''The Happy Wanderer'' (german: Der fröhliche Wanderer) is a 1955 West German

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by

Hans Quest Hans Quest (1915–1997) was a German actor and film director. Selected filmography Director *''Wenn der Vater mit dem Sohne'' (1955) *'' The Happy Wanderer'' (1955) *''Charley's Aunt'' (1956) *'' Wenn Poldi ins Manöver zieht'' (1956) *'' Ein M ...

. It stars

Rudolf Schock Rudolf Johann Schock (4 September 1915 – 13 November 1986) was a German tenor. Rudolf Schock was born in Duisburg, in the Prussian Rhine Province. He sang a wide repertoire from operetta to ''Lohengrin'', recording among others opera and lieder, ...

Waltraut Haas Waltraut Haas (born 9 June 1927) is an Austrian actress and singer. Born in Vienna, Haas grew up at Schloss Schönbrunn, where her mother was a restaurateur. Haas made her stage debut in Linz but was soon won over to the big screen. She achieved ...

Elma Karlowa Elma Karlowa (March 12, 1932 – December 31, 1994) was a Yugoslav film and television actress.Fritsche p.255 Selected filmography * '' Once I Will Return'' (1953) * '' A Child of the Community'' (1953) * '' Guitars of Love'' (1954) * ''Cabaret ...

, and

Willy Fritsch Willy Fritsch (27 January 1901 – 13 July 1973) was a German theater and film actor, a popular leading man and character actor from the silent-film era to the early 1960s. Biography Early life He was born Wilhelm Egon Fritz Fritsch, the only s ...

.Bock & Bergfelder p.134 It was shot in

Agfacolor An Agfacolor slide dated 1937 from café in Oslo, Norway. An Agfacolor slide dated 1937 from Paris, France. An Agfacolor slide dated 1938 from Hungary. An Agfacolor slide dated 1938 from Zakopane in Poland. An Agfacolor slide dated 1938 fr ...

at the

Tempelhof Studios The Tempelhof Studios are a film studio located in Tempelhof in the German capital of Berlin. They were founded in 1912, during the silent era, by German film pioneer Alfred Duskes, who built a glass-roofed studio on the site with financial bac ...

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

and on location in

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

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

Hans Kuhnert Hans Kuhnert (4 January 1901 – 29 July 1974) was a German actor, art director and production designer. Kuhnert began his career as an actor during the silent era. He played the lead alongside Olga Tschechowa in '' Violet''.Hardt p.225 From the m ...

. It is more than just a romantic comedy, but also is a

Heimatfilm ' (, German for "homeland-films"; German singular: ') were films of a genre popular in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria from the late 1940s to the early 1960s. ''Heimat'' can be translated as "home" (in the geographic sense), "hometown" or "homela ...

and references the

Wandervogel ''Wandervogel'' (plural: ''Wandervögel''; English: "Wandering Bird") is the name adopted by a popular movement of German youth groups from 1896 to 1933, who protested against industrialization by going to hike in the country and commune with n ...

movement and thus deals with modernization as a movement and its resonance on the culture where the film is set.

Cast

References

Bibliography

* Bock, Hans-Michael & Bergfelder, Tim. ''The Concise CineGraph. Encyclopedia of German Cinema''. Berghahn Books, 2009.

External links

* West German films 1955 films 1950s German-language films German musical comedy films 1955 musical comedy films Films directed by Hans Quest Films about singers 1955 romantic comedy films German romantic musical films 1950s romantic musical films 1950s German films Films shot at Tempelhof Studios Films shot in Bavaria {{1950s-Germany-film-stub