Kästner und der kleine Dienstag (2016)

Kästner and the Little Tuesday is the English title of an Austrian-German historical drama (based on a true story) about the German author Erich Kästner and his biggest fan. It was filmed in Vienna in 2015 and premiered in 2016 at a film festival in Munich (München). It was shown on German television (ARD) and released on DVD in 2017. Here is some basic information about it:

** Original German title: Kästner und der kleine Dienstag 
** Director: Wolfgang Murnberger

** Writer: Dorothee Schön

** Soundtrack: German – no English subtitles!

** Run time: 102 minutes

The cast includes the following:

** Florian David Fitz as Erich Kästner (1899-1974)
** Nico Kleemann as Hans Albrecht Löhr (younger) (1922-1942)

** Jascha Baum as Hans Albrecht (older)

** Hans Löw as Erich Ohser (1903-1944) (an artist, cartoonist)

** Inga Busch as Marigard Ohser (Erich Ohser’s wife)

** Juls Serger as Wolfi Stern (younger)

** Oskar Bögelmann as Wolfi (older)

** Charlotte Lorenzen as Ruth Löhr (younger)

** Saskia Rosendahl as Ruth (older)

** Martin Brambach as Nietenführ (a waiter)

Since this movie is based on a true story, the basic facts are part of the public record. They are not a secret. Therefore I feel free to mention some of them in this review.

While this movie is based on a true story, it is not a documentary film. It is a dramatized version of events. Not everything happened exactly as shown in this movie, but the basic story is true.

Erich Kästner was a German author who wrote several books for children, but he never had any children of his own. His book Emil und die Detektive was published in 1929. It was a big success. The only one of his books which escaped Nazi censorship. It remains his biggest success. It has been translated into more than fifty languages.

One of his first and most avid readers was a boy who was only seven years old in 1929. His name was Hans Albrecht Löhr. He was so thrilled by the book that he wrote a letter to the author and later showed up at his front door.

Kästner was somewhat surprised but also pleased to meet his biggest fan. After a while, the childless man and the fatherless boy became good friends. In 1931, when the book was turned into a movie, Kästner made sure that Hans Albrecht was given a chance to be in the movie. He went to an audition and he was accepted to play one of the boys: “der kleine Dienstag,” “the little Tuesday.”

The friendship between Kästner and Hans Albrecht became difficult in 1933 when Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power. Kästner had been a soldier in World War One. He survived the war and became a pacifist. The Nazis did not like pacifists. They did not like Kästner’s writings. Some of his books were burned by the Nazis in 1933. He was questioned by the Gestapo several times, but never arrested.

Kästner realized that it was dangerous for other people to be close to him. He tried to push Hans Albrecht away – in order to keep him safe – but the boy could not or would not understand what Kästner was doing. He was disappointed.

In this movie we follow Kästner and the people around him – including his biggest fan – from their first meeting in 1929 until the time of the Second World War, which the little Tuesday did not survive.

What do reviewers say about it? On IMDb it has a rating of 74 per cent, which corresponds to (almost) four stars on Amazon. This average rating is quite high, but if you ask me, it is not high enough.

On the German version of Amazon, there are at the moment more than 35 reviews of this product. The average rating is 4.9 stars. If you ask me, this average rating is quite appropriate. Why?

The script is well-written and the actors play their roles well. The story is not only captivating and dramatic; it is also funny and often highly emotional. In addition, it is based on a true story.

I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars.

*****

 

Erich Kästner (1899-1974)

(This photo shows the author in 1961)

*****