The Captain from Köpenick Der Hauptmann von Köpenick
The Captain from Köpenick is a 1956 West German comedy film directed by Helmut Käutner and based upon the 1931 play The Captain of Köpenick by Carl Zuckmayer. The play was based on the true story of Wilhelm Voigt, a German impostor who masqueraded as a Prussian military officer in 1906 and became famous as the Captain from Köpenick. It was nominated for the 29th Academy Awards in the category Best Foreign Language Film.
Plot
A young mechanic is jailed for the forgery of low-value postal orders and is sentenced to 15 years. Upon release, after successfully working abroad, he returns to Germany due to homesickness. However, he receives a further sentence of 10 years for forging false identity documentation in an attempt to escape his past. Now, without a job, he cannot obtain a residence permit, and without a residence permit, he cannot secure a job. He tries to obtain a passport to go abroad again but is deemed too disreputable. Imprisoned for a third time, this time for 12 years, for breaking into a police station to forge a passport, he learns military drill. Eventually freed, he is issued with an expulsion order from the district.
Cast
- Balduin Baas
- Bum Krüger
- Edith Hancke
- Erich Schellow
- Ethel Reschke
- Friedrich Domin
- Hannelore Schroth
- Heinz Rühmann
- Helmuth Gmelin
- Holger Hagen
- Ilse Fürstenberg
- Joachim Wolff
- Jochen Blume
- Jochen-Wolfgang Meyn
- Joseph Offenbach
- Karl Hellmer
- Kurt Fuß
- Kurt Klopsch
- Leonard Steckel
- Ludwig Linkmann
- Maria Sebaldt
- Martin Held
- Otto Wernicke
- Peter Ahrweiler
- Reinhard Kolldehoff
- Reinhold Nietschmann
- Robert Meyn
- Rudolf Fenner
- Siegfried Lowitz
- Walter Giller
- Werner Schumacher
- Willi Rose
- Willy A. Kleinau
- Willy Maertens
- Wolfgang Müller
- Wolfgang Neuss
More details
| author | Carl Zuckmayer Helmut Käutner |
|---|---|
| contentLocation | Berlin |
| director | Helmut Käutner |
| editor | Klaus Dudenhöfer |
| genre | comedy-drama historical |
| keywords | attempt to escape break false identity jail police station |
| musicBy | Bernhard Eichhorn |
| nomination | Academy Award for Best International Feature Film International Submission to the Academy Awards |
| producer | Gyula Trebitsch |
| productionCompany | Real Film |
| publisher | Distributors Corporation of America |
| theme | biographical |