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.

---

Plot Keywords:

hitler | diary | journalist | magazine | nazi germany | 

---

Taglines:

Der Film zum Buch vom Führer

---

Genres:

Comedy

---

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:

DEM 16,000,000 (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

Near the end of the film, Dr. Lentz (Ulrich Mühe) sings a song at the party onboard the ship belongs to 'Hermann Willié'. The melody is taken from a famous German seaman-song of Hans Albers: "La Paloma"!

---

Quotes

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

---

Connections

References The Great Dictator (1940)

---

Soundtracks

Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde
Composed by Richard Wagner
Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra (as The London Philharmonic Orchestra)
Conducted by Enrique Bátiz
Courtesy of Selected Sound Musikverlag

User Reviews

Great movie

As usual, it shows that humour is personal. I think the movie is great. The joke-density, visually, musically and verbally is high, and it is superbly performed. Gotz George is a revelation in this role, as he plays mostly rough, real, troubled men. Jokes are painful as well as light-hearted, the musical score is brilliant, and the still present awe for Hitler is prominently presented as well as ridiculed. The drama unfolds in a fast pace, and is over before you know it. I think, the dislikers expected a very much different approach to the theme, e.g. the commentator who promoted the English version of this journalistic farce. I think it is simply not interesting enough to show that Trevor Roper was sorely misled. The whole point of this German movie is that it shows that the whole affair is largely due to the still present enormous awe of the person of Hitler, and that not only in Germany ! The bizarre notion that "history had to be rewritten, with this discovery" is of course nonsense, which was believed by German journalists as well as foreign experts (or should i say "experts" ). For me this movie is a great German achievement!