Brücke, Die (1959)

Director:

Bernhard Wicki

Writers:

Manfred Gregor (novel)
Michael Mansfeld (writer)

Release Date:

1 May 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

They look for love in a world of violence!

Plot:

In 1945, Germany is being overrun, and nobody is left to fight but teenagers.

Plot Keywords:

Nazi Soldier | Dead Soldier | Shot To Death | Casualties | Steel Helmet

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 13 wins

Cast

Folker Bohnet	...	Hans Scholten
Fritz Wepper	...	Albert Mutz
Michael Hinz	...	Walter Forst
Frank Glaubrecht	...	Jurgen Borchert
Karl Michael Balzer	...	Karl Horber
Volker Lechtenbrink	...	Klaus Hager
Günther Hoffmann	...	Sigi Bernhard
Cordula Trantow	...	Franziska
Wolfgang Stumpf	...	Stern
Günter Pfitzmann	...	Heilmann
Heinz Spitzner	...	Fröhlich
Siegfried Schürenberg	...	Lt. Colonel
Ruth Hausmeister	...	Mrs. Mutz
Eva Vaitl	...	Mrs. Borchert
Edith Schultze-Westrum	...	Mother Bernhard

Also Known As:

The Bridge (USA)

Runtime:

Germany:105 min | USA:102 min

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German | English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Portugal:17 | West Germany:12 (bw)

Filming Locations:

Cham, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Fono Film

Trivia:

The bridge was called Florian-Geyer-Brücke. It was torn down in 1994 and replaced by a new one. There now are several plaques with film scenes there as a reminder of this movie.

Goofs:

As stated in the film several times, "the boys" were only in the army since 7am that morning. How could they know how to operate heavy machine guns? The MG34 they were using in the film, needs to have the Barrel changed when it gets over heated, not something that would be taught on your first day of basic training.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Loriots 80. Geburtstag (2003) (TV)

Etched in the Mind

When I saw in news accounts the lovely yet fearful face of a 16 year-old, who had defected from the Taliban during the campaign against terrorists in Afghanistan, in the aftermath of the 9/11, I was taken back to Bernhard Wicki's Die Brücke (The Bridge), to the faces of young German boys who were recruited by the Nazis to defend a "last" bridgehead, in the final days of World War II in Europe. In both cases, young "true believers" were used as cannon fodder by cynical adults in their futile power games, which they had disguised as moral crusades.

A tiny band of boys, holding weapons as big as they, their bodies and faces still soft and fresh and tight, facing the juggernaut of tanks and artillery and machine guns which we know will soon tear them to pieces. And for what? An ideal?

I suspect that The Bridge was the basis for the Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn vehicle, "Taps". However, The Bridge is the starker and more brutal treatment because, unlike the what-if story of Taps, the what-if does not apply to The Bridge. In fact, throughout history, the use of children in furtherance of warfare has a sickening frequency, the earliest I know of being the Children's Crusade, and now we have the Tamil Tigers (little girls with lockets of cyanide vials) and Palestinian boy bombs.

The Bridge deserves to be revived and shown to as wide an audience as possible in this Dastardly New World we live in.