h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Feuerzangembowle. Hmm. Yes. This is a film that is so improbable, so lacking in humour of any sort, involving such a lame and ridiculous plot that only a German could like it.

Having just spent my first year in Germany, I was interested when my colleagues decided to celebrate Christmas with a display of pyrotechnics followed by drinking extortionate amounts of alcohol all at the company's expense.

Little did I know that a large lump of sugar, even one soaked in rum, will take a disproportionately long time to burn to the amount of enjoyment that can be derived from it. The wait for the alcoholic delights was, however, a minor discomfort in comparison to the mind-numbing boredom of watching a film which has such poor sound quality that even those with a knowledge of German sufficient to live and work in the country were left trying to construct some sort of plot from pictures of a man obviously in his middle years getting up to all sorts of, well, all sorts of not a lot really, accompanied by other middle-aged men dressed in short trousers and Boy Scout caps.

Since Germany has never been a land famed for its cinematographic progress and innovation, the rubbishness of the film was no great surprise. What was incredulous about the whole experience was that, during what I would truly class as two and a half of the most boring hours I have spent in front of a television, my German colleagues, usually the essence of sobriety, were literally howling with laughter and falling off their chairs. (And they didn't do the flashlight/alarm clock thing either).

So the moral of this story is that, unless you are in possession of either a nice pair of Birkenstock or a very German sense of humour (which I don't think any of us would like to admit to), this is not a film for you. (No, not even after a few gallons of rum/burnt sugar delight). Just say no.

If the combination of German humour and booze is not your thing, you should keep out of the German carnival regions(http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A517655).

Tube

*wondering where Hollywood-directors like Petersen and Emmerich come from*

Please, let's not talk about Karneval. Pleeeeaaaase

taTaaaaah!

Hi Roo,

You summed it all up in your last sentence when you talk about people needing a very German sense of humour to appreciate the film. It just goes to show how different culturally the various peoples on this rock are. The Germans love sight gags and slapstick (there was much mourning there when Benny Hill snuffed it) and much of the humour in Die Feuerzangenbowle is visual.

I've just received a copy of the film on DVD for Christmas and I've seen it through once. No, having it on DVD hasn't improved the picture quality and I can't say I understood everything but I got enough to get the gist of what was going on. The bit my friend in Germany quotes is the "spoof" science lesson where Pfeiffer (mit drei f) talks about the "Dampfmaschine". That I couldn't follow at first hearing so it was lost on me a bit. I'll switch on the (German) subtitles next time round.

It was entertaining enough on a wet afternoon though, maybe I'm used to the German humour?

It can't be all bad either as it was almost banned by the Nazis due to it showing disrespect to teachers. Having said that, did you know that Rühmann was "forced" to divorce his wife in 1939 because she was Jewish? He was given the title of Staatsschauspieler and remarried a year or two later. Hmm.

Hm. Maybe the local Videothek has it on DVD, eh Roo?

I haven't seen the film (yet...) but I was most unsurprised about the review. I suspect it ranks somewhere near the cinematic treat known as 'Triumph des Willen' (which I would translate into English as 'One Hundred and Fourteen Minutes of Marching').

Talking about TDMW's remark on 'German humour' ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A237232 ), it's not only visual humour that is appreciated here, but also people doing comedy sketches in the broadest of local dialects. I still don't quite understand why.

h

Husey, you lost me there.
Which review are you talking about? Roo's or mine?
And, to be quite honest, I'm not really happy about having "Die Feuerzangenbowle" compared to "Triumph des Willens". The latter is a Nazi propaganda film and it's forbidden to screen it in Germany (did you know that?). Maybe you should at least watch the Feuerzangenbowle before drawing that kind of comparisons.

Tube

Hehehe

I was talking about Roo's review.

The only reason I likened it to TdW was because I was forced to study it (TdW), and found it incredibly boring (from an entertainment point of view).

Actually, as a historic study, it's fairly interesting.

The boredom of the marching scenes I was comparing to the boredom, as mentioned by Roo, of Feuerzangenbowle.

I must apologize if I have accidentally given away anything about the film to anybody living in Germany, as it is, as mentioned before, illegal to view it.

Unfortunately, I suspect that people in have Germany fewer chances to really learn about their history than British people, given the 'Entnazifizierung' (denazification) since the end of WWII, which, in some twisted way, could be perceived as propaganda in its own right.
In a REALLY twisted way.

I believe it's incredibly important to be aware of your history, good or bad, whatever it may be, to be able to have a secure, peaceful and positive future.

But that's beside the point- I was only comparing two bad films.

:o)

Yours Lengthily,

h

German people have the chance to learn about their history. But not all of them want to learn.
And some of them don't want to hear about "their" history again and again. Because it's not _their_ history and not _their_ guilt.

Tube
hopes he didn't p**s off Husey

Husey was worried that he had p'd off Tube - by 'their history' I guess I meant 'their nation's history'


I suggest we all now go for a virtual Bier (whose price, thanks to the Euro, has gone up considerably. My salary, however, has not)

But let's not get into _that_ discussion!


My round.

h

I'll take a Weizen and some Pretzels

Yeah, Weizen sounds good to me. Should help to battle my cold

* passes beer-warming device to Tube *

but pleeeease, don't do that with a Weizen. That would be barbarian!

I'd thought it'd make it Bavarian

No, I'm afraid you're misguided! You can do that to a 'Helles' or a Pils, and I'm told that warm beer actually works against a cold. Anyway, I'll close my eyes to that.