Emil and the Detectives (1931) User Reviews (10)

The man with the stiff hat

[MichailB · 8/10 · 10 May 2005]

After the children's book "Emil und die Detektive" was published in 1928 this first screen version was made in 1931 under the supervision of the author Erich Kästner himself.

The story seems simple: young Emil gets to visit his granny in Berlin and is given 140 marks by his mother for his grandma. On the train to Berlin the 140 marks are stolen by a man with a stiff hat while Emil sleeps. Arriving in Berlin he tries to follow the thief and receives help from a well organized and nice "gang" of Berlin street "detectives" in his age. A happy end seems possible.

While the movie contains a very entertaining story itself, an even more interesting detail of this movie is in its backdrop: an authentic Berlin of 1931 with open cabs, cars driving next to coaches, wide streets with lots of space for cyclists and so on. I always wondered when viewing older city maps what street life was like in the twenties of the last century when the streets were not as crowded as today, when the speed difference between pedestrians, cyclists, cars and coaches was still comparable in human measures.

The camera work, special effects (Emils dream on the train) and movie music are distinctly thirty-ish which made this movie even more interesting to me. All in all a very enjoyable movie for kids and adults alike.

Great early bird

[suchenwi · 8/10 · 31 December 2008]

Given that 1931 was year 2 of sound movies in Germany, the handling of sound is quite decent in this nice old piece, the first in a series of films made after the classic children's novel.

Billie Wilder did not direct, but wrote the script, and probably drew from his experiences with Menschen am Sonntag the year before, which also had many scenes of Berlin street traffic.

This little old gem, which in the hotel sequence has some proto-noir-ish style, was remarketed on DVD by Universum/Atlas in 2003, in a double-feature with the 1954 version (which I'm going to see next - if only for the fun of comparing Berlin streetscapes...) Very lovely, highly recommended.

A movie with a tragic backstory

[perkeo · 7/10 · 28 December 2020]

This is a children's movie with a tragic backstory. Only one of the seven boys with named characters survived WWII. The other six died in combat.

A bit stiff

[blumdeluxe · 6/10 · 7 March 2019]

"Emil und die Detektive" is the film adaption of a famous children's novel by Erich Kästner. In evolves around Emil, a small boy from a small town, who drives to Berlin to visit relatives over the holidays but wakes up to find all of his money stolen by a strange man on the train. Together with a gang of young boys and girls he meets on the streets of Berlin, he begins to chase down the criminal.

I really enjoy Kästner's way to tell stories and so this movie has the huge advantage of a superb plot, which makes it well watchable still today. Unfortunately, the rest of the film hasn't aged as well, everything seems rather stiff and moralic and is at some points lacking the rather cheeky humor of Kästner's stories. In its time it surely was a great production and I do value that, however you would probably produce it quite different today, which can be seen in the really good remake that was released some years ago.

All in all this is still worth a watch, especially for Kästner fans and nostalgics, however it will be hard to convince your children to sit through this black and white classic.

Amazing discovery

[gltoffic · 10/10 · 18 June 2008]

I was 10 years old when the 1964 version of Emil and the Detectives came out. I loved that movie. I even had a recording of the soundtrack that I played over and over again when I was alone.

Then, just last night, I happened to catch an interview with Billy Wilder on television. It mentioned his early work on an "Emil and the Detectives". Today I sit astounded that there is not just one other earlier version of the film, but three earlier adaptations and one newer one (that I have found out about).

I like to think that I am a minor film buff, but this discovery that this film exists goes to show that the vast treasure of film worldwide is to be saved and cherished.

I can hardly wait in the coming years to try and see all of the versions and compare the great and heartwarming story.

The children are watching.

[brogmiller · 8/10 · 30 November 2021]

Apparently novelist Erich Kastner was none too keen on this adaptation by Billy Wilder, with a little help from an uncredited Emeric Pressburger but the film was an unqualified success commercially and ranks as yet another gem of Weimar Cinema.

All the elements have come together here to produce a work that has retained its magic, freshness, charm and immediacy ninety years on.

There is a splendid score by Polish born Allan Gray who was to continue the Pressburger connection, notably with his scores for two of Britain's greatest, 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp' and 'A Matter of Life and Death' whilst Werner Brandes' candid camerawork has succeeded in making the city of Berlin an active participant in the plot. Especially impressive is the sequence where Emil Tischbein and his ever increasing gang of children pursue and corner the thief Grundeis.

Director Gerhard Lamprecht has worked wonders with his untrained youngsters and the inclusion of one girl amongst the boys is inspired. She is played by Inga Landgut, one of M's unfortunate victims in Lang's masterpiece from the same year. Playing Emil made an overnight star of Rolf Wenkhaus who went on to play a youth of an altogether different stamp in 'S. A.-Mann Brand' and died in combat in 1942. There is a touching performance by Kathe Haack as Emile's mother and what can one possibly say of Fritz Rasp who portrays Grundeis? A highly unusual artiste with an imposing and at times menacing presence who made his debut in 1916 and was still acting until the year of his death in 1976. He is perfectly cast here and being costumed in black adds to his villainy.

This is the first version on film. Often imitated, never bettered.

as usual, the original is the best

[rosenkohl12 · 8/10 · 18 June 2003]

...which isn't a wonder since this movie was directed by billy wilder. compared with the newest clone of this from 2001, it is quite simple to see, that one very important point for understanding the story is that it takes place in the 1920s/1930s when the story was written. the 2001 version takes place now, which makes it boring. it just looks like a copy. so go and get a hand at this masterpiece.

Early German "Talkie" - Billy Wilder's first Hit Movie

[thursdaysrecords · 9/10 · 14 November 2018]

The film-version of author Erich Kaestner's break-through children's book. "Emil" is in many ways a first. It lifted the young author out of obscurity and poverty to fame and fortune. It also gave screen-writer/director Billy Wilder his first of many critical and commercial successes. Kaester would go on to pen several other great children's books, including "Das doppelte Lottchen", which later inspired the Disney Classic "The Parent Trap", and Billy Wilder's very respectable resume needs no further comments.

The story was written for children during a time when poverty, violence and war has robbed many people of hope for a better future. A ruthless thief (Herr Grundeis) steals a small sum of money from a boy (Emil) on a train and is pursued by a group of "organized" children, who are determined to reunite the rightful owner and his money. The young "detectives" not only provide evidence of Emil's claim (causing the crook to instantly take flight) but also out-do the police in locating and bringing the thief to justice.

It's all for one and one for all, a feel good movie with a happy ending. David vs. Goliath or good against evil. In the Germany "between the two great wars" with political winds already forming the next set of very dark clouds, "Emil and the Detectives" was a welcomed holiday from all of the world's ills. For 70 minutes, the viewer could escape and root for the little kid who has been victimized, and to witness triumph of the human spirit. A treasure of the Old German Cinema. Highly recommended!

The Man in the Bowler Hat!!

[kidboots · 10/10 · 17 May 2020]

"Emil and the Detectives" was the only one of Erich Kastner's pre 1945 works to escape Nazi censorship and what made it so popular in it's day was the setting in contemporary Berlin and the 1931 adaptation followed on by setting it during the Weimar Republic. The film found international acclaim and with a team of writers as Billy Wilder, Erich Kastner and Emeric Pressburger - how could it fail? Mordaunt Hall (of the New York Times) praised it fulsomely and also must have been at the German premiere because he predicted stardom for a few of the young boys who appeared in person, commenting that America didn't have the monopoly on talented juvenile players.

Emil is being sent to Berlin by his mother, a hairdresser, to give his grandmother his mother's monthly salary of 140 marks - it is a big responsibility but Emil also gives care and attention to packing his marbles and slingshot. On board the train all the passengers are kind - except the man in the bowler hat!! Fritz Rasp is superb, he plays to the hilt the evilness and creepiness of the sinister gentleman. With all the reality and resourcefulness of children, Rasp is a standout and memorable!! First he tells Emil some very weird stories about life in Berlin - and succeeds in putting everyone in the carriage offside with his eeriness. He then takes the little boy on a hallucinating journey, flying over Berlin with an umbrella after he offers Emil a drugged chocolate.

Emil awakes in the train to find his money gone and while cousin Pony is waiting at the station, he is getting to know the local street kids who are enthused about helping him find his money. With Pony along on her push bike they track the "bowler" to a posh hotel - and by bribing a page boy they find that the enemy is in room 9!!

So many delightful and resourceful children playing and living to their own rules - Gus and his horn, Hirsch who speaks like an Indian (as in cowboys and indians) shows how much influence the American movies had world wide and little Mittenzwei who is the only boy with a home phone so he has to stay at home and mediate, much to his disgust!!

Also nice, the way the children are believed - all roads lead to the local police station and when Emil pleads that the notes will have pin pricks because he had pinned them to his pocket "Mr. Bowler Hat" is jumped on!! It seems he is not quite the small time thief as first thought but an escaped bank robber whose capture leads to a big reward. The end shows much rejoicing - all the boys wishing to marry Pony who sensibly tells them that she can be friends with all. Inge Landgut who is well known for playing Elsie in "M" makes an adorable Pony. Very sadly Rolf Wenkhaus who played Emil and others of the main juvenile cast died during the second world war. Hans Richter who played Hirsch, the Indian speaker found a phenomenal success, if type cast, as a freckled faced kid and had a long and fruitful career.

Very Recommended

A unique classic

[Philipp_Flersheim · 8/10 · 1 February 2022]

Emil from Neustadt travels to Berlin to visit his grandmother; he takes 140 Mark with him which his mother is sending. On the train, the money is stolen by another passenger. In Berlin, Emil pursues the thief and meets a gang of boys of his own age who help him. Eventually they recover the money; the thief - who turns out to be a bank robber to whom the police had been wanting to talk in any case - is arrested, and Emil gets a big reward.

The quality of the video I watched was awful: jerky, and the sound was so poor that the English subtitles were a real help. If this film has not yet been carefully restored, it ought to be. It is great. The child actors are wonderfully lively and natural, and Fritz Rasp gives a delightfully sinister performance as the thief. Inga Landgut is great as Emil's cousin Pony Hütchen (a nickname that refers to her funny little hat). The dialogues are equally good. You might think that children addressing each other as 'meine Herren' ('gentlemen') would sound unnatural, but they don't. That is evidently how children were talking c. 1930.

And that takes me to another great aspect of 'Emil und die Detektive': You get a glimpse of Germany in the brief period between the wars when conditions were more or less 'normal' by the standards of Western Europe and the US. That does not mean that there was no hardship. Emil's mother is clearly struggling as a hairdresser, and the 140 Mark she sends to his grandmother are probably about as much as she would make in a month. What I mean is normal in the sense that the militarism of imperial Germany had abated (even the constabler in Neustadt is reasonably friendly, despite his pre-WWI appearance) while marching hordes of brown shirts were not yet in evidence. When the film came out that was already about to change. Nine years later the actor playing Emil (Rolf Wenkhaus) would join the Luftwaffe; he was killed in action off the coast of Ireland in 1942. Most others did not survive the war either.