Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1959
An Old Love
Buy An Old Love now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
| name =Eine alte Liebe
| image =
| caption =
| director = Frank Beyer
| producer = Erich Albrecht
| writer =
| narrator =
| starring = Gisela May
| music = Joachim Werzlau
| cinematography = Gnter Marczinkowsky
| editing = Evelyn Carow
| studio = DEFA
| distributor = Progress Film
| released = 4 October 1959
| runtime = 92 minutes
| country = East Germany
| language = German
| budget =
| gross =
}}
'An Old Love' '[http://www.defa-stiftung.de/cms/(S(ngiryfuri35npk55jkwxgk45))/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=412&FilmID=Q6UJ9A002KT5 Eine alte Liebe] ' on the DEFA Foundation website. is an East German black-and-white film, directed by Frank Beyer. It was released in 1959.
Plot
Frieda Walkowiak is an ambitious director of a collective farm. Although she is talented and hard-working, the men in the commune are reluctant to accept her as their supervisor. August, Frieda's husband, is exasperated by his wife's devotion to her office, which leads to her being absent from home quite often. After she misses their wedding's anniversary, August is enraged, and leaves their house with their daughter. Frieda is badly depressed and suffers a breakdown. She is taken to a hospital. August hears of this, comes back to his senses and returns. The family reunites.
Cast
* Gisela May as Frieda Walkowiak
* Erich Franz as August Walkowiak
* Doris Abeer as Helga
* Ezard Haumann as Lothar
* Peter Sturm as Heinrich Rantsch
* Hans-Peter Minetti as Benno Schulze
* Margot Ebert as Irmgard Strmer
* Harry Gillman as Otto Funke
* Werner Lierck as Rupke
* Rudolf Ulrich as Georg
* Gnther Simon as first secretary of the party branch
* J.P. Dornseif as Uhland
* Jochen Thomas as Christopher Schwannecke
* Hans Finohr as old Schwannecke
* Peter Kalisch as Besecke
Production
The film was made in accordance with the demands set forth by the East German establishment in the Cultural Conference of October 1957 and in the 2nd Cinema Conference of July 1958. Both called on filmmakers to concentrate on the theme of collectivization in agriculture, on the background of the ongoing campaign to establish the communal farms.Sabine Brummel. 'Die Werkttigen in DEFA-Spielfilmen: Propaganda in den Filmen der DDR'. Diplomica Verlag (2010). . Pages 4850. The script was based on a story by . It was Frank Beyer's second film.Axel Geiss. 'Zwischen Anspruch und Auftrag'. Freie Universitt Berlin (1997). . Page 34.
Reception
PROGRESS-Film Verleih, the distributor of 'An Old Love', promoted the picture as "one that should be viewed in every village."Ralf Schenk. 'Regie, Frank Beyer'. Hentrich (1995). . Page 160.
The West German Catholic Film Service defined the film as a "well-played film... but completely devoted to its political aim."'[http://www.zweitausendeins.de/filmlexikon/?sucheNach=titel&wert=54744 Eine alte Liebe]' on the German Film Lexicon. Anke Pinkert noted that 'An Old Love' made a subtle reference to the subjects of post-war displacement and to the bombings during World War II, that were both very controversial at the time.Anke Pinkert. 'Film and memory in East Germany'. Indiana University Press (2008). . Page 238. Joshua Feinstein cited it as one of the earliest East German pictures that had a female protagonist.Joshua Feinstein. 'The Triumph of the Ordinary: Depictions of Daily Life in the East German Cinema, 19491989'. . Page 58. Thomas Koebner wrote that the film was clearly a "vehicle of propaganda to promote the collectivization".Thomas Koebner. 'Filmregisseure: Biographien, Werkbeschreibungen, Filmographien'. Reclam (1999). . Page 72. Beyer himself told that it was "not very good."Frank Beyer. 'Wenn der Wind sich Dreht'. . Page 192.
At 1960, after the last independent farmers became members of the collectives, the film was removed from circulation.
References
Buy An Old Love now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1959