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Der Himmel auf Erden

Heaven on Earth
Retrospective 2018
Source: Deutsche Kinemathek
Local representative Traugott Bellmann is a vocal critic of society’s moral decline in general and the notorious nightclub “Heaven on Earth” in particular. Just his luck that he inherits the place – along with half a million marks – and furthermore, on the day, of all days, that he is appointed president of the Moral Decency League! And just his luck that the terms of the inheritance from his deceased brother stipulate that Bellmann has to spend every night from ten to three in the morning in his newly-acquired “den of iniquity”. Adding to the just his luck scenario is the fact that it all happens on Bellmann’s wedding day, with the daughter of a respectable champagne bottler waiting for her bridegroom in the bedroom … Shimmy, jazz, and Ziegfeld-style girl revues. With risqué innuendo and effervescent humour, the film turns elements of urbane entertainment into an attack on the 1926 obscenity law. At the same time, it celebrates cinema as a circus medium by elevating small artistes to large presences. Doors slam in the style of Ernst Lubitsch, while star Reinhold Schünzel, who would later direct Viktor and Viktoria, gives us a chic female impersonator as a jazz age gender bend.
by Reinhold Schünzel, Alfred Schirokauer
with Reinhold Schünzel, Charlotte Ander, Adele Sandrock, Otto Wallburg, Erich Kaiser-Titz, Paul Morgan, Szöke Szakall, Ellen Plessow, Ida Perry, Maria Kamradek Germany 1927 German intertitles 113’ Black/White

With

  • Reinhold Schünzel
  • Charlotte Ander
  • Adele Sandrock
  • Otto Wallburg
  • Erich Kaiser-Titz
  • Paul Morgan
  • Szöke Szakall
  • Ellen Plessow
  • Ida Perry
  • Maria Kamradek

Crew

Directors Reinhold Schünzel, Alfred Schirokauer
Screenplay Reinhold Schünzel, Alfred Schirokauer based on the play “Der Doppelmensch” (1909) by Wilhelm Jacoby, Arthur Lippschitz
Cinematography Edgar S. Ziesemer
Set Construction Oskar Friedrich Werndorff
Producer Reinhold Schünzel

Produced by

Reinhold-Schünzel-Film GmbH

Additional information

Film Print: Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv, Berlin

Reinhold Schünzel

Filmography

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2018

Alfred Schirokauer

Filmography

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2018