"Grenadier Wordelmann" is a German television film from 1980, so this one had its 40th anniversary last year and as this was a November release, it happened nt even that long ago. Little over three months. The running time is approximately 83 minutes, which is not long at all, but compared to some other GDR films I recently watched, it is also not super short. 75-minute films were a thing in that country for sure. And several of those also included Herbert Köfer, but I will get to him later. These films were really more like filmed stage plays though in contrast to this one here. This is a period piece. But oh, I did not even state early on that this was a GDR films, just threw it randomly in there. So yes, by 1980 there were of course still two German countries and the production country here was, just like with most of Köfer's stuff the GDR. Or basically all of his stuff before the Fall of the German wall. The director here was Hans-Joachim Hildebrandt. And he is also one of the two writers. Hildebrandt died last year, less than half a year ago, at the age of 90 and he was a pretty prolific East German filmmaker, also directed for example an Edgar Wallace adaptation of Der Zinker that pretty much nobody has seen though. Especially compared to the West German equivalent. Fittingly, this one we have here was also not really seen by many, which surprises me a bit that it does aeven have five ratings here on imdb. But yeah, GDR films are not really in a great spot now. The book this is based on is by Georg Hermann, but I cannot say anything about that because I have not read said novel, so the parallels or differences between this film and the base material are nothing I am aware of. The film did not really make me curious to check out the book admittedly. Hermann has several other works being turned into movies, especially before this one here. But he died in a concentration camp in the 1940s, so this film here being turned into a movie he did not witness. he would have been 110 almost anyway. As for Hildebrandt, not always the case he writes hos own screenplays, but here he did. Also one of his later works already and he did not really keep working behind the camera after Germany was reunited. The exception would be a little series from 1990 that dealt with life on deck and the sea, just like his final GDR project. And he also has one Küstenwache writing credit from 1997, but that's it, so we see he was not officially retired at that point.
As for the cast here, I already mentioned Herbert Köfer. He does not play the title character, but an important character nonetheless. One of the most key characters, which you also see from the last shots of this movie. Anyway, Köfer has his 100th birthday today (or actually yesterday already when this review gets published) and on this occasion the MDR has included several of his films in their program these days. Nice idea and tribute, even if I must say I did not know Köfer before. I was born in the GDR, but too young back then, even if Köfer was apparently a pretty big star in his country. At least he said so himself. He seems honorable enough to be trusted. He said it actually in one of those little brief interview snippets they kept showing before his films and that was a nice inclusion, at times nicer to watch than the actual movies, even if the part about him bragging about his taste in fashion was a bit too much. But let's have him get away with that given his age. I think tat, from what I have seen, Köfer has a pretty likable aura, so I think these films would have been worse without him. Not that they were particularly great with him admittedly, but still. Seeing more and more from the GDR, I am getting closer to the conclusion that the only thing they were really good with at times were indeed fairytale films. The one who plays the title character here was Peter Reusse, not a big name at all either, but he is even credited behind Köfer, so yeah the list is truly alphabetical. Reusse stooped acting a long time ago, only a few years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Finally, another cast member, the only one except Köfer with a picture, is Franziska Troegner. She is not unknown these days and has managed a decent career after 1990s too. I cannot really say anything about the other cast members, even if many of them were fairly prolific and experienced too. check out their bodies of work if you care.
Let's take a look at the plot here and this film in particular. I think that a period piece from East Germany is something truly unusual. I am not an expert on GDR films, but I have actually seen a few nonetheless and I think that this is a genre that almost never happened. This film we have here may be an exception. That's why I said early on that I was surprised that really almost nobody saw it either. Or at least back then, probably more than just a few saw it, but now not anymore and it would not have been on television for years, if not decades, if it wasn't for Köfer's special birthday I'm sure. I must still say the sets and costumes weren't too bad here honestly. Then again, I already mentioned fairytale films from the GDR and the sets there may have been relatively similar in some scenarios, so it is not too surprising that the visual side here is among the film's better aspects. But this also has to do with my perception that other key aspects were never really overwhelmingly interesting and that's the nicest way to put it. The title is interesting by the way. I know it's a military title, but this combination of a French(-sounding) term and an utterly (East) German last name is a bit on the funny side. Not really sure if it meant to be, but then again it weren't the filmmakers who picked it and made it sound like a biopic almost, but it was the writer of the original book. Overall, I do think it is more about the comedy than about drama, but there are also more serious aspects in here. Kinda fits though because lighter movies with a more dramatic scene here and there seemed to be Köfer's niche. This film is set in 1780 by the way, so exactly 200 years before it was released and it's not even another decade until we hit 250. As for the more serious moments I just mentioned, you can certainly pick the ending in which the two key characters are together in jail and especially what suffering Köfer's character talks about in this final scene and there seems to be no way out for them. Or also a little earlier when Köfer's character has this dramatic speech towards Schulze. And still Köfer had most of the movie's lighter moments as well. This shows you how much he was in the center of this film and really how popular he must have been back then and he was around the age of 60 here, slightly under still.
One thing fairly memorable to me here were the wigs for sure. Some you could clearly see were very much on the fake side, but they were also supposed to be on the fake side for the characters, so it's all good and other wigs maybe I did not even spot (yet). I already mentioned the visuals, but here and there you can also say that the locations did not look too spectacular, but this is not supposed to be criticism because not every corner of the room can be pompous. So on the contrary, it actually felt realistic, even if I am not sure it was intended this way or if they were just short of money. The costumes, however, were pretty spectacular and weren't worse than those in West German films or maybe some Hollywood films even. Of course, this one here never made any big awards waves anywhere. The costume department was probably one of the areas where most of the money went. However, I would have preferred if the story had been one of these areas too, but I cannot say this was the case. Story is key though, so this explains my relatively low rating, even if it is not a failure or anything and if we are honest, then many recent MDR/ARD/Degeto productions are absolutely not better than this film here. I am also glad we do not have an unwatchable romantic story with this film here. It all feels semi credible at least, problem is that it is never totally interesting. Maybe the baby part at the end and the farewell feel a bit rushed, but yeah I don't know how these (and other moments) were handled in the novel, so I don't want to blame Hildebrandt entirely. Then again, with Hermann long gone, he must have had the creative freedom to turn this into a good movie and change aspects when he deemded it necessary to do so. I don#t know if he changed a bit/lot, but if he did, then it wasn't trul helpful.
This is pretty much it then. Another almost lost GDR movie we got here and even if I did not enjoy the watch too much, I don't mind it being shown today. One reason is, as I mentioned earlier, that MDR never really comes up with quality stuff around noon and the other reason is that I am sure there are, even if the imdb page does not indicate it, more than a few people out there who say the film back in the day and maybe like it and so it brings some warmth and nostalgia back for them, which is nice and reason enough for films like this being shown more often. I am neutral here, not talking about personal perspective. It is always easier to appreciate a film if you watched it in your younger years than if you saw it for the first time aged 30 or so. So best wishes and happy birthday to Mr. Köfer and I hope he still has some months or even years ahead of him and that his heallth is alright. Unreal to imagine his age. I mean he was in his 20s already during World War II. Time to finish now: I give the overall outcome of this film here a thumbs-down as a whole as the story never really sucked me in, but then again I may be slightly biased because period pieces have never been my preferred genre. I don't need constant action, but with slower movies, the character study element needs to be better. The comedy here as well. Not even a talent like Köfer could make me laugh. Skip.
0 out of 0 found this helpful