"Der tolle Bomberg" is a 1957 film (adapted from a novel) that runs for roughly 90 minutes. When it begins with the quote "Himmel, Arsch und Zwirn", you already realize you are in for some more crude humor, sometimes even cautiously vulgar which was not particularly common for the 1950s, especially in German films. But it fits Hans Albers pretty well. He plays the main character and was a big star at that time. Already way into his 60s and only 3 years away from death, he plays a rich old man, who loves to do pranks, with a family who wants to deprive him of his right to decision for very selfish greedy reasons. Harald Juhnke, a rising star at that point, plays the co-lead to Albers (and his competitor for a young girl's affection) and the movie also has Gert Froebe in a supporting role, before his Hollywood fame from "Goldfinger".
Early on, they are talking about a 40 km/h world record. Oh my, were tempo limits different back then. Director Rolf Thiele came up with "Das Mädchen Rosemarie" one year after this and won a Golden Globe in the foreign language category. Apart from him, part of the writer team worked on "Es geschah am hellichten Tag", one of Germany's most famous old films still today. As a whole, "Der Tolle Bomberg" is not really a great movie. You have to give it that the romance parts weren't as cheesy as they usually were these days, but most of the humor hasn't aged well. There were only few exceptions that I found funny ("We are surrounded. The family is coming.") and the action is also not convincing at all. Especially the final twist with Juhnke's character being really the son of Albers' character was complete unrealistic. And they surely could have made something more interesting and engaging out of Bomberg's long-lost love too.
As a whole, I would not only recommend this film if you really love Hans Albers and have seen most of his other (better) work. There is lots of screaming and drinking in here and it feels style over substance lots of the time. Not a particularly great film.
Early on, they are talking about a 40 km/h world record. Oh my, were tempo limits different back then. Director Rolf Thiele came up with "Das Mädchen Rosemarie" one year after this and won a Golden Globe in the foreign language category. Apart from him, part of the writer team worked on "Es geschah am hellichten Tag", one of Germany's most famous old films still today. As a whole, "Der Tolle Bomberg" is not really a great movie. You have to give it that the romance parts weren't as cheesy as they usually were these days, but most of the humor hasn't aged well. There were only few exceptions that I found funny ("We are surrounded. The family is coming.") and the action is also not convincing at all. Especially the final twist with Juhnke's character being really the son of Albers' character was complete unrealistic. And they surely could have made something more interesting and engaging out of Bomberg's long-lost love too.
As a whole, I would not only recommend this film if you really love Hans Albers and have seen most of his other (better) work. There is lots of screaming and drinking in here and it feels style over substance lots of the time. Not a particularly great film.
