Hände hoch! (1942)

Hands up! (1942)

 

Director: Alfred Weidenmann

Screenplay: Alfred Weidenmann

Production: DFG, Berlin

Reich Propaganda Headquarters of the NSDAP, Berlin

Music: Horst Hanns Sieber

Camera: Emil Schünemann

Editing: Liesel Scriba

Country of production: Germany

Original language: German, Slovak

Year of release: 1942

Length: 63 minutes

 

Starring:

 

Erich Dunskus: landowner Malek

Willy Witte: Teacher

Johannes Schütz: Hitler Youth leader

Maria L. Fodorowa: Malek’s maid

Walter Lieck: pig trader, Malek’s friend

and Hitler Youth pimpfs

 

Plot

 

In 1941, German youths from the Hitler Youth spend a relaxing time far away from the war on the edge of the High Tatras in Slovakia, which is friendly with the National Socialist Germany. This includes horseback rides and horse grooming afterwards. Afterwards, the Pimpfs let off steam in a soccer match against local Slovak boys. The youngsters’ daily camp routine is abruptly interrupted when all outdoor activities have to be stopped due to approaching bad weather, storm and continuous rain. Soon the youngsters, who would much rather let off steam, are moping around under the camp roof as it pours down for days on end. Only with difficulty does the time pass with theatre games and song performances. Soon the general mood is at its lowest point, and people become more and more irritable. Then - finally ! - something exciting happens.

 

Two criminals wanted by the police are said to be prowling around the area. The local village gendarme is all alone on the spot and overwhelmed with the hunt for the crooks. So he asks the Hitler Youth leader to make the boys available to him, in the tradition of Emil and the Detectives, to catch the crooks. The Pimpfs are thrilled: although the weather is still very bad, at least they can go outside again, let off steam and even experience something exciting. Estate manager Malek translates the description provided by the Slovak policeman of the two crooks, who are accused of attempted bank robbery, bicycle theft and marriage fraud, among other things. The HJ leader divides the groups and instructs them what to do. For the Pimpfs, the manhunt is pure adventure, even if outside the paths are muddy and the clothes are soon soaked through. The search even includes a raft trip and a course ride over hill and dale.

 

The mood of the boys lifts more and more, an outing even in bad weather is still better than always squatting on each other in the youth centre. Meanwhile, two hooded figures near the children push their bikes through the countryside. The two strangers turn out to be acquaintances of Malek. Two of the boys then disguise themselves as Slovakian girls in order to investigate less conspicuously. Towards the end of the day, a group of the boys arrives at an inn where they seem to have spotted the two wanted men. There is dancing and drinking in the inn, and sure enough, the two fake girls spot the two fugitive criminals. Despite meticulous observation of the inn, the two crooks are able to make off. The boys run after the fugitives into the night-dark forest and are eventually able to apprehend them. “Hands up!” they say, and at them with a roar. The boys are finally able to overpower the two wanted men.

 

The day brought to a successful end, the bugle is blown to march back. The two captured men are dragged along by the pimps to their camp. Once there, the rest of the children are already waiting for the troop. But the surprise is great when the two hooded “criminals”, disguised with false beards and eye patches, are presented to the Slovak policeman brought from the village: They are none other than the teacher and the HJ leader. Both adults wanted to finally put an end to the boredom misery of the Pimpfs after many days in the dry and therefore staged this little adventure with scavenger hunt and cast themselves as crooks on the run. Or as one of the two fake crooks explains at the end, “How do you put an end to the rain fever and boredom.”