''The Crammer'' (german: Der Pauker) is a 1958 West German

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Axel von Ambesser Axel Eugen Alexander von Oesterreich (22 June 1910 – 6 September 1988), better known as Axel von Ambesser, was a German playwright, actor and film director. Ambesser's father was Alexander Constantin von Oesterreich. Ambesser was born in Hamb ...

and starring

Heinz Rühmann Heinrich Wilhelm "Heinz" Rühmann (; 7 March 1902 – 3 October 1994) was a German film actor who appeared in over 100 films between 1926 and 1993. He is one of the most famous and popular German actors of the 20th century, and is considered a Ge ...

Wera Frydtberg Wera Frydtberg (11 August 1926 – 16 June 2008) was a German film actress, film and television actress. She appeared in ''I Often Think of Piroschka'' (1955) Her best known film ''Wir Wunderkinder'' (known in English as ''Aren’t We Wonderful?'' ...

and Gert Fröbe.''The A to Z of German Cinema''. p. 304 It was shot at the

Bavaria Studios Bavaria Studios are film production studios located in Munich, the capital of the region of Bavaria in Germany, and a subsidiary of Bavaria Film. History The studios were constructed in the suburb of Geiselgasteig in 1919 shortly after the Fir ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

. The film's sets were designed by the art directors

Hans Berthel Hans Berthel (1914 2003) was a German art director active in the West German film industry.Lucanio & Coville p.223 During the Second World War he served in the Luftwaffe, spending time as a prisoner of war in Canada Canada is a count ...

and Robert Stratil.

Plot

Germany in the mid-1950s: Dr. Seidel (Rühmann) is a successful teacher at a high school in a provincial town. Old fashioned and dutiful as he is, he takes on the challenge to teach a graduating class at a big city high school, when asked by the governmental school inspector. On arrival at his new working place he is hit by a student while trying to settle a quarrel among youngsters in the schoolyard. The beginning looks like an omen: his new class proves to be an unruly gang. While trying establish discipline Dr. Seidel makes himself quite unpopular; he is even faced with mobbing by a former student (Löwitsch), who is now a gang leader with criminal ambitions. However Dr. Seidel is made of stern stuff and step by step wins the respect first of one student (Kraus), then of all others, thereby ruling out the gang leader, and he learns to respect the students. In a side story Dr. Seidel courts the older sister (Frydtberg) of a student but is defeated, so he falls back to a co-teacher (Löbel) living next door in the same boardinghouse. On the other side of his boardinghouse is a wrestler (Fröbe) who teaches him wrestling tricks in exchange for teaching "good German" as the wrestler proves to be illiterate.

Cast

as Dr. Hermann Seidel *

as Vera Bork * Gert Fröbe as Freddy Blei * Bruni Löbel as Frl. Selinski *

Ernst Fritz Fürbringer Ernst Fritz Fürbringer (27 July 1900 – 30 October 1988) was a German film actor. He appeared in 130 films between 1933 and 1983. He was born in Brunswick, Germany and died in Munich, Germany. Selected filmography * ''Die große und die ...

as School inspector Wagner *

Hans Leibelt Hans Leibelt (11 March 1885 in Leipzig, German Empire – 3 December 1974 in Munich, West Germany) was a German film actor. Selected filmography * ''Heimliche Sünder'' (1926) * '' The False Prince'' (1927) * ''The Man in Search of His Mur ...

as Headmaster Wiesbacher *

Franz-Otto Krüger Franz-Otto Krüger (1 April 1917 – 17 March 1988) was a German film and television actor. Krüger already started his acting at Berlin theatres in 1934, but his career was interrupted by his service in the Second World War. He appeared in over ...

as Headmaster Gaspari * Klaus Löwitsch as Harry Engelmann * as Martin Rössler *

Michael Verhoeven Michael Verhoeven (born 13 July 1938) is a German film director. Life and work Verhoeven is the son of the German film director Paul Verhoeven (not to be confused with the Dutch film director Paul Verhoeven). He married actress Senta Berger in ...

as Peter Wieland * Peter Vogel as Eduard Neureiter * as Axel * as Rudi Bär *

Peter Kraus Peter Kraus (born 18 March 1939) is an Austrian-German singer and actor. Born Peter Siegfried Krausenecker in Munich, Germany, Kraus was popular especially in the 1950s, notably in those musical comedy films where he played opposite Cornelia F ...

as Achim Bork

References

Bibliography

* Reimer, Robert C. & Reimer, Carol J. ''The A to Z of German Cinema''. Scarecrow Press, 2010.

External links

* 1958 comedy films West German films Films about educators Films set in schools 1958 films 1950s German-language films Films directed by Axel von Ambesser Gloria Film films Films shot at Bavaria Studios 1950s German films {{1950s-Germany-film-stub