrmann, working for a great German magazine, pays for everything he can get, and so Fritz starts to write "Hitlers private daybook". The story covers a real event that happend in Germany in the middle of the eighties.

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Plot Keywords:

hitler | diary | journalist | magazine | nazi germany | 

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Taglines:

Der Film zum Buch vom Führer

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

12 March 1992 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Schtonk!

Filming Locations:

Odenthal, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

DEM16,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Black and White (opening sequence) Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

While in the end of the movie Hermann Willié on his yacht was followed by the police on the Elbe river, in the earlier alternative version of the movie the captain of a port police entered the yacht. This police officer was played by Gerd Heidemann himself, the real-life reporter of "Stern" magazine who investigated the Hitler diaries and upon whom the character Hermann Willié is based. However the version with this scene was not showed yet. Heidemann also played a waiter in an earlier scene, but this scene was deleted from the final film version.

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Goofs

When Freya von Hepp hands Hermann Willié Göring's bathrobe and offers him to try it on, Willié's answer doesn't match his almost motionless lips.

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Quotes

Fritz Knobel: As soon as the ashes of the Führer had cooled down, the demand for relics of the "1000 Year Reich" soared.

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Connections

References Port of Freedom (1944)

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Soundtracks

Bride's Chorus from Lohengrin
Composed by Richard Wagner
Performed by Wiener Philharmoniker and Chor der Wiener Staatsoper
Conducted by Rudolf Kempe
Courtesy of EMI Electrola

User Reviews

UNBALANCED, BUT WORTH A VIEW

Almost 2 hours is a bit two long for its basic story material, hence a film that has wonderful moments and scenes and plenty of satire, but also moments of boredom in which nothing (new) happens. Certainly successful in portraying the circumstances in which a forger could produce the notorious Hitler Diaries (it happened in 1983 and not only German press but the press world wide walked into the trap), the film shows that the yellow press and its sensation-hungry reporters made use of the curious fascination of the public world wide with the Nazi past.; as Harald Juhnke's character says to his chief-editor: "(with Hitler) we never had such a famous writer writing in our magazine ever before!".

For Germany the most painful aspect of the film might be the support for the publication from former Nazis represented by a character played by Karl Schönbock (82 years old here!); as a former intimate friend of Hitler he knows that the diaries are forged but gives full support: the end justifies the means. One of the memorable scenes is the arrival of the guests at the rally of former Nazi's and supporters: a memorable image when the guests walk to the house in the rain under their umbrellas illuminated by torches.

The cast is very good, with Götz George and Uwe Ochsenknecht outstanding. Both have scenes that are side splitting funny: George when he for the first time reads from the diaries and Ochsenknecht when he begins to think, talk and look like Hitler.

But as said, the film is too long for its own good. There are more memorable scenes than the those I have mentioned already, but for instance does the viewer really need to see all 60 diaries made? The use of the old song "La Paloma" in the scene on the boat is a nice idea, but it also takes too long. And what to think of the first scene (before and during the credits); it does not add anything to the things to come and is not funny either.

The for this film composed music itself is mediocre, but the use of recordings of Zarah Leander and that of a small yodel-theme are very clever. All in all: unbalanced, at moments very amusing and certainly worth a view.