Verba et Litterre: Explorations in Germanic Languages and German Literature Essays in Honor of Albert L. Lloyd EDITED BY ALFRED R. WEDEL and HANs-JbRG B USCH Linguatext, Ltd. Newark, Delaware - Copyright © 2002 by Linguatext, Ltd. 270 Indian Road, Newark. DE 1971 1 (302) 453-8695 ISBN: 0-942566-33-5 Das Doppelte Lottchen. From Munich to Napa Valley FRANZ A. BIRGEL n So wares wirklich: Der deutsche Nachkriegsjilm, Manfred Barthel I reports on a curious event during the summer of 1979: there-release of Josef von Baky's 1950 film Das doppelte Lottchen, adapted for the screen by Erich Kastner from his 1949 novel of the same name. 1 This seems like an unusual film to be shown in German theaters twenty-nine years after its original premiere. It is quite understandable that this de­ lightful and sentimental film should be popular during its release in 1950 and one year later win the first German film prizes for production, screenplay, and direction. But young and old standing in line to see this relatively low-budget, black-and-white film in 1979, the year of Su­ perman and Schulmadchenreport 12? At a time when the socially criti­ cal New German Cinema was at its peak? Even Ulrich Gregor, an avid supporter of the Oberhausen generation and the New German Cinema gave Das doppelte Lottchen a positive assessment, writing in 1980: "where one expects naive or old-fashioned, if not very petit-bourgeois, outdated rubbish, one experiences instead a refreshing, cheerful film, which even today radiates a special charm."2 Now that the so-called New German Cinema has become a thing of the past, now that film scholars have learned to take the polemics of the Oberhausen Genera­ tion with multiple grains of salt, they are gradually allowing themselves 1 Manfred Barthel, So war es wirklich: Der deutsche Nachkriegsjilm (Mu­ nich and Berlin: Herbig, I 986), 279. See also the collection of positive reviews from I 951 and later ones after the re-release of the film in Elisabeth Lutz­ Kopp, "Nur wer Kind bleibt ... "-Erich Kiistner-Verfilmungen (Frankfurt: Bundesverband Jugend und Film, 1993), 97-I05. 2 Ulrich Gregor, "Der deutsche Film seit 195 I im Spiegel des Deutschen Filmpreises," in Deutscher Filmpreis 1951-1980, 12, reprinted in Lutz-Kopp, 102. (Translations of German quotations are by the author.) 180 DAS DOPPELTE LOTTCHEN FRANZ A. BIRGEL to admit that some of Opa's and Papa's films were not really that bad. 181 Obviously lacking the social and political orientation of the New Ger­ closer to his family. And the mother, obviously, gives up her career and man Cinema, Das doppelte Lottchen can, however, be read sympto­ moves to Vienna. Yet it is less a rekindled romance between father and matically as a film reflecting the traumas and concerns of post-war mother, which brings them together again, but rather, Lotte's devotion which leads the self-absorbed father to realize his paternal obligations. Germany. · h The basic story line is familiar. The opemng. se~t~ence sho~s Enc Erich Kastner's clever but improbable premise for the Das dop­ Kastner narrating the beginning of the novel, mvitmg the VIewe~. to pelte Lottchen proved to be so appealing that it inspired five remakes enter the fictitious mountain village of Seebiihl on Lake Buhl. for the cinema and three television sequels. Even before filming began, Throughout the film, his voice is heard off-screen .commenti~g ~n the Das doppelte Lottchen received a lot of media attention in Germany. action. The next shot is of an idyllic Alpine lake with mountams m the Part of the pre-production publicity campaign was the nation-wide distance, a scene anticipating the beginning of almost ev~~ Heimatfilm sear~h for twins to play the roles of Lotte and Luise. Not only from made during the 1950s. Kastner tells the viewers that this IS n?t an or­ Mumch, but from all of Germany, mothers came with twin daughters in phanage, but rather a summer resort for girls. Ten-~ear old Lmse Palfy to~. As Curt Riess reports the events, every mother thought that her from Vienna is already at the camp when the bus bnngs a ne~ gro~p of twm daughters were the ideal girls for the film because they were the girls, one of whom looks exactly like Luise. The only physi~al ~Iffer­ prettiest, nicest, and possessed the most acting talent. Erich Kastner ence between Luise and the new girl, Lotte Korner from Mum~h, IS t~at later stated that he had the idea of two identical girls who could look so the former has long golden locks and the latter has tigh~ly ?rmded pig­ much alike that they could be mistaken for one another, but each of tails; however, emotionally, they are quite different: Lm~~ Is pampered ~hom had a different temperament and character, which they exchange and spoiled, whereas the timid Lotte is so serious and dihgent that her m the course of the film. Kastner believed such a pair could not be mother sent her to camp with the specific intention that she would learn found because they existed only in his imagination. The choice was to be a child again. Initial animosities between the two are soon over­ eventually narrowed to 120 pairs of twins, and finally Isa and Jutta come, and they discover that they are identical twins separated seven Gunther were chosen for the roles. Kastner discovered during the film­ ing that the two girls actually changed characters as he had conceived years ago. The two girls hatch a plan whereby each on~ would. get. to it, and he was pleased to see how his imagination and reality inter­ know the other parent and eventually reunite the family. Switchmg twined.3 places, Luise goes to her mother in Munich, and ~otte goes to her com­ poser-conductor-father in Vienna ..Nu~e~ous episodes ~re, pre~ented, Although made in 1950, Das doppelte Lottchen shows no images which threaten to reveal their true Identities, such as Lmse s failed at­ of ruined cities, no soldiers returning from captivity, no men on crutches, no occupation troops, and no housing shortage, only a short­ tempt to cook for her mother in Munich, and Lo~e, in Vienna, having to eat piles of palatschinken, Luise's .favorite dish, "":hen she would age of w~ll-lighted studios for the artist next door. The viewer is pre­ prefer a veal schnitzel or goulash. As m numerous Hezmatfilr:ze of the sented With what appears to be the positive side of life in the early period, such as Griin ist die Heide (1951 ), young Lott~ fills m for the years of the economic miracle. A closer examination, however, reveals that something is wrong with this view. A film from 1950 without any missing mother by taking care of the father's domest~c needs. In her naivete, she attempts to use her girlish femininity to dnve a wedge be­ allusion to the war? No reference to a border between Germany and tween her father and his latest flame, Irene Gerlach. Lotte goes so far as Austria? No mention of alimony or child-support payments? The film's to visit Fraulein Gerlach in order to forbid her from marrying her fa­ historical and geographical indicators actually hint at a period between the Anschluj3 and the end of the Second World War. ther. Fearing that her daring effort has been unsuccessful, Lotte su~fers an emotional and physical collapse. Eventually, the mo:her and sist~r A brief look at Kastner's career during the Third Reich may an­ swer these questions. The Neukollner Tageblatt of May 12, 1933, re- come to Vienna; the parents are reunited, and the father IS cured of h~s self-indulgence. Following Lotte's suggestion, he ev~n exchanges his 3 combination music studio and bachelor pad on the Rmgstrasse for the Curt Riess, Das Gab's nur einmaf: Der deutsche Film nach 1945 (Vi­ enna and Munich: Molden, 1977), 5: 88-90. artist's room next door to the family's apartment so that he can work FRANZ A. BIRGEL 183 182 DAS DOPPELTE LOTTCHEN 8 ports how, during the book burnings, nine voices called out the ~easons skammer on December 29, 1941. Reports vary as to who interceded on why works of specific authors had to be burned. The ~ec?n? vmce pro­ Ka~tner's behalf, all_owing him to work on Miinchhausen. According to claimed: "Against decadence and moral decay! For disciplme ~~d mo­ Lmselotte Enderle, It was Eberhard Schmidt, an Ufa production direc­ rality in the family and the state. I assign to the flame_s the wntmgs of tor.9 According to other reports, it was Fritz Hippler, director of the 4 infamous Der ewige Jude, and at that time, Reichsfilmintendant and Heinrich Mann, Ernst Glaeser and Erich Kastner." Six ~ays later, the 10 Miinchener Neueste Nachrichten reported on the blacklist of a~thors head of the film division in the propaganda ministry. who were to be removed from public libraries. With the exceptiOn of Goebbels wanted to spare no costs on Miinchhausen, which was 5 1 Emil und die Detektive, all of Kastner's writings were banned. Catego­ being planned to celebrate Ufa's 25 h anniversary, and because he 6 wanted the best possible authors to work on the screenplay, he was rized as "undesired and politically unreliable," he was at first only 11 permitted to have his works publish~d outside of Germany. In Dec~m­ will in~ to overlook their political standing.