Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

One of my all time favorites.

i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

"Die Feuerzangenbowle" or "The Punch Bowl" is a German black-and-white sound film that was made during the days of World War II. It is a truly unpolitical film, however, as it deals with a famous writer going back to school in order to play pranks on his new teachers and also have the whole school experience again as he did not have it when he was young. Or is all that really true? The last scene makes us think otherwise and puts a question mark behind the entire point of the film. Helmut Weiss and Heinrich Spoerl wrote and directed this one and I am not familiar with any of the two I have to admit. But lead actor Heinz Rühmann is still very well-known, at least here in Germany, many years after his death. He plays the part well I have to say and elevates the material a lot with his approach to the character.It is mostly a fun film, there are dramatic moments, but I was not too impressed by any of these. Unfortunately, most of the comedy is also not too entertaining or the film just hasn't aged that well. It certainly is something different that you would not necessarily expect from the days of War in Europe. The entire thing runs for slightly over 90 minutes, so it's not too long of a film. Still, the lack of really entertaining comedy resulted in the film dragging on several occasions for me. The funniest thing (apart from Rühmann) is probably the teachers. The romance did nothing for me and the other students were just there to make Rühmann seem even funnier. Not one of them is elaborated on properly in terms of who they are. That is all. I give this one a thumbs-down. Not recommended.

It's such a shame that turner classic movies are politically correct against buying the north American rights with subtitles to further explore third Reich cinema on their channel on TCM import. Why? Cause they are afraid because of Hitlers legacy, they are afraid they may not get the audience they hope for.They are afraid that viewers will get mad at Douglass Sirk and Ingrid Bergman for doing anything under Hitler Remember how they reacted against Her and Roberto? they are afraid of that.I think. This is one picture that they should of been already showing on TCM import. This would not offend the target they serve only moderate fans of classic film as much as us fans of history. There is hardly any political propaganda here. I didn't under stand German except for words like "Pheelite",.But the plot is the nature of the good old days of high school and it's antics.Mr Heinz Ruhmann portrays a successful person, Johannes Pfiffer, who's at a secret club meeting at a German pub, Three old Elderly men in the back of the pub. Sitting around a big punch bowl drinking possibly hot whiskey or brandy. They are discussing things and secrets,including stale wart character actor Albert Florath.Then comes in Johannes successful joining in the gang. Whether this is a form of masonic organization is not understood.Well they start talking about the good old days in high school. All of a sudden he realizes he has missed the fun of going to high school, since he took private classes.So he decides to fool everyone about his age and go back to high school. This is funny consider he's not a teenager any more and no one seems to question him. He rooms near the school run by Hedwig Wangel, who played Zarah Leander's assistance and friend in The way of Freedom. His girl friend Marion , Played by Hilde Sessack, worries that he has gone so she finds out where he went.The funny thing about this picture besides everyone is younger than Ruhmann and every one hates school. Hans Richter is the worse. There's one moment where he throws a spit ball at Erich Pronto, who plays the teacher,. He then forces all the students to open up their pads to see he did it but the bell rings so he get by.There's a funny antic that Heinz and fellow student , both are adults,Rudi Knebel played by Clemmens Hasse. Where they sneak a sigh in front of the schools before everyone comes to school , claiming that it's closed for the day due to some problem. Everyone believes it.This angers the school faculty . Hannes Falls in love with the daughter,Eva, played by Karen Himbolt, of the Gymnastic Director Zues.Marion finds the redneck town and finds Hannes and tries to convince, after a night of passion, to give all this up. But he changes his mind. He decides to do one big prank for some reason I don't understand. He gets the girls from the neighboring school to get together with the boys at his school dancing in the class.Erich Pronto is over sleeping and late for class.Then he comes in Impersonating the chemistry professor. .Then bad things happen when a visiting district school manager shows up with the faculty . Then he's forced to actually play the professor until then real Pronto shows up. He then admits being a grown up and Lets Zues know he's in love with his daughter. The only confusing part it comes back to the original scene at the bar. Was this a drunken dream?

"Die Feuerzangenbowle" is an adaption of a novel by Heinrich Spoehrl. And it is perhaps the best comedy which ever was made in Germany. There are many jokes and funny scenes in this movie. For example "Pfeiffer" with three "f" one before the "ei" (or in English "egg") and two after the "ei". The entire cast is top notch. Heinz Ruehmann is one of my favorite actors. And one of his films "The Captain of Koepenick" received an Oscar nomination.

Die Feuerzangenbowle is based on the familiar and often-filmed story idea of pupils playing various tricks and jokes on their teachers. An easy excuse for an avalanche of slapstick one might think and indeed we get our fair share.The twist in the story is the leader of the pack, the major cause of the teachers' headaches: Johannes Pfeiffer. He is not a real pupil at all, instead a successful playwright with a PhD. One evening at the pub his friends discover that he never went to a school but was educated privately. Their stories of their boyhood years (and a bit too much alcohol) persuade him to see for himself and 'be a boy again'.Die Feuerzangenbowle is the second film version of Heinrich Spoerl's novel. Heinz Rühmann played the lead in both films, which is somewhat surprising as they have been made ten years apart. Therefore he is a bit too old for his role now but still manages to pull it off quite convincingly.The film was made in 1944, so it is a bit astonishing that the Nazi censors were prepared to pass a film with such an anti-authoritarian message. To keep them happy, Spoerl created one character, the teacher Brett, who displays authority and firmness and whom the pupils blindingly obey -- the sort of person you can easily imagine being in charge of an SS regiment. Still, Spoerl uses this very character to deliver a political message: when the teachers discuss how to get hold of the culprit of the most recent outrageous trick, one suggests that "there is always a 'friend' willing to talk", a clear reference to the wide-spread culture of denunciation in Nazi Germany. Brett replies "I hope we don't have any friends like this in our school."Die Feuerzangenbowle is very well made and today enjoys a cult status in Germany (the 1944 version that is). However, most of the humour would not travel well at all, especially the clever use of accents and dialects is virtually untranslatable; a non-native speaker -- even somebody with a fair knowledge of German -- would miss most of it when watching the original.