Emil und die Detektive

Apparently novelist Erich Kastner was none too keen on this adaptation by Billy Wilder, with a little help from an uncredited Emeric Pressburger but the film was an unqualified success commercially and ranks as yet another gem of Weimar Cinema.

All the elements have come together here to produce a work that has retained its magic, freshness, charm and immediacy ninety years on.

There is a splendid score by Polish born Allan Gray who was to continue the Pressburger connection, notably with his scores for two of Britain's greatest, 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp' and 'A Matter of Life and Death' whilst Werner Brandes' candid camerawork has succeeded in making the city of Berlin an active participant in the plot. Especially impressive is the sequence where Emil Tischbein and his ever increasing gang of children pursue and corner the thief Grundeis.

Director Gerhard Lamprecht has worked wonders with his untrained youngsters and the inclusion of one girl amongst the boys is inspired. She is played by Inga Landgut, one of M's unfortunate victims in Lang's masterpiece from the same year. Playing Emil made an overnight star of Rolf Wenkhaus who went on to play a youth of an altogether different stamp in 'S. A.-Mann Brand' and died in combat in 1942. There is a touching performance by Kathe Haack as Emile's mother and what can one possibly say of Fritz Rasp who portrays Grundeis? A highly unusual artiste with an imposing and at times menacing presence who made his debut in 1916 and was still acting until the year of his death in 1976. He is perfectly cast here and being costumed in black adds to his villainy.

This is the first version on film. Often imitated, never bettered.