Word: koepenick
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...wrote the screenplay for The Blue Angel, the 1929 film that made Marlene Dietrich a star; in Visp, Switzerland. Son of a Rhenish cork manufacturer, Zuckmayer won a pocketful of medals in World War I, then turned to writing. His immensely popular comedy about Prussian militarism, The Captain of Koepenick (1931), in which a shoemaker is able to take command of a town simply because he dons an army captain's uniform, earned Nazi wrath. After fleeing Hitler in 1933, Zuckmayer eventually settled on a farm in Vermont and wrote The Devil's General a black-bile drama...
...Captain From Koepenick is a full color re-make of a mid-30's film about the Prussian military at the turn of the century. The story involves an ex-convict, who, becoming piqued with the government, buys an old infantry uniform, commandeers a dozen healthy, helmeted Berlin youths, marches them to the neighboring town of Koepenick, and ends up arresting the mayor and sending him to jail. The film, as it might appear, is primarily a comedy, and the last fifteen minutes are delightful in a Teutonic, beer and wursty manner...
...great part of The Captain From Koepenick, however, is not intended to be funny; there are many chunks of pathos, all tending toward some half-hearted comments about the importance of the man and the unimportance of the uniform--all of which, in view of the potent force of the humor, are unnecessary...
Outside of the latter rather sticky item, The Captain From Koepenick is highly entertaining, and in a few of the comic scenes, positively brilliant. Helmut Kautner's comic direction is perceptive and lightning fast. His sausage-filled officials are overdone perfectly, and his other minor characters dodge in and out of the story with potent effect. And of course, throughout, there is Heinz Ruhmann's performance, which alone makes The Captain From Koepenick eminently worth seeing...
...Once free, he bought a captain's uniform and commandeered a squad of soldiers by the simple method of walking up to them and ordering them to follow him. Barking "Los" with all the crisp confidence of a drill instructor, he led his band on a raid of Koepenick's town hall, arrested the bumbling mayor and treasurer, walked off with the contents of the town till. Later, after Voigt gave himself up in return for a promise of getting his passport, the Kaiser was told about the escapade. Chuckling appreciatively, the Kaiser, according to the film, commented...