Cheer up, Johannes! (1941)
Director: Viktor de Kowa
Screenplay by: Toni Huppertz, Wilhelm Krug and Felix von Eckardt
Production: Conrad Flockner
Music: Harald Böhmelt
Cinematography: Friedl Behn-Grund
Edited by: Lena Neumann
Country of production: Germany
Original language: German
Year of release: 1941
Length: 78 minutes
Starring:
Klaus Detlef Sierck: Johannes von Redel
Albrecht Schoenhals: The father von Redel
Dorothea Wieck: Julieta Merck
Otto Gebühr: Servant Perlow
Gunnar Möller: Wilhelm Panse
Karl Dannemann: The father Panse
Renée Stobrawa: The mother Panse
Karl Heidmann: Country postman
Eduard von Winterstein: Inspector
Leo Peukert: Don Pedro
Jürgen Jacob: Parlour elder Karl Vorwerk
Hans Zesch-Ballot: Institution director
Volker von Collande: Platoon leader Dr. Angermann
Rudolf Vones: Platoon leader Kröger
Franz Weber: Institution secretary
Karl Fochler: Hospital doctor
Gabriele Hoffmann: Nurse
Kopf hoch, Johannes! is a National Socialist German feature film by Viktor de Kowa, which premiered on 11 March 1941 in Berlin’s Tauentzienpalast. It is the actor de Kowa’s third and last directorial work. The short film Jugend fliegt (Youth Flies), produced by Ufa together with the National Socialist Flying Corps, was shown in the supporting programme.
After the Second World War, the propaganda film Kopf hoch, Johannes! was placed on the list of films not released for public screening in Germany by the Allies.
Plot
The German von Redel family has been living apart for ten years. The mother and her son Johannes are expatriate Germans in Argentina, while the father is the owner of a manor near Berlin. Johannes, who is called Juan by everyone in his new homeland, grows up prospering in his mother’s relaxed lifestyle. After her sudden death, his aunt Julieta Merck fulfils her sister’s last wish and takes the now 15-year-old boy back to his father in Germany. Johannes again has difficulties with the strictness of his bitter father, which had also led to the separation of his parents, and rejects his new surroundings. He demands that his aunt, who is helping his father to settle Johannes in, return to Argentina together. His hostile attitude comes to a head after an argument with the local children, during which a mountain of straw in a field catches fire. The neighbour boy Wilhelm Panse wanted revenge for having to serve as a target for a slingshot, but after a brief discussion with his father, Johannes takes the blame in the hope of being sent back to Argentina. That same evening, however, Wilhelm explains to his father that he and the other boys only wanted to scare Johannes with a firework and the straw accidentally caught fire.
Father Panse reports this to von Redel and says that his son Wilhelm will not be allowed to go to the National Political Education Centre (NPEA) in Oranienstein as punishment. He encourages von Redel to send Johannes there instead.
But there are also integration difficulties at the NPEA. Johannes is unable to socialise with his comrades and teachers; he is threatened with expulsion. Only the platoon leader, Dr Angermann, discovers his passion for music and believes that over time he will be able to introduce Johannes to the value system of the new National Socialist Germany. His first task was to lead the band, which initially sparked a new dispute with his comrades, as he ousted the unmusical parlour elder Vorwerk from his position as bandmaster. But his self-composed march wins over everyone involved and becomes the institution’s anthem. During a visit from his aunt Julieta and his Argentinian guardian Don Pedro, who tries to persuade him to return to Argentina, Johannes rejects this suggestion. Slowly, Johannes learns the meaning of true youthful camaraderie, which culminates in him and the parlour elder being on first-name terms in the shower and Karl offering Johannes the soap.
In the meantime, Wilhelm Panse is also allowed to attend the Nationalpolitische Erziehungsanstalt. During a test of courage involving jumping from a diving board into the water, Wilhelm chickened out. Johannes, who was observing the scene, explained to the platoon leader that Wilhelm had seen his older brother drown in the village pond. Encouraged by his previous successes at the NPEA, Johannes wants to surprise the head of the institution and teach Wilhelm how to swim, even though he has been expressly forbidden to go into the water because of his trauma. The exercise in the water gets out of hand and Wilhelm is hospitalised due to the shock-induced hallucinations. Johannes’ renewed indiscipline forces the head of the institution to consider whether he should expel him. In the end, however, Johannes is forgiven, as his guilty conscience is obvious. His comrades gather in the asylum garden to form the sentence "HEAD UP/JOHANNES/ !" for him.
Johannes proves himself as a military tactician during the asylum’s summer manoeuvres. He is presented with a knife as a commendation and is allowed to take the pledge.
During the holidays, Johannes and his father finally find each other, who is released from his bitterness at Julieta’s side.
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