''Vater sein dagegen sehr'' (English: "Being a father however, is hard") is a 1957 West German film directed by Kurt Meisel.

Plot summary

One day, writer Lutz Ventura receives news that his sister has died. She leaves behind two children, whom he temporarily takes in after the funeral because Frau Roeckel, the sister of the children's father, deceased five years earlier, is taking a holiday with her husband. Lutz and the children become good friends. The children want to stay with their uncle, but he does not have much room in his tower apartment, has little money, and wants to get married soon. The children must return to the Roeckel family, but they run away, because there is always trouble there. The soft-hearted uncle takes them in, but his fiancée has definite ideas about their future, and they don't include other people's children. On the spur of the moment, she tells him that she no longer wants to marry him. The writer gets in trouble with the authorities; the children are not allowed to live with him since he is an unmarried man. The situation escalates as the child welfare authorities require the niece and nephew to be ready for transfer to an orphanage that evening. Lutz goes to the parish priest and explains to him his new idea to seek sanctuary in order to make the public aware of his problem. The priest rejects this but secretly talks to Margot, Lutz's fiancé. She tells the priest that she had been waiting for an opportunity to change her mind and the couple is married on the same day.

Location

The film was shot in rural Franconia, among other locations. The tower is part of the city wall in Sommerhausen. Ventura's marriage took place in the Würzburg Adalberokirche. Cities like Würzburg, Ochsenfurt or Marktbreit pop up in the film repeatedly.

Differences from novel

Reception

– Encyclopedia of the International film – Protestant film observers

Cast

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 ...

as Lutz Ventura * Marianne Koch as Margot Ventura geb. Sonnemann * Hans Leibelt as Pfarrer Miesbach * Paul Esser as Friedrich Roeckel *

Edith Schollwer Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English words ēad, meaning 'riches or blessed', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian languages and Dutch. Its French form is Édith. Contractions and v ...

as Ottilie Roeckel geb. Lüdecke * Agnes Windeck as Fürsorgerin *

Hans Waldemar Anders Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi a ...

as Schulvorsteher *

Luigi Malipiero is a fictional character featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario, Nintendo's mas ...

as Briefträger *

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 Standesbeamter * Kurt Meisel as Schneider * Maren Bielenberg as Gertrud "Traudl" Lüdecke * Rolf Pinegger as Rudi Lüdecke (boy)

Soundtrack

External links

* * 1957 films 1957 comedy-drama films German comedy-drama films West German films 1950s German-language films Films directed by Kurt Meisel Films based on German novels 1957 comedy films 1957 drama films 1950s German films Films scored by Michael Jary {{1950s-Germany-film-stub