This forgotten gem once won the Golden Globe as best foreign film of the year. It is the second cinematic adaption of Gerhard Hauptmann's naturalistic drama "Vor Sonnenuntergang" (1931) not to be confused with his more important play "Vor Sonnenaufgang" (still lacking cinematic treatment). (The first adaption was Veit Harlan's "Der Herrscher" from 1937 which, unfortunately, had changed the original ending to fit the ideology of the Nazis.)
Hans Albers plays the 70 years old company owner Clausen who after a disagreement with the way Klamroth (Martin Held), his son in law, is running his companies now is called an "old man" and asked to finally "step back". However, after meeting the young girl Inken he finds a new meaning of life and decides to marry her much to the disapproval both of his family and company members who will soon try to get him into an asylum.
Hans Alber's performance is heartbreaking from the start until the end and it is clearly one of his best serious performances ever. Annemarie Düringer as Inken could be better but still does a good job especially during her first dialog sequence. Equally good is Claus Biederstaedt as the seemingly "spoiled sun" who in the end turns out to be his father's only loyal supporter.
The best thing about the film are probably Erich Schellow (the Macheath from Lotte Lenya's "Threepenny opera"-production), Wolfgang "Dr. Mabuse" Preiss and, most of all: the incomparable Martin Held. Although the original play is set in the early thirties, they fully succeed in portraying the darker side and the "efficient" economic coldness of Western Germany in the 50ies, an era which by now has become known as the German "Wirtschaftswunder" (the "miracle of economy"). Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" from 1949 covers some of the same issues. What isn't needed any longer is thrown away things, people and most of all: a disagreeable past (which is perhaps the only issue that falls surprisingly flat in this otherwise brilliant German after-war-film).
If this film is almost forgotten today, it is perhaps because the cinematography is "adequate" rather than "excellent". The original music is good and adds a lot of atmosphere. However, direction and cinematography, though brilliant sometimes, too often convey the feeling of filmed theater.

影片根据《吹牛大王历险记》改编，讲述了13世纪一位叫孟豪森男爵的善于吹牛的德国人，因为一次与苏丹王的打赌，搬走了苏丹王的所有宝藏，并引发了战争。孟豪森男爵只好找来他那一群天赋异秉的仆人——飞毛腿、大力士、千里眼和顺风耳，一起去消弭战祸……

汉内斯·克勒格尓早先是一名船员，现在却是汉堡市圣保利区酒馆一个“赛马场”的娱乐歌手。在他的哥哥弥留之际，请求汉内斯好好照顾他的前女友吉萨。汉内斯履行了这一承诺，并且找到了住在德国南部的吉萨。吉萨和汉内斯一起来到了汉堡，并逐渐产生对汉内斯的兴趣，然而汉内斯不知道自己到底想要什么。仅仅当另外一个男人向吉萨求爱时，汉内斯才发觉自己对吉萨的真正心意。（豆瓣字幕翻译2.0小组）

影片根据《吹牛大王历险记》改编，讲述了13世纪一位叫孟豪森男爵的善于吹牛的德国人，因为一次与苏丹王的打赌，搬走了苏丹王的所有宝藏，并引发了战争。孟豪森男爵只好找来他那一群天赋异秉的仆人——飞毛腿、大力士、千里眼和顺风耳，一起去消弭战祸……

deutscher Spielfilm

deutscher Spielfilm