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IMDbPro

Duel in the Forest

Original title: Der Schinderhannes
  • 19581958
  • 1h 55m
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
196
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
177,959
21,162
Duel in the Forest (1958)
CrimeDramaHistory
The movie reports the historical story of Schinderhannes, based on a play by Carl Zuckmayr. Johannes Bückler, this his real name, led a band of brigands in the Hunsrück mountains during Napo... Read allThe movie reports the historical story of Schinderhannes, based on a play by Carl Zuckmayr. Johannes Bückler, this his real name, led a band of brigands in the Hunsrück mountains during Napoleonic times.The movie reports the historical story of Schinderhannes, based on a play by Carl Zuckmayr. Johannes Bückler, this his real name, led a band of brigands in the Hunsrück mountains during Napoleonic times.
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
196
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
177,959
21,162
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • Helmut Käutner
    • Writers
      • Georg Hurdalek
      • Carl Zuckmayer(play)
    • Stars
      • Curd Jürgens
      • Maria Schell
      • Christian Wolff
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Helmut Käutner
    • Writers
      • Georg Hurdalek
      • Carl Zuckmayer(play)
    • Stars
      • Curd Jürgens
      • Maria Schell
      • Christian Wolff
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 4User reviews
    • 4Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • Photos9

    Duel in the Forest (1958)
    The Devil's General (1955)
    Michael Burk, Curd Jürgens, Siegfried Lowitz, and Eva Pflug in Duel in the Forest (1958)
    Paul Esser, Curd Jürgens, and Til Kiwe in Duel in the Forest (1958)
    Curd Jürgens and Sybille Kien in Duel in the Forest (1958)
    Curd Jürgens, Siegfried Lowitz, and William Trenk in Duel in the Forest (1958)
    Michael Burk, Günther Jerschke, Curd Jürgens, Siegfried Lowitz, and Maria Schell in Duel in the Forest (1958)
    Curd Jürgens and Maria Schell in Duel in the Forest (1958)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Curd Jürgens
    Curd Jürgens
    • Johann 'Schinderhannes' Bückler
    Maria Schell
    Maria Schell
    • Julchen
    Christian Wolff
    Christian Wolff
    • Carl von Cleve-Boost
    Fritz Tillmann
    • Hans Bast
    Siegfried Lowitz
    Siegfried Lowitz
    • Benzel
    Til Kiwe
    Til Kiwe
    • Gendarm Adam
    Bobby Todd
    • Seibert
    Walter Buschhoff
    Walter Buschhoff
    • Iltis Jakob
    Günther Jerschke
    Günther Jerschke
    • Welscher Jockel
    Michael Burk
    • Husaren-Philipp
    Paul Esser
    Paul Esser
    • Schmied Schauwecker
    Joseph Offenbach
    • Leyendecker
    Leon Askin
    Leon Askin
    • Rochus Eppelsheimer
    William Trenk
    • Reichsgraf von Cleve-Boost
    • (as Willy Trenk-Trebitsch)
    Joachim Hess
    • Schnallenpeter
    Arnim Dahl
    • Roter Fink
    Ernst Stahl-Nachbaur
    • Kasper Bückler
    Bum Krüger
    • Polizeidirektor von Mainz
    • Director
      • Helmut Käutner
    • Writers
      • Georg Hurdalek
      • Carl Zuckmayer(play)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The film fictionalizes the life of German outlaw Johannes Bückler (c. 1778-1803). He primarily preyed on on the Rhine region, which formed at the time the borders between the First French Republic and the Holy Roman Empire. He is remembered as a folk hero in Germany due to repeatedly outsmarting the French occupation forces during the French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802). He was eventually captured by France and executed by guillotine.
    • Goofs
      The Marseillaise is played during the official visit. However, the Marseillaise was considered too Jacobinite during Napoleon's reign and was not played after 1800, and finally even forbidden in 1804. It certainly would not have been played on an occasion like a visit by Napoleon.
    • Connections
      Edited into Meine Schwester Maria (2002)

    User reviews4

    Review
    Review
    Top review
    5/10
    PICTORIAL BUT BORING
    The best directors sometimes make the most boring films once in a while and Helmut Käutner contributed to this statement with this film. The film looks very well taken care of and pictorial, but these are the main attractions. The story telling is no more than dutiful and drags itself from one scene to the next with no tension or excitement, though some individual scenes are very good. The passing of time is sometimes depicted rather poorly; when Maria Schell says to Curd Jürgens that "three years have passed" (somewhere in the middle of the film), the viewer looses his orientation as this passing of thime is not made clear within the story.

    Talking of Schell and Jürgens: the couple is a total mismatch and not one spark of passion that is supposed to exist, is felt. Both are miscast as well. Schell is too much the neighbour-next-door type to be believable as a free living woman; she is simply too nice. And based on a vague idea Käutner decided on Jürgens for the part of Schinderhannes; the vague idea was that he wanted an older Schinderhannes (the real one and the one in Zuckmayers's play was about 25) to concentrate on the wrong choices a man can make apart from other problems connected with being young; he did not want to tackle the problems of the 50's Halbstarken (teddy boys) as well. Of course by this choice he more or less undermined the crux of the play and in this film we see Jürgens (with silly hair cut, by the way) as an older gang leader of whom we wonder why he acts the way he does. Käutner did not, at any rate not sufficiently, adapt the play to conform to his idea. In short: Käutner's intention does not work.

    It is reported in a biography that Käutner more or less fell in love with the landscape in which filming took place. Was that may be the reason that the film gives the impression that Käutner was not really concerned with the film? 4000 extras were involved in the mass and war scenes, but it never shows. We see battalions far away in the landscape, but it is a lifeless view.

    Of the first production of Schinderhannes (1927) I only saw a photo with in it Hans Stüwe as Schinderhannes. This photo alone is more exciting and spirited than this film.
    helpful•6
    5
    • J. Steed
    • Jul 4, 1999

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • 1964 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • West Germany
    • Languages
      • German
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Der Schinderhannes
    • Filming locations
      • Dhaun, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
    • Production companies
      • Gyula-Trebitsch-Film
      • Real-Film GmbH
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 55 minutes
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.66 : 1

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