One of the three 'kampzeit' films released in Germany in 1933 (the other two were S.A. Mann Brand and the technically brilliant Hans Westmar), Hitlerjunge Quex is the worst.
There's not much location shooting here; apart from the scene where Heini (Quex, the eponymous character) encounters the Hitler Youth encampment after straying away from a late night Communist soiree (filmed on the Baltic coast). Much of the filming is studio shot..and it shows. The film is saved by the performances of Weimar film veteran Heinrich George and accomplished actor Hermann Speelmans (as a nasty Communist).
Sixteen year old Jurgen Ohlsen played the ill fated central character Heini 'Quex' Volker. It was his first of three screen appearances; Alle Machen Mit (a short information film) and the aviation film Wunder Des Fliegens were to follow before he disappeared back into comparative obscurity. Ohlsen is quite well cast here though; blonde, good looking and innocent he's archetypal 'martyr' material and he ends up dying after being knifed by Communists at a local fairground.
Historically valuable but cinematically mundane for a Nazi propaganda film, it's totally eclipsed by the film Hans Westmar which was based on another 'martyr for the cause', Horst Wessel
There's not much location shooting here; apart from the scene where Heini (Quex, the eponymous character) encounters the Hitler Youth encampment after straying away from a late night Communist soiree (filmed on the Baltic coast). Much of the filming is studio shot..and it shows. The film is saved by the performances of Weimar film veteran Heinrich George and accomplished actor Hermann Speelmans (as a nasty Communist).
Sixteen year old Jurgen Ohlsen played the ill fated central character Heini 'Quex' Volker. It was his first of three screen appearances; Alle Machen Mit (a short information film) and the aviation film Wunder Des Fliegens were to follow before he disappeared back into comparative obscurity. Ohlsen is quite well cast here though; blonde, good looking and innocent he's archetypal 'martyr' material and he ends up dying after being knifed by Communists at a local fairground.
Historically valuable but cinematically mundane for a Nazi propaganda film, it's totally eclipsed by the film Hans Westmar which was based on another 'martyr for the cause', Horst Wessel