Otto Normalverbraucher, an average German citizen, returns from captivity in 1949 to Berlin and has to come to terms with the new post-war situation. He meets bootleggers and reactionaries, looks for work and food, and in the end even finds his "dream woman".
Director:
Robert A. Stemmle
Writers:
Günter Neumann (story)Günter Neumann (screenplay)
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Cast:
| Gert Fröbe | ... | Otto Normalverbraucher | |
| Tatjana Sais | ... | Frau Ida Holle | |
| Ute Sielisch | ... | Eva Wandel, Bäuerin | |
| Aribert Wäscher | ... | Anton Zeithammer | |
| O.E. Hasse | ... | Der Reaktionär | |
| Hans Deppe | ... | Emil Lemke | |
| Werner Oehlschlaeger | ... | Raisonneur (as Werner Oehlschläger) | |
| Erik Ode | ... | Narrator (voice) | |
| Karl Schönböck | ... | Rundfunkreporter | |
| Herbert Hübner | ... | Herr Bollmann, politischer Redner | |
| Alfred Schieske | ... | Herr Schneidewind, Politischer Redner | |
| Herbert Weissbach | ... | Spirituosenhändler | |
| Kurt Weitkamp | |||
| Franz-Otto Krüger | ... | Einbrecher Franz |
Review Summary
Long before he played the corpulent Goldfinger, German actor Gert Froebe was a scarecrow-skinny comedian. In Berliner Ballade, Froebe makes his screen debut as Otto, a feckless Everyman who tries to adjust to the postwar travails of his defeated nation. Stymied by black-market profiteers and government bureaucrats, Otto begins fantasizing about a happier life at the end of that ever-elusive rainbow. Director R. A. Stemmle doesn't have to strive for pathos: he merely places his gangly star amidst the ruins of a bombed-out Berlin, and the point is made for him. Filmed in 1948, Berliner Ballade was later released in the U.S. as The Berliner.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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