"Briefträger Müller" or "Mailman Müller" is a German color film from 1953, so this one will have its 65th anniversary soon being from less than a decade after World War II. It was the best period probably in terms of roles and performance by popular German actor Heinz Rühmann. And the title already gives away what kind of character he plays in this 90-minute film. Taking a very basic look at it, it is once again Rühmann's usual mix of comedy and drama (and a good message). You could argue that he may not have the greatest range, but even if that was true, then he makes up for it with his mesmerizing screen presence and immense charisma). Lets just agree that he made good choices in terms of the characters he played. In this film here, we also get the rare honor of seeing him as a director. And that was not the film's problem, at least not the major problem. The major problem for me was that I just did not find the story interesting at all or that I cared a lot about the mailman's rose to wealth and what happened to him until he decided to go back to his roots. I still believe Rühmann elevated the material a lot and it would have been much more uninteresting and dragging with most other actors playing the title character. Nonetheless the bad outweighs the good and I give this movie a thumbs-down. Nowhere near Rühmann's best from the 1950s. Thumbs down.
Review of Briefträger Müller
