The Punch Bowl

1944 [GERMAN]

Action / Comedy / Family

3
IMDb Rating 7.7/10 10 6996 7K

graduation punch

Plot summary

Writer Johannes Pfeiffer who goes undercover as a student in a high school after his friends told him that he missed out on a great life experience since he was home schooled.

Director

Helmut Weiss Photo
Helmut Weiss

Top cast

Hans Leibelt Photo
Hans Leibelt as Gymnasialdirektor Knauer, called Zeus
Albert Florath Photo
Albert Florath as Old Man
Heinz Rühmann Photo
Heinz Rühmann as Dr. Johannes Pfeiffer / Hans Pfeiffer
Erich Ponto Photo
Erich Ponto as Professor Crey - called Schnauz
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
889.49 MB
940*720
German 2.0
NR
Subtitles de  
23.976 fps
1 hr 36 min
Seeds ...
1.61 GB
1408*1078
German 2.0
NR
Subtitles de  
23.976 fps
1 hr 36 min
Seeds 4

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by frankde-jong 8 / 10

German nostalgia to the good old times at the end of WO II

A German film from 1944 is suspect. What to expect?A propaganda movie? There are some reviews who have discovered some elements of Nazi ideology deep down in the movie, but in general I would not call this a propaganda movie. A comedy? That makes more sense! The war wasn't going very well for Germany at this point in time and the public public could use some entertainment to forget for a moment their everyday misery. The lead actor Heinz Ruhmann was an established comedy star in Germany from 1930 onwards.The best characterization of the movie however is given by words like nostalgia ("sehnsucht" in German) and melancholy. Das dritte Reich has lost its glamour and the film longs for times gone by (the good old days). This is true for the main character (he longs back to his high school days) and for the film in total (it is situated around 1900).The teachers ("Herr Professor" in German) are excentric and rather naive. There is no femme fatale in the movie, but one can imagine that they would have ended just like Professor Rath in "Der Blaue Engel" (1930, Josef von Sternberg) had there been one. For a moment the Nazi regime kept the drollery of the students for rebellion against the authority of the teachers and didn't give permission for the release of the film. It took a visit from Ruhmann to propaganda minister Goebbels to change his mind. One only has to compare "Die Feuerzangenbowle" with "Zero de conduite" (1933, Jean Vigo) to understand how exagerrated the fear of the Nazi regime was.
Reviewed by wlkrrch 9 / 10

Escapist school comedy from the late Nazi era

Germany was losing the war, its cities were being bombed to smithereens, so it's easy to see why Goebbels felt the need for quality escapist entertainment like this gentle, funny school comedy. Heinz Ruhmann plays a successful writer who was educated by tutors and never attended school, and who decides to return to his hometown disguised as a pupil to find out what he missed. What ensues is a lot of sweet-natured tomfoolery, with lots of tricks played on the teachers - something which nearly got the film banned because of its supposedly 'anti-authoritarian' tendencies. There's no real message except that 'schooldays are the best days of your lives', and perhaps that's its secret - for it remains among the most popular of all film comedies in Germany and is cult viewing around Christmas time. Ruhmann is in his element in this film, but particular mention should go to the wonderful Erich Ponto as the eccentric chemistry teacher, who is quite best thing in the film.
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