Berliner Ballade

Dec 31 1948 Passed 1h 29m
Comedy, Musical

Long before he played the corpulent Goldfinger, German actor Gert Froebe was a scarecrow-skinny comedian. In Berliner Ballade, Froebe makes his screen debut as Otto, a feckless Everyman who tries to adjust to the postwar travails of his defeated nation. Stymied by black-market profiteers and government bureaucrats, Otto begins fantasizing about a happier life at the end of that ever-elusive rainbow. Director R. A. Stemmle doesn't have to strive for pathos: he merely places his gangly star amidst the ruins of a bombed-out Berlin, and the point is made for him. Filmed in 1948, Berliner Ballade was later released in the U.S. as The Berliner.

Plot

Told in the style of the German cabaret theatre, where both Gunther Neumann and Gert Frobe were important members, this is a balladeer's version of a serious plot with musical interludes. The year is 2050 and the audience is asked to look at a telecast of 'The Ancients", from a century ago. Flashback to Germany, 1948, where Otto Normalverbraucher (Otto Averageman in the English-narrated version) is just returning from service in the German army during World War II. His experiences, told tongue-in-cheek, of the troubles that beset the average, law-abiding German citizen in post-war, war-torn destitute Germany and his awareness of the changes and problems are the bulk of the story.

Written by

Günter Neumann

Directed by

Robert A. Stemmle

Cast

Gert Fröbe, Tatjana Sais, Ute Sielisch

Crew

View crew

Production Countries

Germany

Production Companies

Comedia Film - Alf Teichs Produktion

Languages

Deutsch

Awards

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award1 win & 2 nominations total

Trailers
The Ballad of Berlin (1948) Original Trailer [HD]
Scores
# of Votes
249
Average Rating
7.2 out of 10
Metascore
NA
Popularity
NA