Jakob der Lügner DVD 1975 Jacob the Liar / Directed by Frank Beyer / Starring: Vlastimil Brodský, Armin Mueller-Stahl / Nach dem gleichnamigen Roman von Jurek Becker

UPC 4028951190836

REGION 2 PAL DVD

MADE IN GERMANY

AUDIO: German 2.0

SUBTITLES:  English, Spanish, French, Hebrew

Total Runtime: 96 minutes

+ 60 min documentary

German Summary:

Jakob der Lügner ist ein DEFA-Spielfilm der „Gruppe Johannisthal“ aus dem Jahr 1974 unter der Regie von Frank Beyer. Es handelt sich um eine Verfilmung von Jurek Beckers Roman Jakob der Lügner. Eine weitere Verfilmung stammt aus dem Jahr 1999. Der Film orientiert sich stark an der Romanvorlage Jakob der Lügner. Er verzichtet allerdings auf die parallele Geschichte um Professor Kirschbaum.

English Summary:

Jacob the Liar (German: Jakob der Lügner) is a 1975 East German-Czechoslovakian Holocaust film directed by Frank Beyer, and based on the novel of the same name by Jurek Becker. It starred Vlastimil Brodský in the title role.

Work on the picture began in 1965, but production was halted in summer 1966. Becker, who had originally planned Jacob the Liar as a screenplay, decided to make it a novel instead. In 1972, after the book garnered considerable success, work on the picture resumed. In a Jewish ghetto in German-occupied Poland, a man named Jakob is caught on the streets after curfew. He is told to report to a German military office where he finds the officer in charge passed out drunk. The radio is running and Jakob hears a broadcast about the advances of the Soviet Army. Eventually, Jakob sneaks out and goes home. Later he tells his friends that the Russians are not very far away. As no one believes he went to the Nazi office and came out alive, Jakob makes up a lie, claiming he owns a radio - a crime punishable by death. This puts Jakob in a difficult position since he is constantly asked for further news. He then starts encouraging his friends with false reports about the advance of the Red Army towards their ghetto. The residents, who are desperate and starved, find new hope in Jakob's stories. Even when he eventually confesses to his friend that only the first report was true and all the rest is made up, his friend points out that his stories give people hope and a will a to live. The film ends with the deportation of Jakob and the others to the extermination camps.

Cast / Besetzung

• Vlastimil Brodský - Jakob Heym (voiced by Norbert Christian)
• Erwin Geschonneck - Kowalski
• Henry Hübchen - Mischa
• Blanche Kommerell - Rosa Frankfurter
• Manuela Simon - Lina
• Armin Mueller-Stahl - Roman Schtamm
• Peter Sturm - Leonard Schmidt
• Dezső Garas - Mr. Frankfurter (voiced by Wolfgang Dehler)
• Margit Bara - Josefa Litwin (voiced by Gerda-Luise Thiele)
• Reimar J. Baur [de] - - Herschel Schtamm
• Zsuzsa Gordon - Mrs. Frankfurter (voiced by Ruth Kommerell)
• Friedrich Richter - Dr. Kirschbaum
• Hermann Beyer [de] - Duty officer
• Klaus Brasch [de] - Josef Neidorf
• Jürgen Hilbrecht [de] - Schwoch