"Frühstück im Bett", which means "Breakfast in bed" is a German television film from 1983, so this is almost 40 years old now or maybe over already depending on when you come here and read this review of mine. This came out in February back then, so it is between 1.5 and 2 years older than myself. Quite a lot. The entire age I mean, not the difference. Of course, this is an East German film, which you can see from all kinds of factors here. The first would be that we only have a Hungarian alternate title here, so if this film got seen anywhere else back then, then it was in other Eastern European countries. Also the running time of approximately 75 minutes is something way more common in the GDR than in West Germany, back then and today, and also more common than in most other countries in general. It is really a bit strange to see that. They don't make films like this anymore. If that's a good thing or not, is up to you to decide. There cannot really be a general statement anyway and it always depends on the film itself. It is as weak to stretch a film unnecessarily as it is to cut it short and avoid quality inclusions this way or cut it short because you simply run out of ideas. Then again, there kinds really should be enough idea for 90, maybe 100, minutes with every film that gets made I would say. But with movies like this one here, it is probably not the worst thing if they end early because this one never really managed to win me over.
Let's take a look at the basics now: The director is Eberhard Schäfer and he did not manage a successful transition to making films in reunited Germany. Or maybe he was ready to retire back then, but as he still had something released in 1990 I kinda doubt it. His career started in 1968, so he was active for only little over 20 years, which is not that long. He was also a bit on the forgotten side it seems as there are not really any infos to find on the most known webpages about what happened, if he is still alive etc. It could be, but then he would be pretty old already. As a consequence, this film here, even if only from 15 years after he got going, is among his later career efforts. He is also one of the many writers here, which is a bit of a surprise because his filmography otherwise implies that he did not wrote the screenplays for his films too often. There's four writers in total, some of them more prolific, others less prolific, but none of them really with a successful career in Germany after 1990 and that is not the only thing they have in common. Another thing would be that this film here (which is actually indirectly connected to what I wrote earlier) is among their later career efforts and the end of their work as screen writers was not too far away anymore. So this does not only apply to Schäfer. Nonetheless, even if we have categories in terms of who did what and one of them for example came up with the scenario, the foundation of the film, it feels a bit strange to see a quartet of writers here even because, as I stated earlier, this movie is not long at all. But then again, there were probably too many characters in here for the film's own good and as a consequence it felt like quantity over quality, had too many pointless characters and needed definitely better focus and elaboration throughout, so this shows us pretty much that this project may have been doomed from the very start already, with the basic ideas what it would be all about.
The reason this was on national television today is the fact that one of the bigger characters is played by Herbert Köfer. This man will (hopefully) have his 100th birthday three days from now and this is why the MDR (a German television channel, not a gigantically big one, but not a small one either) shows several films that feature him these days. It's not the first one I watched and also not the last one. You can see from the amount of votes here on imdb (barely single-digit territory) that these films are otherwise not really shown too often anymore and have been forgotten for the most part and to some extent this also applies to Köfer I suppose. Which is a bit sad, but I am sure that his works will still live on in the heads of some, those that watched them back then in the GDR. Actually, I must say as well that I was not too impressed by this one here and another one I watched yesterday and I don't really feel as if these films have aged particularly well, especially in terms of the comedic approach. But on a more positive note, Köfer is always among the better aspects. There is certainly some likable presence to him. That's also why I found it interesting that they got him to say a few words about the projects of his that they are showing once again. Now at his really old age. For example, if it is true what he says, he was really quite a star back then as, according to him, he could barely make a few steps outside without being recognized. If I was mean, I could say these little introductions Köfer gives were actually better and more entertaining than the films itself, but let's not be mean today, especially because honestly there have been so many films from the last 20 years produced by ARD (Degeto) that were way worse than Köfer's movies. They may not get a poristive recommendation from me, but I also would not say they are terrible bad. As I originate from the GDR myself, I wish I could say more about these projects, but I really can't, especially about the other cast members. I did not even know Köfer before. Too young I suppose. Check out their bodies of work if you care. Many of them are pretty prolific.
The title felt pretty random to me honestly and I kept wondering why the film was named like that until I finally understood during the very last scene in which two potential love interests from this film eventually get together. One of them is Köfer if I remember correctly. Honestly, the movie felt mostly bland, even if you could see that they were trying to make an impact, so I have forgotten a lot about it already. This is a film in color of course, which is no surprise as comedy movies, no matter if East or West Germany, were much more often in color than dramas or political movies. But this applies to previous decades mostly. In the early 1980s, black-and-white films were already a thing of the past and back then, they alsoo did not make them again from an artistic perspective, with the black-and-white element being an artistic choice. Color was overly dominant. The story here also feels like something from older films honestly. The good (or "good") thing is that you did not feel at all this was an East German movies. The plot included three men who, at a ski resort, end up wooing the same woman, so there is a great deal of jealousy included at times, but they really did all they could to keep it light overall. It's never anything other than a comedy. At least not a drama movie. It actually is a music movie you could say if you consider this a genre because there was much more music included in here than I expected, I think not really early on, but more and more as the film moved forward. It was okay. Nothing particularly good to listen to, but also not too bad. Maybe sometimes better and more interesting than the plot because honestly, I personally felt as if there was a lot filler material in here despite the short running time. I already mentioned earlier that i think they definitely should have included fewer characters and instead given them better elabooration, but maybe the talent for that was simply not there and that's why they went for the quantity-over-quality route. Still fairly disappointing withh the sheer quantity of writers attached to this project.
Okay, I think with that I am approaching the end of my review here. I wish I could say a bit more about the positive stuff, but it feels almost impossible because there isn't a lot. Admittedly, there are also no truly bad moments I guess, which is why I did not go for the lowest rating, even if it is probably closer to a "terrible" for me than to a "decent". The ambition was there on some occasions, but the talent was not. Maybe the thing i liked the most about the outcome here was really the setting. The movie managed to depict some pretty nice landscapes and I wanted to be there and enjoy the snow as well. And that means something because right now we have the snowiest years in a long time and as I am writing this, it is all still covered in deep white silk outside and will probably stay like that for at least a few more days. Then, Köfer can get another mention. I kinda like his aura and charisma and even if the material was not a revelation gently-speaking in terms of his dialogues and everything else, he somehow made it work better than I expected. At times. Sometimes, it was also just too bland for him I guess. But this upcoming really special birthday got me a but curious about him and I will maybe check out some more stuff in which he appeared. If not right away, then maybe in the following years. And as I mentioned the landscape, it also shows that East Germany had really some stunningly beautiful areas to travel to. It was sad enough people could not go on vacation really abroad (exept other Eastern European countries), but at least they had beautiful mountainsides like the one you get to see in here. Oh there was a pretty cool poodle too that should have gotten more screen time. Sadly, that one is no longer alive obviously. But as this is not a totally old film, there are more than just a handful actors from back then who appeared in this film that are still with us now dour decades later and of course not only Köfer. He was slightly over 60 back then if we do the math, so it is a little miracles, but if we focus on the young(er) ones, it is not unexpected that several actors here are still with us, especially because you don't really see particularly old people going for alpine skiing. In general and in this film as well.
Let's take a look at the basics now: The director is Eberhard Schäfer and he did not manage a successful transition to making films in reunited Germany. Or maybe he was ready to retire back then, but as he still had something released in 1990 I kinda doubt it. His career started in 1968, so he was active for only little over 20 years, which is not that long. He was also a bit on the forgotten side it seems as there are not really any infos to find on the most known webpages about what happened, if he is still alive etc. It could be, but then he would be pretty old already. As a consequence, this film here, even if only from 15 years after he got going, is among his later career efforts. He is also one of the many writers here, which is a bit of a surprise because his filmography otherwise implies that he did not wrote the screenplays for his films too often. There's four writers in total, some of them more prolific, others less prolific, but none of them really with a successful career in Germany after 1990 and that is not the only thing they have in common. Another thing would be that this film here (which is actually indirectly connected to what I wrote earlier) is among their later career efforts and the end of their work as screen writers was not too far away anymore. So this does not only apply to Schäfer. Nonetheless, even if we have categories in terms of who did what and one of them for example came up with the scenario, the foundation of the film, it feels a bit strange to see a quartet of writers here even because, as I stated earlier, this movie is not long at all. But then again, there were probably too many characters in here for the film's own good and as a consequence it felt like quantity over quality, had too many pointless characters and needed definitely better focus and elaboration throughout, so this shows us pretty much that this project may have been doomed from the very start already, with the basic ideas what it would be all about.
The reason this was on national television today is the fact that one of the bigger characters is played by Herbert Köfer. This man will (hopefully) have his 100th birthday three days from now and this is why the MDR (a German television channel, not a gigantically big one, but not a small one either) shows several films that feature him these days. It's not the first one I watched and also not the last one. You can see from the amount of votes here on imdb (barely single-digit territory) that these films are otherwise not really shown too often anymore and have been forgotten for the most part and to some extent this also applies to Köfer I suppose. Which is a bit sad, but I am sure that his works will still live on in the heads of some, those that watched them back then in the GDR. Actually, I must say as well that I was not too impressed by this one here and another one I watched yesterday and I don't really feel as if these films have aged particularly well, especially in terms of the comedic approach. But on a more positive note, Köfer is always among the better aspects. There is certainly some likable presence to him. That's also why I found it interesting that they got him to say a few words about the projects of his that they are showing once again. Now at his really old age. For example, if it is true what he says, he was really quite a star back then as, according to him, he could barely make a few steps outside without being recognized. If I was mean, I could say these little introductions Köfer gives were actually better and more entertaining than the films itself, but let's not be mean today, especially because honestly there have been so many films from the last 20 years produced by ARD (Degeto) that were way worse than Köfer's movies. They may not get a poristive recommendation from me, but I also would not say they are terrible bad. As I originate from the GDR myself, I wish I could say more about these projects, but I really can't, especially about the other cast members. I did not even know Köfer before. Too young I suppose. Check out their bodies of work if you care. Many of them are pretty prolific.
The title felt pretty random to me honestly and I kept wondering why the film was named like that until I finally understood during the very last scene in which two potential love interests from this film eventually get together. One of them is Köfer if I remember correctly. Honestly, the movie felt mostly bland, even if you could see that they were trying to make an impact, so I have forgotten a lot about it already. This is a film in color of course, which is no surprise as comedy movies, no matter if East or West Germany, were much more often in color than dramas or political movies. But this applies to previous decades mostly. In the early 1980s, black-and-white films were already a thing of the past and back then, they alsoo did not make them again from an artistic perspective, with the black-and-white element being an artistic choice. Color was overly dominant. The story here also feels like something from older films honestly. The good (or "good") thing is that you did not feel at all this was an East German movies. The plot included three men who, at a ski resort, end up wooing the same woman, so there is a great deal of jealousy included at times, but they really did all they could to keep it light overall. It's never anything other than a comedy. At least not a drama movie. It actually is a music movie you could say if you consider this a genre because there was much more music included in here than I expected, I think not really early on, but more and more as the film moved forward. It was okay. Nothing particularly good to listen to, but also not too bad. Maybe sometimes better and more interesting than the plot because honestly, I personally felt as if there was a lot filler material in here despite the short running time. I already mentioned earlier that i think they definitely should have included fewer characters and instead given them better elabooration, but maybe the talent for that was simply not there and that's why they went for the quantity-over-quality route. Still fairly disappointing withh the sheer quantity of writers attached to this project.
Okay, I think with that I am approaching the end of my review here. I wish I could say a bit more about the positive stuff, but it feels almost impossible because there isn't a lot. Admittedly, there are also no truly bad moments I guess, which is why I did not go for the lowest rating, even if it is probably closer to a "terrible" for me than to a "decent". The ambition was there on some occasions, but the talent was not. Maybe the thing i liked the most about the outcome here was really the setting. The movie managed to depict some pretty nice landscapes and I wanted to be there and enjoy the snow as well. And that means something because right now we have the snowiest years in a long time and as I am writing this, it is all still covered in deep white silk outside and will probably stay like that for at least a few more days. Then, Köfer can get another mention. I kinda like his aura and charisma and even if the material was not a revelation gently-speaking in terms of his dialogues and everything else, he somehow made it work better than I expected. At times. Sometimes, it was also just too bland for him I guess. But this upcoming really special birthday got me a but curious about him and I will maybe check out some more stuff in which he appeared. If not right away, then maybe in the following years. And as I mentioned the landscape, it also shows that East Germany had really some stunningly beautiful areas to travel to. It was sad enough people could not go on vacation really abroad (exept other Eastern European countries), but at least they had beautiful mountainsides like the one you get to see in here. Oh there was a pretty cool poodle too that should have gotten more screen time. Sadly, that one is no longer alive obviously. But as this is not a totally old film, there are more than just a handful actors from back then who appeared in this film that are still with us now dour decades later and of course not only Köfer. He was slightly over 60 back then if we do the math, so it is a little miracles, but if we focus on the young(er) ones, it is not unexpected that several actors here are still with us, especially because you don't really see particularly old people going for alpine skiing. In general and in this film as well.
