Hermann Speelmans

Wanting a lavish production to mark the 25th anniversary of UFA, the German film studio, Joseph Goebbels, director of the Nazi propaganda machine, commissioned an adaptation of Baron von Münchhausen‘s “autobiographical” stories. Baron von Münchhausen (1720-97) was an eccentric figure in European history, whose tall tales about his adventures rival anything to be found in the legends of Paul Bunyan or classic figures like Odysseus. This film recounts some of the episodes from the Baron’s sensational stories, which are set in the world of the 18th century.

Told in seven chapters, Käutner’s first postwar film portrays the lives of average people overwhelmed and traumatized by the impact of fascism. Käutner uses the framing device of an automobile whose various owners serve as the film’s protagonists and initiate its episodic structure. The characters represent an interesting cross-section of the German people including a deserting soldier, a Jewish couple and a composer who has been labeled as subversive. During a time when most Germans wanted to forget the past, Käutner eschewed the controlled setting of the UFA studios and chose to film in the bombed out streets of Berlin, crafting a humanistic rendering of recent history.

Nazi film based upon the life and death of Hitler Youth Heini Volker, killed while distributing flyers in a Communist neighborhood.