Somewhere in Berlin

(Irgendwo in Berlin)

Germany, 1946, 85 min, b&w
In German; English subtitles
Credits:
Director
Script
Editor
Camera
Set Design
Music (Score)
Cast
Producer

Synopsis

After WWII, Berlin lies in ruins. For Gustav, Willi and their friends the rubble provides an adventurous, dangerous playground. For Gustav it also helps pass the time, as he longs for his father’s return from a POW camp. One day a stranger arrives, looking helpless and hopeless…

Commentary

Gerhard Lamprecht built his reputation in the 1930s with socially-critical Berlin films based on the drawings of Heinrich Zille and hits like Emil and the Detectives (1931, script Billy Wilder). In Somewhere in Berlin – his first postwar film, made just months after the cessation of hostilities – he portrays the people of the shattered city with precision and psychological realism.

Awards

2005 Official Selection, Golden Sparrow Children's Media Festival

Press comments

“DEFA’s early attempt to connect to the progressive tradition of children’s entertainment of the late Weimar Republic.”
— Marc Silberman, Framing the Fifties, Cinema in Divided Germany

Availability

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