Die Brücke

original title:
Die Brücke
other titles:
(The Bridge)
country / year of production:
Germany / 1959
original length:
98 min. , black/white
premiere:
22 October 1959
genre:
melodrama
based on:
Manfred Gregor. Die Brücke. Köln: Naumann, 1959.
director:
Bernhard Wicki
film script:
Michael Mansfeld , Karl-Wilhelm Vivier , Bernhard Wicki
producer:
Hermann Schwerin
cinematographer:
Gerd Von Bonin
editor:
Carl Otto Bartning
composer:
Hans-Martin Majewsky
cast (role):
Volker Bohnet (Hans Scholten) , Fritz Wepper (Albert Mutz) , Michael Hintz (Walter Forst) , Frank Glaubrecht (Jürgen Borchert) , Karl Michael Balzer (Karl Horber) , Volker Lechtenbrink (Klaus Hager) , Günther Hoffmann , Cordula Trantow , Wolfgang Stumpf , Günter Pfitzmann , Heinz Spitzner , Siegfried Schürenberg , Edith Schultze-Westrum , Ruth Hausmeister
more:
plot synopsis:
A group of German boys is ordered to protect a small bridge in their home village from the approaching American troops during the waning months of the second world war. The boys, full of patriotic enthusiasm, believe that they have to fulfil their mission and stay to defend the useless bridge. Not until one after the other has to loose his life by defending the bridge, the absurdity of the order becomes obvious.
keywords:
Hitler-Jugend , comradeship , bridge , order and obedience
war:
Second World War (1939-1945)
literature:
Klaus Kanzog. »›Warten auf das entscheidende Wort‹. Pubertät und Heldenwahn in Bernhard Wickis Die Brücke (1959)«. In: Ders. (ed.). Der erotische Diskurs. Filmische Zeichen und Argumente (Diskurs Film; 3). München: Diskurs Film, 1989.

Elisabeth Wicki-Endriss, Arne Schneider: Die Brücke. Ein Film von Bernhard Wicki. Filmbegleitheft. Bernhard-Wicki-Gedächtnis-Fonds, München 2004 (24 S.).

Elisabeth Wicki-Endriss: Die Filmlegende Bernhard Wicki: Verstörung – und eine Art von Poesie. Henschel, Berlin 2007.
remarks:
The film ends with the remark: "This is what happened on April 27th, 1945. It was so meaningless that it was never mentioned in a military bulletin". Compare to the final scene of "All Quiet on the Western Front".
availability:
VHS, DVD