Long before he played the corpulent Goldfinger, German actor Gert Froebe was a scarecrow-skinny comedian. In Berliner Ballade, Froebe makes his screen debut as Otto, a feckless Everyman who tries to adjust to the postwar travails of his defeated nation. Stymied by black-market profiteers and government bureaucrats, Otto begins fantasizing about a happier life at the end of that ever-elusive rainbow. Director R. A. Stemmle doesn't have to strive for pathos: he merely places his gangly star amidst the ruins of a bombed-out Berlin, and the point is made for him. Filmed in 1948, Berliner Ballade was later released in the U.S. as The Berliner.
Unfortunately the movie The Berliner is not yet available on HBO Max.
Directing | Robert A. Stemmle | Director |
Production | Heinz Rühmann | Producer |
Writing | Günter Neumann | Writer |
Production | Alf Teichs | Producer |
Sound | Günter Neumann | Music |
Camera | Georg Krause | Director of Photography |
Art | Gabriel Pellon | Production Design |
Costume & Make-Up | Gertraud Recke | Costume Design |
Production | Bruno Michalk | Unit Manager |
Production | Martin Sternberg | Unit Manager |
Production | Werner Drake | Production Manager |
Editing | Walter Wischniewsky | Editor |
Sound | Werner Eisbrenner | Music |
Sound | Hans Löhmer | Sound |