The "Bakery Zürrer", another of Kurt Früh's masterpieces out of the epoch of the so-called "Old Swiss movies" (50ies, beginning 60ies) - by the way the only splendid time of Swiss film, let apart only some masterworks of Kurt Gloor - show in an extremely realistic way the family of the old baker Zürrer whose wife had died a long time ago and who raised his three children, a daughter and two sons, on his own. His daughter stands in the shop and sells the bakery products that the father bakes together with one employee. None of the two sons are really interested in continuing the family owned bakery: The older son is a unsuccessful speculator, involved in dubious affairs, the younger son is up to make a carrier as a sport-bicyclist. However, father Zürrer seems to be convinced that his elderly daughter will stay forever with him (or possibly marry a baker), and he prefers his older son, thrusting in his rhetoric and supporting him with lots of money, while he has only open contempt for his younger son.
However, the things are developing how they must: The older son gets deeper and deeper in debts, until he is bankrupt. Desperate, he steals money from his father, and only then the father realizes what a fool he has been. The younger son's girlfriends - the daughter of father Zürrers arch-fiend Pizzani, the green-grocer nearby, gets pregnant, and the couple wants to be married. This is already enough for the old Zürrer, but his daughter, too, meets in occasion of a blind date a Swiss from the French border and goes with him to Yverdon. When father Zürrer hears that, he breaks together. He joins three hobos, one of which has been his military comrade decades ago. He goes to the famous "Räuberhöhle" and drinks and drinks. It is his arch-enemy Pizzani who takes him out of there and pampers him up to sobriety.
Father Zürrer, awoken and sober, is full of shame, closes his store "because of illness" and goes to live in a pension in Wikpingen. However, his younger son's girlfriend finds out his new address, and after a long process of self-reconsideration, father Zürrer, in his old days, starts, for the first time, to judge things rightly. He agrees to the marriage between his younger son and his girlfriend, leaves the young couple his business, blesses his daughter and their future husband in Yverdon and says good-bye to his longtime protected older misfit.
The new Swiss DVD with the digitally remastered film from 2004 is of exceptional quality. That this movie is not subtitled and presented to the American audience is not understandable. I predict "Bäckerei Zürrer" with his huge crew of creme de la creme Swiss actors a great success in the US. Therefore - US film companies step right up! Here is a jewel to discover.
However, the things are developing how they must: The older son gets deeper and deeper in debts, until he is bankrupt. Desperate, he steals money from his father, and only then the father realizes what a fool he has been. The younger son's girlfriends - the daughter of father Zürrers arch-fiend Pizzani, the green-grocer nearby, gets pregnant, and the couple wants to be married. This is already enough for the old Zürrer, but his daughter, too, meets in occasion of a blind date a Swiss from the French border and goes with him to Yverdon. When father Zürrer hears that, he breaks together. He joins three hobos, one of which has been his military comrade decades ago. He goes to the famous "Räuberhöhle" and drinks and drinks. It is his arch-enemy Pizzani who takes him out of there and pampers him up to sobriety.
Father Zürrer, awoken and sober, is full of shame, closes his store "because of illness" and goes to live in a pension in Wikpingen. However, his younger son's girlfriend finds out his new address, and after a long process of self-reconsideration, father Zürrer, in his old days, starts, for the first time, to judge things rightly. He agrees to the marriage between his younger son and his girlfriend, leaves the young couple his business, blesses his daughter and their future husband in Yverdon and says good-bye to his longtime protected older misfit.
The new Swiss DVD with the digitally remastered film from 2004 is of exceptional quality. That this movie is not subtitled and presented to the American audience is not understandable. I predict "Bäckerei Zürrer" with his huge crew of creme de la creme Swiss actors a great success in the US. Therefore - US film companies step right up! Here is a jewel to discover.
