Before the Lightning Strikes

Before the Lightning Strikes (German: Bevor der Blitz einschlägt)[1] is an East German comedy film directed by Richard Groschopp. It was released in 1959.

Bevor der Blitz einschlägt
Directed byRichard Groschopp
Written by
  • Carl Andrießen
  • Lothar Creutz
  • Richard Groschopp
Produced byWilli Teichmann
StarringChristine Laszar
CinematographyEugen Klagemann, Karl Drömmer
Edited byHelga Emmrich
Music byHans Hendrik Wehding
Production
company
Distributed byProgress Film
Release date
  • 4 October 1959 (1959-10-04)
Running time
96 minutes
CountryEast Germany
LanguageGerman

Plot

Heinz, an ambitious reporter of the Berlin am Morgen newspaper, had made a fatal error when he prepared an article about a locomotive's factory, confusing the successful and motivated Schneider Workers' Brigade with the negligent Schindler Brigade. He also presented the tyrannical manager as a paragon of virtue. Heinz's editor, Christine, decides to send him to the factory for another mission, and this time he should mingle with workers by joining them. Heinz, who takes the new assignment with little enthusiasm, becomes a highly motivated laborer and even manages to influence the Brigades' members to stop quarrelling. He also helps the manager to reconnect with his subordinates. Heinz's second article is welcomed as brilliant.

Cast

Production

Before the Lightning Strikes was part of a wave of light-hearted comedies released in the late 1950s to provide entertainment for the viewers, after the DEFA Board noticed the public's negative response to the ideological films made earlier in the decade.[2] The picture still encountered several problems, and the DEFA Commission in the Socialist Unity Party of Germany's Politburo insisted on it featuring "contemporary socialist issues." It had to be completely revised before it was approved for screening.[3] It was the third in a series of four comedies made in collaboration between director Richard Groschopp and writers Lothar Creutz and Carl Andriessen, who also worked on Sie kannten sich alle (1958) Ware für Katalonien (1959) and Die Liebe und der Co-Pilot (1960).[4]

Reception

The West German Catholic Film Service described the film as "combining entertainment with contemporary issues, made in a cabaret style."[5] Dieter Reimer called it "a witty comedy."[6]

References

  1. Bevor der Blitz einschlägt Archived 2011-07-25 at the Wayback Machine on DEFA Foundation's website.
  2. Heinz Kersten. Das Filmwesen in der sowjetischen Besatzungszone. Deutscher Bundes-Verlag (1954). ASIN B004CF9VL8. Page 120.
  3. Hans-Karl Hörning. Geh hin, wo der Pfeffer wächst. Drei Jahrzehnte Leipziger 'Mühlen'-Mahlerei. Henschelverlag (1984). ASIN B002HM8F24. Page 48.
  4. Die Liebe und der Co-Pilot Archived 2011-07-25 at the Wayback Machine on PROGRESS' website.
  5. Bevor der Blitz einschlägt on zweitausendundeins.de.
  6. Dieter Reimer. DEFA-Stars: Legenden aus Babelsberg. Militzke Verlag (2004). ISBN 978-3-86189-717-0. Page 20.
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