CIA film about communist East Germany & The Iron Curtain | EAGLE CAGE (1960)
Q Why was there no bank robberies in East Germany.
A Because you had to wait twelve years for the getaway car.
So goes the joke, mocking the rather astonishing waiting time for buying cars in the GDR in East Germany, you had two choices when it came to buying a car and Wartburg Trabant Trabant was the cheaper of the two, and were made in larger quantities both cars were pretty awful the Wartburg had three cylinders Trabbi s two, potentially making it more powerful of the two, but it was also heavier having a metal body instead of cotton and resin Duroplast Trabant both were two shots, which means that you must mix the oil and gas, and pollution was horrible you could get a car of one of the other countries of the Eastern bloc, as a Russian Lada and Skoda in Czechoslovakia, but it could take even longer, and has been seen with some derision 1 Making a film that mines long periods nece waiting ssaires to Wartburgs obtaining for comedy would have vetoed by the review committee of the film at first, but things began to relax aga in to DEFA.
Fahrschule Driving School is the story of Horst Steinköhler, a pedestrian die-hard who prefer to walk where it needs to go as driving a friend's car Horst Lothar Lothar is getting a divorce Horst wants to buy a car from him to help weather the divorce, he said Horst buy it back later when he gets back on solid bases Horst hesitates, but eventually accepted Meanwhile, the wife of Horst Gisela received the news that she is the next to buy a new Wartburg Gisela had put his name on the waiting list to buy the car when their daughter is now a teenager born Horst and Gisela intend to surprise each other with their purchases Then, as if things weren t bad enough, they end up both with the same driving instructor soon Horst begins to suspect that something happens between Gisela and driving instructor throughout the film, we hear the music of Così f year tutte comic opera about infidelity.
The film is based on a radio play by Bernd Schirmer Schirmer made several radio stations playing with a legitimate theater in East Germany from 1969 to 1972, he taught German studies at the University of Algiers After this, he returned to Germany where he worked as dramaturge for FDF, the German public television channel is still writing Schirmer novels, plays, films and plays.
Coming from a radio play, much of the humor is in the dialogue, but director Bernhard Stephan did a good job of opening the radio play with purely visual humor Stephan is part of a group of German filmmakers Eastern commonly known as the baby boomers basically Nachwuchsgeneration This was the first generation that grew up with little or no personal experience of the first World war, the country where they grew up in the GDR was Hitler was, in regard to an aberration of the past for most, they learned their craft at film school in Potsdam-Babelsberg, and began working for DEFA internal capabilities with the promise of one day get to do their own films for the production company There was just one step in the ranks of administrators DEFA were already filled with talented directors and new positions ra started surely.
Born in 1943, Stephan was a little older than most of the other new generation of German filmmakers from the East, who put probably in a better position to start DEFA than those born a few years later, he started directing in 1972 TV shows, and moved on films from there While some of the younger filmmakers are struggling to get traction in reunified Germany, due to the anti-Ossi prejudice of Germans West, Stephan did better than most, he hit the ground running in 1991 with the ZDF TV -Movie Tandem and continued to notably Der letzte Zeuge Last Witness direct many television shows, which put Featured Ulrich Mühe The lives of others.
Horst Steinköhler is played by Jörg Gudzuhn, a somewhat cheesy-looking character actor who usually played supporting roles he mainly worked in television, so the unification of Germany has had less impact on his career than those who were used for the main roles in feature films he continues to work in television, and was a regular Bernhard Stephan s last Gisela witness is played by the beautiful Hungarian actress Kata Kánya Kánya played in several films throughout the years seventy After the fall of communism, became Kánya became a well-known television personality, and the counselor of romance Today in Hungary, she is best known in this regard that as an actor.
It was hard to find anything about Peggy Roeder, who played the daughter Carola She seems to have been a singer first and foremost as far as I can tell, it was his only film appearance, but because his name is often written Roeder to host systems that can manage t umlauts, statistics are included on IMDB as those of the American actress Peggy Roeder They are not the same person.
As this other movie vehicles and romance, beloved White Mouse Driving School was filmed in and around Dresden We get a few shots of Dresden street life, including Semperoper and areas downtown Innere Altstadt Although never stated Horst seems to work the German hygiene Museum Deutsches Hygiene- outside Blüherstraße the film received positive reviews and garnered Jörg Gudzuhn better leading actor award at film festival Eberswalde.
The film does not seem to be available on DVD at that time, but you can watch here.
1 There is even a comedy on the subject Einfach Blumen aufs Dach Just Put flowers on the roof, which examines the misadventures of a man meeting after he bought an old Russian limousine.
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