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.
Directing | Robert A. Stemmle | Director |
Writing | Günter Neumann | Writer |
Production | Alf Teichs | Producer |
Production | Heinz Rühmann | Producer |
Camera | Georg Krause | Director of Photography |
Editing | Walter Wischniewsky | Editor |
Art | Gabriel Pellon | Production Design |
Sound | Werner Eisbrenner | Music |
Sound | Günter Neumann | Music |
Costume & Make-Up | Gertraud Recke | Costume Design |
Production | Werner Drake | Production Manager |
Production | Bruno Michalk | Unit Manager |
Production | Martin Sternberg | Unit Manager |
Sound | Hans Löhmer | Sound |