''Confessions of Felix Krull'' () is a 1957 West German comedy and drama film directed by

Kurt Hoffmann Kurt Hoffmann (12 November 1910 – 25 June 2001) was a German film director, the son of Carl Hoffmann. He directed 48 films between 1938 and 1971. He ran a production company Independent Film along with Heinz Angermeyer. His 1958 film ''W ...

and starring Horst Buchholz,

Liselotte Pulver Liselotte Pulver (born 11 October 1929), sometimes credited as Lilo Pulver, is a Swiss actress. She was one of the biggest stars of German cinema in the 1950s and 1960s, where she often was cast as a tomboy. She is known for her hearty and joyf ...

, and Ingrid Andree. It is based on the 1954 novel of the same title by

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

. The story was later made into a 1982 television series '' The Confessions of Felix Krull''. It was shot at the

Wandsbek Studios The Wandsbek Studios are film production and television studios located in Wandsbek, a district of the German city of Hamburg. The complex was established in 1948 when Real Film, set up the previous year, acquired a site in Wandsbek for construc ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

and on location in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

Robert Herlth Robert Herlth (2 May 1893 – 6 January 1962) was a German art director. He was one of the leading designers of German film sets during the 1920s and 1930s.Reimer & Reimer p.146 Filmography * ''Masks'' (1920) * '' Island of the Dead'' (1921) * ' ...

. The film won a

Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is a Golden Globe Award presented by Dick Clark Productions to reward theatrically-released feature film not in the English language. It was first introduced at the 7th Golden Globe Awards f ...

at the 15th Golden Globe Awards and Best Feature-Length Film at the 1957 Filmband in Gold awards. Bucholz was awarded the 1958 Bambi Award for his performance. Mann's novel was made into a movie again in 2021.

Plot summary

Felix Krull (Buchholz) uses his acting skills to successfully get himself discharged from the military by falsely portraying himself as unfit for service. He begins working at a hotel in Paris and then begins travelling the world under the pseudonym of Marquis de Venosta, styling himself as a lord. He forms a romantic relationship with the real Marquis de Venosta's lover, Zaza (Pulver). He becomes acquainted Professor Kuckuck ( Dahlke) during his travels and charms both his daughter Zouzou (Andree) and his wife Maria Pia ( Steppat), as well as Madame Houpflé ( Nicoletti). Because of the disappearance of Zaza, the real Marquis de Venosta (

Schmidt Schmidt may refer to: * Schmidt (surname), including list of people and fictional characters with the surname * Schmidt (singer) (born 1990), German pop and jazz singer * Schmidt (lunar crater), a small lunar impact crater * Schmidt (Martian c ...

) is suspected of murder. de Venosta's parents convince the authorities that Krull is the real Marquis, and he is imprisoned. He convinces Kuckuck to help him fake his own death. The film concludes with him

steaming Steaming is a method of cooking using steam. This is often done with a food steamer, a kitchen appliance made specifically to cook food with steam, but food can also be steamed in a wok. In the American Southwest, steam pits used for cooking ha ...

away with Zaza.

Main cast

References

Bibliography

* Bock, Hans-Michael & Bergfelder, Tim. ''The Concise CineGraph. Encyclopedia of German Cinema''. Berghahn Books, 2009.

External links

* {{Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film 1957 films 1957 comedy-drama films German comedy-drama films West German films 1950s German-language films Films based on works by Thomas Mann Films directed by Kurt Hoffmann Films shot at Wandsbek Studios Films set in the 1890s 1950s German films Films scored by Hans-Martin Majewski German black-and-white films German-language comedy-drama films