Der Haus-Tyrann (1959) Online

Unfortunately it does not keep up until the end, but this is a sometimes hilarious Heinz Erhardt vehicle, with Erhardt in one of his best creations. The teaming of Grethe Weiser and Heinz Erhardt works excellent; Rudolf Platte "ist immer dabei" for another comical note. In short: fun all around.

I have to say I am quite a fan of Heinz Erhardt's physical presence and approach to comedy, even if his characters are always pretty similar. But sadly, he cannot lift a film that is mediocre in every regard to greatness either. This 90 minute movie from over 55 years ago fits that description. It's also black-and-white, which is not a given for 1959 anymore. Basically, it is a mix of Romeo&Juliet story while the families are neighbors who are just angry at the noise the other party makes. Or it's really just two family members who keep getting annoyed. Erhardt was almost 50 years when this was made. The actor who plays the Perlacher boy is still alive today and also still appears in movies such as the Ostwind sequel that hit theaters these days. I felt that in this movie I could see he enjoyed his role and was fun to watch, so no surprise he did not choose an anonymous career path outside the film industry.

The humor in this film is mostly based on Erhardt's chaotic character and all the trouble he gets himself in, even has to go to jail near the end and his courtroom sequence is almost a stand-up comedy program, especially with the audience's laughter. Other than that, they make fun of some German proverbs ("Hund in der Pfanne") and so on. Nothing truly great, but watchable. The sister to Erhardt's character was possibly the highlight of this film. You could really feel how she was suffering because of her brother all the time and his escapades. She just wanted harmony, but sadly her brother was as much of a 1950s drama queen as it gets. This based-on-a-play movie is not the only film by director Hans Deppe with Heinz Erhardt. The two worked together on several occasions. The ending I have to say I wasn't too fond of when he, all of a sudden makes up with his oh-so-hated neighbor and the two who hated each other with passion almost become friends all of a sudden. This was not realistic sadly and basically made everything before that worthless almost, the whole arguing etc. At least, i did like the final shot, the crossword puzzle reference. But, all in all, i was hoping for more. Not recommended.