"Der kleine und der große Klaus", also known as "Klaus und Kläuschen", which means "The Big Klaus and the Little Klaus", is an East German full feature film from 1971, so this one will soon have its 50th anniversary and depending on when you read thie review maybe it happened already. The director here is Celino Bleiweiß and actually, this was the first time I heard the name "Celino" for a guy. The female version is obviously way more famous. But Bleiweiß was actually a pretty prolific filmmaker back in the day and he also was one of several writers credited for this film. The most known, however, is of course Hans Christian Andersen and today he is considered one of the most influential and best-remembered fairytale writer from no matter where.
Today they say if there was anything the GDR was really successful with (and politics certainly wasn't it), then it would by in fairytale movies. I sort of agree. I have seen some old fairytale films from East Germany and some were pretty charming for sure. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about this one here unfortunately. You can read in the title this is the story of two characters who have the same name, one of them being good and kind basically and the other being the wicked antagonist. There is no supernatural element here which we know differently of course too from other HCA films, most of all The Little Mermaid, where there is a fantastic character at the center of it all, but the fantastic elements here are just really in the mind of the characters like the good Klaus suddenly appearing in front of the evil Klaus when the latter thinks he killed the former. I am struggling a bit to elaborate on the story of this film here. It did not feel 100% like a fairytale to me, could also have been a movie that played several centuries in the past and is a bit mix of drama and comedy. Maybe it also did not do too much for me because there are no beautiful princesses, mighty kings or mysterious gnomes in it I don't know. This of course also takes a bit away in terms of what this film could have been from the costumes, make-up and art direction perspective. How owning many beautiful sheep was considered something to be truly jealous of also had a bit of a normal and "unfantastic" message to it. It's alright. This film is not a failure, but for me it was not good enough overall, so I am kinda glad this only went for pretty much exactly an hour, although this running time is no exception either for new and old fairytales. Maybe there is also a bit of a political message in here to make an impact on the audience telling everybody that friendship, hard work and family are values important enough for a simple man (and the protagonist really is exactly that here, also looks-wise) to succeed. Finally, I want to say that I have not read the HCA film this is based on ever I believe, so I cannot say if the struggles for me here were because of the adaptation or the original material. I give it a thumbs-down though. If you are in the mood for a fairytale film, then this one should only be at the top of your list if you have seen everything else from the genre pretty much.By the way, final note: From the title I thought that the the little Klaus could be a boy or young man max, but nope the Klauses are both the exact same age. The actors, I should say. That would be all then.
Today they say if there was anything the GDR was really successful with (and politics certainly wasn't it), then it would by in fairytale movies. I sort of agree. I have seen some old fairytale films from East Germany and some were pretty charming for sure. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about this one here unfortunately. You can read in the title this is the story of two characters who have the same name, one of them being good and kind basically and the other being the wicked antagonist. There is no supernatural element here which we know differently of course too from other HCA films, most of all The Little Mermaid, where there is a fantastic character at the center of it all, but the fantastic elements here are just really in the mind of the characters like the good Klaus suddenly appearing in front of the evil Klaus when the latter thinks he killed the former. I am struggling a bit to elaborate on the story of this film here. It did not feel 100% like a fairytale to me, could also have been a movie that played several centuries in the past and is a bit mix of drama and comedy. Maybe it also did not do too much for me because there are no beautiful princesses, mighty kings or mysterious gnomes in it I don't know. This of course also takes a bit away in terms of what this film could have been from the costumes, make-up and art direction perspective. How owning many beautiful sheep was considered something to be truly jealous of also had a bit of a normal and "unfantastic" message to it. It's alright. This film is not a failure, but for me it was not good enough overall, so I am kinda glad this only went for pretty much exactly an hour, although this running time is no exception either for new and old fairytales. Maybe there is also a bit of a political message in here to make an impact on the audience telling everybody that friendship, hard work and family are values important enough for a simple man (and the protagonist really is exactly that here, also looks-wise) to succeed. Finally, I want to say that I have not read the HCA film this is based on ever I believe, so I cannot say if the struggles for me here were because of the adaptation or the original material. I give it a thumbs-down though. If you are in the mood for a fairytale film, then this one should only be at the top of your list if you have seen everything else from the genre pretty much.By the way, final note: From the title I thought that the the little Klaus could be a boy or young man max, but nope the Klauses are both the exact same age. The actors, I should say. That would be all then.
