Wunder des Fliegens, 1935. DVD
As one might expect, the flight sequences make up a substantial proportion of this gripping movie and in themselves provide a significant level of excitement and entertainment. There is action aplenty, with stunts and acrobatics regularly verging on the suicidal, but it is as much the skill of the cinematographer, Hans Schneeberger and his camera operators in their chase-planes or remote alpine vantage points, which makes this movie the visual treat that it is.
From the opening credits, where Hermann Göring as Reichsminister der Luftfahrt features prominently, through to the finale with its rousing male chorus and fly-past, this is an unashamedly patriotic call to arms, or rather wings, glorifying the pilot as the modern-day knight of the air. But apart from the occasional visual reference to a portrait of Adolf Hitler, there are no overtly political statements being made and this only serves to enhance the movie's character.
To his mother's chagrin, young Heinz Muthesius is infatuated with flight; she doesn't want to see the same fate befall him that did his father, a pilot killed in battle. A chance meeting then with famed aviator Ernst Udet (who plays himself) leads the older man to become the younger's mentor, whisking him away on joyflights (!) or to his Berlin apartment (!!) and even to Switzerland (!!!). All unchaperoned. Ah, but life was simpler then.
When Heinz finally gains his glider pilot's wings and flies into a blizzard on the Zugspitze, tragedy strikes, and it is left to Udet as the only man capable of the necessary heroism to come to the rescue. Stirring stuff indeed.
The extended newsreel footage interwoven within this movie provides a real bonus. There are solo displays by Udet and others at Tempelhof for example in which the maneuvers almost defy belief. Then later, there are actual landings on snow covered mountain-sides, and flights both under bridges and through aircraft hangars.
Furthermore, Udet's apartment is a virtual shrine to aviation and there is a scene in which young Heinz surveys the many portraits and objects on its walls. The camera lingers for a brief moment there the portrait of a young fighter pilot named Herman Göring. Then we move on to Manfred von Richthofen and the music changes to a most plaintive rendition of "Ich hatt einen Kameraden". Cut to further newsreel footage of the great ace.
Throw in a dash of some Swiss yodeling and you have 80 minutes of pure entertainment.
Of note is the young actor Jürgen Ohlsen, who plays Heinz. Many would recall him as Heine Völker from the 1933 classic Hitlerjunge Quex, a far more blatant propaganda tool than this benign offering.
It's been called "the most visually exciting 'Mountain Film' produced during the Nazi era" and by their nature, they were fraught with significant danger to cast and crew. Add then the dimension of stunning aerobatics and you have a first-rate ripping yarn.
As one might expect, the flight sequences make up a substantial proportion of this gripping movie and in themselves provide a significant level of excitement and entertainment. There is action aplenty, with stunts and acrobatics regularly verging on the suicidal, but it is as much the skill of the cinematographer, Hans Schneeberger and his camera operators in their chase-planes or remote alpine vantage points, which makes this movie the visual treat that it is.
From the opening credits, where Hermann Göring as Reichsminister der Luftfahrt features prominently, through to the finale with its rousing male chorus and fly-past, this is an unashamedly patriotic call to arms, or rather wings, glorifying the pilot as the modern-day knight of the air. But apart from the occasional visual reference to a portrait of Adolf Hitler, there are no overtly political statements being made and this only serves to enhance the movie's character.
To his mother's chagrin, young Heinz Muthesius is infatuated with flight; she doesn't want to see the same fate befall him that did his father, a pilot killed in battle. A chance meeting then with famed aviator Ernst Udet (who plays himself) leads the older man to become the younger's mentor, whisking him away on joyflights (!) or to his Berlin apartment (!!) and even to Switzerland (!!!). All unchaperoned. Ah, but life was simpler then.
When Heinz finally gains his glider pilot's wings and flies into a blizzard on the Zugspitze, tragedy strikes, and it is left to Udet as the only man capable of the necessary heroism to come to the rescue. Stirring stuff indeed.
The extended newsreel footage interwoven within this movie provides a real bonus. There are solo displays by Udet and others at Tempelhof for example in which the maneuvers almost defy belief. Then later, there are actual landings on snow covered mountain-sides, and flights both under bridges and through aircraft hangars.
Furthermore, Udet's apartment is a virtual shrine to aviation and there is a scene in which young Heinz surveys the many portraits and objects on its walls. The camera lingers for a brief moment there the portrait of a young fighter pilot named Herman Göring. Then we move on to Manfred von Richthofen and the music changes to a most plaintive rendition of "Ich hatt einen Kameraden". Cut to further newsreel footage of the great ace.
Throw in a dash of some Swiss yodeling and you have 80 minutes of pure entertainment.
Of note is the young actor Jürgen Ohlsen, who plays Heinz. Many would recall him as Heine Völker from the 1933 classic Hitlerjunge Quex, a far more blatant propaganda tool than this benign offering.
It's been called "the most visually exciting 'Mountain Film' produced during the Nazi era" and by their nature, they were fraught with significant danger to cast and crew. Add then the dimension of stunning aerobatics and you have a first-rate ripping yarn.
