Berlin - Ecke Schönhauser (1957)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Gerhard Klein

Writers:

Gerhard Klein (writer)
Wolfgang Kohlhaase (writer)

Release Date:

30 August 1957 (East Germany)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Romance

Plot:

The corner Schönhauser Allee in East Berlin is the main meeting-point for a group of adolescents. Dieter...

Plot Keywords:

West Germany | Escape | Movie Theatre | 1950s | Berlin Germany

Cast

Ekkehard Schall	...	Dieter
Ilse Pagé	...	Angela
Ernst-Georg Schwill	...	Kohle
Harry Engel	...	Karl-Heinz Erdmann
Raimund Schelcher	...	VP-Kommissar
Helga Göring	...	Angelas Mutter
Erika Dunkelmann	...	Kohles Mutter
Maximilian Larsen	...	Kohles Stiefvater
Ingeborg Beeske	...	Karl-Heinz' Mutter
Siegfried Weiß	...	Karl-Heinz' Vater
Manfred Borges	...	Bruder von Dieter
Hartmut Reck	...	FDJler
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hans Beck	...	Zeitungsverkäufer
Rolf Beuckert	...	Jüngerer Arbeitskollege
Grete Carlsohn
Rudolf Christoph	...	Kriminalkommissar
Liesl Eckardt	...	Alte Frau
Horst Friedrich	...	Korpulenter Mann
Kurt Getke	...	Älterer Mann
Gert Heinrich
Gerd Michael Henneberg	...	Amerikaner
Jürgen Holtz	...	Geldwechsler
Hella Jansen	...	Sekretärin
Ursula Kessler
Peter Kiwitt	...	Lagerleiter
Carlo Kluge	...	Passant
Paul Knopf
Willi Korrik	...	Ober
Walter Lendrich	...	Baggerführer
Rudolf Meurer	...	LKW-Beifahrer
Ursula Mundt	...	Sekretärin
Arthur W. Neubert
Gerhard Rachold	...	Schläger
Brigitte Rauchfleisch	...	Mädchen von Karl-Heinz
Rolf Ripperger	...	Chef des Funkwagens
Heinz Schröder	...	Lagerleiter
Hilde Sonntag	...	Älteres Fräulein
Gerhard Soor	...	Geldwechsler
Paul Streckfuß	...	Älterer Arbeitskollege
Brigitte Stroh	...	Kohles Schwester
Dorothea Thiesing	...	Dieters Zimmerwirtin
Adi Tischmeier
Albert Zahn	...	Arbeiter
Barbara Berg	...	(uncredited)
Jean Brahn	...	Mann auf dem Bahnhof (uncredited)
Anselm Glücksmann	...	Freund von Angelas Mutter (uncredited)
Gertrud von Bastineller	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Gerhard Klein

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Gerhard Klein		writer
Wolfgang Kohlhaase		writer

Original Music by
Günter Klück

Cinematography by
Wolf Göthe

Film Editing by
Evelyn Carow

Art Direction by
Oskar Pietsch

Costume Design by
Lydia Fiege

Makeup Department
Bernhard Kalisch	....	makeup artist
Inge Roloff	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Erich Albrecht	....	production manager
Horst Dau	....	unit manager
Heinz Walter	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Otto Roland	....	assistant director

Art Department
Fritz Stemmer	....	property master: outdoor

Sound Department
Erich Schmidt	....	sound

Special Effects by
Ernst Kunstmann	....	optical effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Manfred Damm	....	assistant camera
Hans Helmstedt	....	gaffer
Siegmar Holstein	....	still photographer
Hannes Schneider	....	still photographer

Other crew
Gerhard Hartwig	....	dramaturgist
O.K. Thomas	....	chief subtitler: English (1999 version)

Production Companies

• Deutsche Film (DEFA)

Distributors

• VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb (1957) (East Germany) (theatrical)
• Icestorm International (1999) (video) (NTSC internationally) (German dialogue only or with English subtitles)

Also Known As:

Berlin - Schönhauser Corner (USA) (DVD box title)
Berlin - Schoenhauser Corner (UK) (DVD box title)
Wo wir nicht sind (East Germany)

Runtime:

81 min | Germany:79 min

Country:

East Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Alexanderplatz, Mitte, Berlin, Germany

Company:

Deutsche Film (DEFA)

Trivia:

This was one of the films censored by the 11th Plenum of the SED's central committee in December of 1965 for its supposed subversive content. After the decision, Gerhard Klein fell ill and did not complete another feature-length film

Movie Connections:

References The Flanagan Boy (1953)

Socialism Wears a Human Face

Berlin - Ecke Schönhauser depicts the youth of 1950s East Berlin as an aimless bunch, lacking goals, with no motivation to better themselves or to look beyond the thrill of the next dance or meaningless act of delinquency. Here the youth of the DDR have much in common with their American counterparts in films like Rebel Without a Cause. Unlike the spoiled LA kids choking on Eisenhower-era consumption, however, Berlin teenagers Dieter, Kohle, Karl-Heinz, Angelika and their friends live in poverty amid the ruins of WW II. Parents are missing, killed in the war. As the city rebuilds, piles of rubble disgorge live bombs. While the East struggles to repair the damage of the last war West Germany rearms, this time with nuclear weapons. The kids are all right, but they survive in a pretty grim environment. To the youths, adults belong to an alien race who cling to hypocritical bourgeois values. There are exceptions – a sympathetic police officer takes an interest in the plight of the young people, promising apprenticeships to the out-of-work kids.

But Karl-Heinz has other plans: pre-Berlin Wall travel between the city's Capitalist and Communist zones is easy, and Karl-Heinz exchanges East Marks for West and sells stolen IDs, eager to make enough money to enable flight to the West. One of his crimes goes suddenly wrong, and Karl-Heinz is on the run. Kohle and Dieter try to call in a debt, tragedy ensues, and the two flee West, leaving behind Angelika, pregnant with Dieter's child.

Kohle and Dieter find West Germans suspicious, interested in espionage and not exactly welcoming. To gain asylum the young men must claim they suffered political persecution, a charge the film shows is patently false. The two friends decide to part ways, Kohle excited about heading to a new life farther west while Dieter is drawn back to the DDR life he knows.

As the film closes some important lessons have been learned: The BRD is a locus for crime of all sorts, and it draws criminals out of the East, a statement made explicit in the film's closing lines. Socialism faces challenges; it is not perfect, but it wears the human face of loving well-intentioned men and women.