This film was my introduction to Horst Buchholz. Albsolutely delightful! I have been chasing a copy of it for years, and finally located a VHS of it -- it has recently been released on DVD in Germany. If you can get your hands on it, do so. The young Buchholz is an enchanting rogue in this saga of the rise of a charming confidence man, swindling and cheating his way to the top. He sent on to star in films in the US and in Europe, but was seldom as delightful as here, in this early work. His innate good looks and personality are given free reign. One of the most delightful scenes in the epileptic fit he throws for the draft board to avoid military service. Inspired!
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ronnmullen3378216 October 2005
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Mort-314 December 2000A really entertaining comedy! I don't know the original novel by Thomas Mann but the film doubtless did justice to Mann's language. It's a pleasure to hear Horst Buchholz in the role of Felix Krull leading everybody up the garden path with hilarious wordiness! I enjoyed every minute of this movie. It's true that it's old-fashioned but that's what makes up its attraction.
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Horst_In_Translation13 June 2016"Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull" or "Confessions of Felix Krull" is a West German black-and-white film from 1957, so this one here will have its 60th anniversary next year already. The director is Kurt Hoffmann and the film is based on a work by famous German author Thomas Mann. The title already says what this 105-minute film is about: the confessions of a con-artist and it seems these existed already more than half a century ago. I must say I am pretty surprised to see this one won a Golden Globe and received also lots of other awards recognition as I never found it a memorable watch. Maybe the reason is Mann's attachment and another big name. Lead actor Horst Buchholz in his possibly most known German-language performance makes it easy to find the protagonist very unlikable from start to finish if that was the intention. However, I cannot say the script got me interested at all, let alone for the massive runtime we have here. I give Felix Krull a thumbs-down and it is another piece of evidence how the 1950s were not a great decade for West or East German films. Not recommended.