''08/15'' is a 1954–55 West German film trilogy directed by
Paul May
Paul May (8 May 1909 – 25 February 1976) was a German film director and editor. He directed 40 films between 1935 and 1972.
Biography
He was the son of Peter Ostermayr, a film producer with Universum Film AG, and his wife Olga, ''né ...
and based on the novel ''08/15'' by
Hans Hellmut Kirst
Hans Hellmut Kirst (5 December 1914 – 13 February 1989) was a German novelist and the author of 46 books, many of which were translated into English. Kirst is best remembered as the creator of the "Gunner Asch" series which detailed the ongoin ...
who also served as the film's screenwriter (published in English as "The Revolt of Gunner Asch"). The term ''08/15'' (nill-eight/fifteen, german: Null-Acht/Fünfzehn) refers to the German Army's standard machine gun, the 08/15 (or
MG 08 model 15), by far, the most common German machine gun deployed in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. It was manufactured in such large quantities that it became the German Army slang for anything that was standard issue.
The film follows the story of Private Asch, a German soldier in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. The film title implies that Asch, and the soldiers under his command, were unostentatious (i.e. "run-of-the-mill") characters deployed on the
Eastern Front.
[Bartov, Omer (2004). "Celluloid Soldiers: Cinematic Images of the Wehrmacht". In Ljubica & Mark Erickson. ''Russia War, Peace and Diplomacy.'' London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. .]
Premise
The last of the ''08/15'' film trilogy ends with Germany being occupied by American soldiers who are portrayed as bubble-gum chewing, slack-jawed, uncultured louts, inferior in every respect to the heroic German soldiers.
The only exception is the Jewish emigrant, now a US officer, who is shown as both intelligent and unscrupulous, the fact interpreted by Professor
Omer Bartov
Omer Bartov (Hebrew: עֹמֶר בַּרְטוֹב; pronounced .html" ;"title="•oˈmer ˈbartov/nowiki>">•oˈmer ˈbartov/nowiki>; born 1954) is the John P. Birkelund Distinguished Professor of European History and Professor of History and Profe ...
as implying that the "real tragedy of World War II was that the Nazis did not get a chance to exterminate all Semites, who have now returned with Germany's defeat to once more exploit the German people".
"Although Asch is never identified with the Americans – indeed, in the final film of the trilogy, the Americans appear to be nearly as dangerous a foe as the ''
SS''."
[''Screening War: Perspectives on German Suffering'', page 26.]
Parts
*
Part 1: ''In der Kaserne'' (''In the Barracks'')
* Part 2: ''Im Krieg'' (''In War'')
* Part 3: ''In der Heimat'' (''Back Home'')
Cast
*
Joachim Fuchsberger
Joachim "Blacky" Fuchsberger (pronounced ; 11 March 1927 – 11 September 2014) was a German actor and television host, best known to a wide German-speaking audience as one of the recurring actors in various Edgar Wallace movies (often a Detecti ...
as Private I Class / Staff Sergeant / Lieutenant Asch
*
Helen Vita
Helen Vita (7 August 1928 in Hohenschwangau – 16 February 2001 in Berlin) was a Swiss chanson singer, actress, and comedian. In 1966 Vita recorded ''Freche Chansons aus dem alten Frankreich'', traditional French chansons translated into German. T ...
as Lore Schulz
*
Peter Carsten
Peter Carsten (30 April 1928 – 20 April 2012) was a German actor and film producer. He appeared in 90 films between 1953 and 1999, including in supporting roles, ''Dark of the Sun'' (1968), ''Hannibal Brooks'' (1969), ''Madame Bovary'' (1 ...
as
Corporal
Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non- ...
Kowalski
Notes
References
*
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:08 15 (film series)
Film series introduced in 1954
German-language films
West German films
World War II films
German film series
Films based on German novels
Films based on military novels
Films directed by Paul May
Film series based on novels