At A French Fireside
Encyclopedia
At A French Fireside is an East German film directed by Kurt Maetzig
. It was released in 1963.
soldier Klaus' regiment is stationed in France, to take part in NATO maneuvers. The soldiers are ordered to be kind to the populace, since the West German High Command wishes the French to forget the atrocities that were committed during the Second World War. Klaus falls in love with Jeanne, the daughter of the local mayor. He discovers that his commanders intend to demolish the ruins of a local church, in which civilians were murdered by the German occupation forces at 1944. A local journalist who researches the event discovers that West German General Rucker ordered the massacre, but he is mysteriously murdered. Klaus defies his commanding officer Siebert, who instructs him to steal the documents indicting Rucker, and hands the evidence over to Jeanne.
, with an underlying message that East Germany had to defend itself from the West. Director Kurt Maetzig told an interviewer that he greatly disliked the script he filmed, and the work on At A French Fireside eventually inspired him to make the controversial The Rabbit Is Me
.
Kurt Maetzig
Kurt Maetzig is an East German film director who had a significant effect on the film industry in the GDR. He is one of the most respected filmmakers of East Germany. He currently lives in Wildkuhl, Mecklenburg, and has three children....
. It was released in 1963.
Plot
BundeswehrBundeswehr
The Bundeswehr consists of the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities...
soldier Klaus' regiment is stationed in France, to take part in NATO maneuvers. The soldiers are ordered to be kind to the populace, since the West German High Command wishes the French to forget the atrocities that were committed during the Second World War. Klaus falls in love with Jeanne, the daughter of the local mayor. He discovers that his commanders intend to demolish the ruins of a local church, in which civilians were murdered by the German occupation forces at 1944. A local journalist who researches the event discovers that West German General Rucker ordered the massacre, but he is mysteriously murdered. Klaus defies his commanding officer Siebert, who instructs him to steal the documents indicting Rucker, and hands the evidence over to Jeanne.
Cast
- Arno Wyzniewski - Klaus Wetzlaff
- Angelica DomröseAngelica DomröseAngelica Domröse is a German actress, who became famous in the role of Paula in Heiner Carow's film "The Legend of Paul and Paula". Her Mediterranean appearance is the result of her biological father being a prisoner of war from France.-Life:After training as a shorthand typist Domröse worked in a...
- Jeanne - Hannjo HasseHannjo Hasse-Biography:Hasse began studying acting in 1938, and attended Lily Ackermann's Institute for Stage Artists' Education in Berlin. At 1941, he was drafted for the Labour Service, and later to the Army...
- Major Siebert - Harry Hindemith - Bourguignon
- Raimund Schelcher - Ludovic
- Günther SimonGünther Simon-Early life:A bank clerk's son, Simon attended an acting school already in Gymnasium. At the age of sixteen, he was sent to a pre-military training camp of the Hitler Youth and then drafted to the Reich Labour Service. He volunteered to join the paratroopers in August 1943...
- General Rucker - Evelyn Cron - Georgette
Production
The film was one of eight major DEFA pictures made between 1959 to 1964 that centered on the theme of the Cold WarCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, with an underlying message that East Germany had to defend itself from the West. Director Kurt Maetzig told an interviewer that he greatly disliked the script he filmed, and the work on At A French Fireside eventually inspired him to make the controversial The Rabbit Is Me
The Rabbit Is Me
The Rabbit Is Me is an East German drama film directed by Kurt Maetzig. It was filmed in 1965, and based on the novel by Manfred Bieler.-Plot:...
.
Reception
The film was poorly received, and was not successful with the audiences. The German Film Lexicon defined At A French Fireside as a "completely unbelievable piece of propaganda". Dagmar Schittly viewed it as a typical "saboteur film", in the tradition of anti-Western DEFA thrillers.External links
- At A French Fireside original poster on ostfilm.de.
- At A French Fireside on DEFA Sternstunden.