Berliner Ballade (1948) Online

The place is Germany, the time is World War I. The hero does not want to be drafted so he does a number of remarkably inventive things. Like opening a tin of sardines, leaving it out in the sun all day, then eating it just before he goes for his medical exam. But he is drafted anyway. He is tormented by the usual stupid sergeant who, barking guttural commands, keeps ordering him to fling himself down and pick himself up. Except that the places picked for this exercise are knee-deep in mud.

The hero makes it through the war safely and one day in a Berlin street-car, hears an officious, strangely familiar voice bullying passive passengers. It is the conductor who is his old sergeant, in uniform again! Eye to eye, neither can believe what he sees. Suddenly the conductor starts barking orders at him and old reflexes take over; he flings himself to the floor of the street car. up, down, up, down. End.

The above doesn't give an idea of how funny it all is, but consider it was made in 1952, just seven years after the German disaster of World War II, and clearly by a German team wanting to ridicule German militarism and you see the possibilities.

The real humor, though, comes from the English voice-over of Henry Morgan, brilliant, cynical, sarcastic radio comedian of the 30s. I believe he wrote all the belly-laugh wisecracks in the commentary. They certainly sounded like him.

Made in 1948 in the Western Zones, this adaptation of Neumann's Cabaret piece, is a light-hearted exercise in forgetting. The Otto Normalverbraucher whose journey we follow from the narrative standpoint of a flashback to Berlin from a future metropolis of 2048 is a whimsical look at the post-war hardships and attitudes of a defeated Germany. If you are looking for that famous German self-criticality. you won't find it here. Here you will find self-pity and not one mention of atrocity. It's a farce to be sure, but in more ways than one. The overall style and construction speak of relatively high production values for the time, but it is not a film about contrition, which is a shame because if the times demanded anything, they demanded that.

Life among the ruins of Berlin, centered around Mister Averageman. Topics include the black market, ration coupons and the difficulty of getting work.

Often feels like cabaret sketches opened up by location shooting. The ruins are impressive, and the sequence among the ruins of statues is perhaps the most interesting.