Sons, Mothers and a General

1955 [GERMAN]

Action / Drama / War

1
IMDb Rating 6.7/10 10 219 219

world war ii

Plot summary

As Germany's fortunes in the latter part of World War II wane, several young boys, in their enthusiasm to do something "for the fatherland", volunteer to fight with the German army in the East. Horrified at the news that their children left for the Russian front, the boys' mothers begin a desperate effort to get their sons back.

Director

Laslo Benedek Photo
Laslo Benedek

Top cast

Maximilian Schell Photo
Maximilian Schell as Soldat, der nicht mehr mitmacht
Hans Christian Blech Photo
Hans Christian Blech as Feldwebel mit den Orden
Klaus Kinski Photo
Klaus Kinski as Leutnant, der nicht mehr lacht
Til Kiwe Photo
Til Kiwe as Werner
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
956.77 MB
956*720
German 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
25 fps
1 hr 44 min
Seeds ...
1.73 GB
1424*1072
German 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
25 fps
1 hr 44 min
Seeds 2

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by ZeddaZogenau 7 / 10

GOLDEN GLOBE for a West German War Movie

After his GOLDEN GLOBE for DEATH OF A SALESMAN with Fredric MARCH, the Hungarian director Laszlo BENEDEK also shot again for West German cinema. The film was shot in the Lüneburg Heath (near Walsrode). The producer was Erich POMMER, who had been trained by UFA and Hollywood and who received a GOLDEN GLOBE for this film in 1956.Stettin shortly before the end of the Second World War: Four young high school students are recruited from school for the nearby war front. Their mothers (Hilde KRAHL, Therese GIEHSE, Ursula HERKING and Alice TREFF) are not at all enthusiastic about this and go to the front themselves to bring their pubescent boys home. What follows is basically a kind of road movie through the country, which is marked by the approaching end of the war and is already in the process of dissolution. Nobody takes the women seriously, but with iron persistence they get closer and closer to their sons. They meet emaciated soldiers who no longer laugh (Klaus KINSKI, GERMAN FILM AWARD 1979 for Nosferatu: Phantom of the Night), no longer take part (Maximilian SCHELL, ACADEMY AWARD 1962 for Judgment of Nuremberg) or wear their medals (Hans Christian BLECH ). Of course, the general (Ewald BALSER) has absolutely no understanding for women. But they find their sons, who are still full of deluded enthusiasm for war. It's good that there is still a brilliant captain (Bernhard WICKI, ACADEMY AWARD nomination in 1960 for Die Brücke) and a busy catering manager (Claus BIEDERSTAEDT)! But the Red Army is getting closer and closer...A great film that once again shows how complex the all-too-often despised cinema of the West German film industry was. The great Therese GIEHSE, who was seen in important theater premieres of the plays by Bertolt BRECHT (Mother Courage and Her Children) and Friedrich DÜRRENMATT (The Visit of the Old Lady / The Physicists), was rightly awarded the GERMAN FILM AWARD in 1955.Definitely worth seeing!
Reviewed by NewInMunich 6 / 10

Early Trial of "Die Brücke" (The Bridge)

This was kind of a drill for "Die Brücke", the masterpiece coming some 4 years later. Several young boys have volunteered to fight with the remains of the German Army on the Eastern Front and their mothers take on a desperate journey to get them back home. This is told in black and white, with only small doses of softening and taking stand for the German cause, basically a human drama of motherly uncompromising love, officers and generals torn between duty and human common sense and boys, who feel like deserters, if they would be forced to be boys again. And also a little love story between of the widowed mothers and an Officer. Everything is there, dominating performances by Therese Giehse and Bernhard Wicki, but just a warm-up for the much more focused and uncompromising Masterpiece to follow.
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