The Berliner (1948)

The Berliner (1948)

1948-12-31 Germany 89 Min. PG-13
7.4 8 votes

Overview

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.

Cast

Gert Fröbe is Otto Normalverbraucher
Otto Normalverbraucher
Tatjana Sais is Ida Holle
Ida Holle
O.E. Hasse is Der Reaktionär
Der Reaktionär
Hans Deppe is Emil Lemke
Emil Lemke
Karl Schönböck is Rundfunkreporter
Rundfunkreporter
Herbert Hübner is Herr Bollmann
Herr Bollmann
Erik Ode is Stimme
Stimme
Rita Paul is Sängerin
Sängerin
Aribert Wäscher is Anton Zeithammer
Anton Zeithammer
Alfred Schieske is Herr Schneidewind
Herr Schneidewind