''The Captain from Köpenick'' () is a 1956 West German

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Helmut Käutner Helmut Käutner (25 March 1908 – 20 April 1980) was a German film director active mainly in the 1940s and 1950s. He entered the film industry at the end of the Weimar Republic and released his first films as a director in Nazi Germany. Käu ...

and based upon the 1931 play '' The Captain of Köpenick'' by

Carl Zuckmayer Carl Zuckmayer (27 December 1896 – 18 January 1977) was a German writer and playwright. His older brother was the pedagogue, composer, conductor, and pianist Eduard Zuckmayer. His first two dramas were failures. In 1929, he wrote the script ...

. The play was based on the true story of Wilhelm Voigt, a German impostor who masqueraded as a Prussian military officer in 1906 and became famous as the Captain from Köpenick. It was nominated for the 29th Academy Awards in the category Best Foreign Language Film. It was shot by Real Film at the Wandsbek Studios in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

Albrecht Becker and Herbert Kirchhoff.

Plot

A young mechanic is jailed for the forgery of low-value postal orders and is sentenced to 15 years. Upon release, after successfully working abroad, he returns to Germany due to homesickness. However, he receives a further sentence of 10 years for forging false identity documentation in an attempt to escape his past. Now, without a job, he cannot obtain a residence permit, and without a residence permit, he cannot secure a job. He tries to obtain a passport to go abroad again but is deemed too disreputable. Imprisoned for a third time, this time for 12 years, for breaking into a police station to forge a passport, he learns military drill. Eventually freed, he is issued with an expulsion order from the district. By chance, he sees an officer's uniform at a street stall and buys it. The film also covers the previous history of the uniform. He commandeers a handful of soldiers en route to their barracks and returns to his home district, arresting the mayor and demanding a passport. Learning that such documents are only issued by higher-level offices, he confiscates the town treasury and leaves. He hands himself in to the police in exchange for the promise of a passport but becomes celebrated for his bravado and is granted a pardon by the Kaiser and a passport.

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 Wilhelm Voigt * Martin Held as Dr. Obermüller * Hannelore Schroth as Mathilde Obermüller * Willy A. Kleinau as Friedrich Hoprecht * Leonard Steckel as Adolph Wormser * Friedrich Domin as Jail Director * Erich Schellow as Capt. von Schlettow * Walter Giller as Willy Wormser * Wolfgang Neuss as Kallenberg * Bum Krüger as Schutzmann Kilian * Joseph Offenbach as Wabschke * Ilse Fürstenberg as Marie Hoprecht, Voigt's sister * Maria Sebaldt as Auguste Viktoria Wormser, seine Tochter * Edith Hancke as Sick girl * Ethel Reschke as Pleureusenmieze * Siegfried Lowitz as Stadtkämmerer Rosenkranz * Willi Rose as Police sergeant * Willy Maertens as Prokurist Knell * Kurt Fuß * Karl Hellmer as Nowak * Robert Meyn as Polizeipräsident von Jagow * Otto Wernicke as Schuhmachermeister * Ludwig Linkmann as Betrunkener Zivilist * Wolfgang Müller * Rudolf Fenner as Polizeioberwachtmeister in Potsdam * Reinhard Kolldehoff as Drunken soldier * Kurt Klopsch as Polizei-Inspektor von Köpenick * Helmut Gmelin as Kürassier-Oberst * Reinhold Nietschmann * Jutta Zech * Jochen Blume as Paß-Kommissar * Peter Ahrweiler as Anstaltsgeistlicher * Jochen Meyn as Von Schleinitz * Werner Schumacher as 2.Gefreiter * as 1.Gefreiter * Balduin Baas as Ostpreußischer Grenadier * Peter Franz * Joachim Wolff as 2.Bahnbeamter * Erich Weiher as Dorfschulze * Holger Hagen as Dr. Jellinek * Eddi Thomalla as 1. Bahnbeamter

Awards

* Nominated for the 29th Academy Awards in the category Best Foreign Language Film * Bundesfilmpreis (Filmband in Gold) in the categories Best Actor, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Film Architecture * Bundesfilmpreis (Filmband in Silber) in the category Best Film Promoting Democracy * Bundesfilmpreis (Goldene Schale) in the category Best Feature Film *

Bambi ''Bambi'' is a 1942 American Animated film, animated Coming of age, coming-of-age drama film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Loosely based on Felix Salten's 1923 novel ''Bambi, a Life in the Woods'', the ...

in the categories Best Film and Most Commercially Successful Film *

Preis der deutschen Filmkritik Preis is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Alfred Preis (1911–1993), Austrian architect * Ellen Preis (Ellen Müller-Preis) (1912–2007), German-born Austrian Olympic champion foil fencer * Mary Louise Preis (born 1941) ...

* Price of the Berlin Film Critics Association for

* Special Merit recognition by the Filmbewertungsstelle

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

* Screened at the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...

, the

Edinburgh International Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), established in 1947, is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all titles are World, international, European or UK Premieres), in al ...

and the

San Francisco International Film Festival The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by SFFILM, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in international film and vid ...

References

External links

*
''Der Hauptmann von Köpenick''
at filmportal.de/en {{DEFAULTSORT:Captain From Kopenick 1956 films 1950s historical comedy-drama films German historical comedy-drama films West German films 1950s German-language films Films directed by Helmut Käutner German films based on plays Films based on works by Carl Zuckmayer Films about con artists Films set in 1906 Films set in Berlin Films shot in Hamburg Remakes of German films Real Film films Films shot at Wandsbek Studios German biographical films Biographical films about fraudsters Cultural depictions of Wilhelm Voigt 1950s biographical films 1950s German films Films scored by Bernhard Eichhorn German-language comedy-drama films German-language historical films German-language biographical films

Plot

Cast

Awards

See also

References

External links