The Heathens of Kummerow

The Heathens of Kummerow
The Heathens of Kummerow
Directed by	Werner Jacobs
Written by	Kurt Hahne ; Eberhard Keindorff ; Johanna Sibeliu
Based on	The Heathens of Kummerow; by Ehm Welk
Produced by	Kurt Hahne ; Walter Koppel
Starring	Paul Dahlke ; Ralf Wolter ; Fritz Tillmann
Cinematography	Günter Haubold
Edited by	Monika Schindler
Music by	Rolf Alexander Wilhelm
Production; companies	DEFA ; Neue Deutsche Filmgesellschaft ; Neue Real Film W. Koppel
Distributed by	Constantin Film
Release date	21 December 1967;
Running time	94 minutes
Countries	East Germany ; West Germany
Language	German

The Heathens of Kummerow (German: Die Heiden von Kummerow und ihre lustigen Streiche, lit. 'The Heathens of Kummerow and Their Funny Pranks') is a 1967 East German-West German family comedy film directed by Werner Jacobs and starring Paul Dahlke, Ralf Wolter and Fritz Tillmann. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name, written by Ehm Welk and published in 1937.

The film's sets were designed by the art directors Senta Ochs and Alfred Tolle. Location shooting took place around Rügen.

Plot

It is the era before World War I and short before Easter in the village of Kummerow in Pomerania, and a group of boys revive a custom of "heathen baptism". It is said that the villagers had resisted Christianization by remaining in the water during the baptism, which lived on as a traditional contest where boys will stand in the cold water, and the one who endures the longest is crowned "heathen king". This practice is not appreciated by the local pastor, although when the pastor and the illegally employed cowherd Krischan get into trouble with the miller Düker, the boys' talent for playing pranks comes in handy.

Cast

Paul Dahlke as Pastor Breithaupt
Ralf Wolter as Krischan
Fritz Tillmann as Müller Düker
Rainer Penkert as Grambauer
Theo Lingen as Sanftleben
Günther Jerschke as Niemeier
Wolfgang Jansen as Josef
Jochen Sehrndt as Christian Wendland
Hans Klering as Nachtwächter Bärensprung
Horst Kube as Bauer Trebbin
Irene Korb as Hermine Breithaupt
Tatjana Iwanow as Frau Düker
Angela Brunner as Luise Bärensprung
Erika Müller-Fürstenau as Frau Grambauer
Karin Heidemann as Ulrike Breithaupt
Wolfgang Hinz as Hermann
Jörg Resler as Martin Grambauer
Gerald Schraml as Johannes
Hans Bosenius as Kantor Kannegiesser
Günter Drescher as Bauer Fiebelkorn
Nico Turoff as Wirt Krüger
Albert Zahn as Otto Kienbaum

Production

The film is based on the 1937 novel The Heathens of Kummerow by Ehm Welk. The book was the third best selling novel written in Nazi Germany, and along with other novels by the apolitical humourist Welk, it became a modern classic in East Germany.^[1] The film adaptation was the first film co-produced by East and West Germany.^[2]

References

^ Minden, Michael (2011). Modern German Literature. ISBN 978-0-7456-2919-3.
^ Hake, Sabine (2008) [2002]. German National Cinema. p. 136. ISBN 978-0-415-42097-6.

External links

The Heathens of Kummerow at IMDb

This article related to a German film of the 1960s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] Minden, Michael (2011). Modern German Literature. ISBN 978-0-7456-2919-3.

[2] Hake, Sabine (2008) [2002]. German National Cinema. p. 136. ISBN 978-0-415-42097-6.

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