My review from 2016:
"Musik, Musik - da wackelt die Penne" (which roughly translated means "Music, Music, the school is dancing) is a West German 85-minute film from 1970, so it had its 45th anniversary last year. With the inclusion of actor Hansi Kraus, you can certainly call it one from the wave of Lümmel/Pauker films, even if it does not belong to the official series. This film was recently shown on a popular German television show about the worst films of all times and while I would not call it such, I still don't think it was a good watch. The action is about a student who has failed his exams and now has to learn during the holidays, but luckily his friends decide to stay around and create a party and pranks with him all the time. Chris Roberts shows up too and if German music fans don't know him already, they certainly recognize Howard Carpendale who sings possibly the catchiest tune of the film sitting on a boat, which felt very random indeed. The cast includes a couple more known names and if you think Hansi Kraus is not a good actor, then you haven't seen Ilja Richter's extremely over-the-top cringeworthy performance. I have not seen him as a host, but he definitely should not have acted back then. The names I have mentioned already tell you that there is a major music impact in this film and the songs are probably still slightly better than the extremely uninteresting plot. And this film definitely is not half as funny as the actors try to convince us that it is, especially the plays on words. The story about the young likable female teacher who bonds with the prankster gang is not too memorable or realistic either. Rudolf Schündler is very likable as always, but I wished he had screen time. I prefer him in the other films. As a whole, this film was not a failure, but it also was nowhere near a quality movie. I give it a thumbs up.
Okay, I rewatched this in 2024 and want to share some additional thoughts I got and did not talk about back then: I probably meant "more" screen time when I was talking about Schündler and his character. For once, he does not play a bad guy here or a really unlikable teacher, but a character that is adored by the kids more than any other, perhaps also because they can effortlessly have their way with him. The director is Franz Antel and he was born in Vienna. Same is true for writer Kurt Nachmann. I guess you can say that both are better-known for the Bockerer film(s), which are almost cultural heritage in Austria, and that Antel overall had the better career perhaps, even if both were very prolific. Nachmann wrote more than 100 screenplays and Antel was also came close to directing 90 movies. While I still think that Carpendale's song is among the better from this film and he is also pretty accent-free, I did change my opinion that the best song here is the one they perform really close to the end, a rare English inclusion in fact that sounded like an alternative version of the French classic "Frère Jacques". It was catchy enough for me to download and I wanna hear it again. Unfortunately, you do not really find it anywhere else, so I guess it was really only written for this movie. Which is interesting because it is a German movie, but then again you also have actors like Jacques Herlin on board, who has acted in some pretty interesting international projects. So people back then certainly dd not perceive this film as the same level of trashy as most do today. They got in German voice actors for the international actors of course. Herlin's part is by the way something you would have seen from Schindler in other films. I liked the name Wimmer too because of the play on words it resulted in one occasion. If you speak German, you understand what I mean for sure because "Wimmer" is really close to the German word "wimmern", which means quietly whining. But he sometimes has a reason to, for example when he and a female character are ready to go to bed and the word "waterbed" gets a literal meaning here. At least, while constantly worrying about his dismissal if he does not succeed in preparing an especially feisty student for the German A-Levels (Abitur) that he is going to pass, he also gets the closest this film has to a romance inclusion.
They kept it all pretty harmless, even if you can say that the young characters are seen on quite a few occasions with really not a lot of clothing on their bodies. Schulmädchenreport anyone? But the boys too and this includes Ilja Richter, who was really very thin here and not an athletic body at all. I wonder how he can play such an alpha character. I am sure he is a nice guy and all, but this cannot even be justified through musical talent because his songs did not require a great voice (if we compare them to the likes of Carpendale for example), more tongue-in-cheek and he also profits from humor I guess. But it was just difficult to believe when he sings about all these girls relatively early on and they do seem to want him. Speaking of girls, we have Margot Mahler here who plays Dr. Schickedanz and she was fine. Sadly the actress died way too early. But her scene that mixes female anatomy with South American geography was one to remember. The writing there was alright I think. The only female inclusion more memorable to me perhaps was Mascha Gonska playing Inge because of how pretty she was. She is also one of the cast members still alive now. In 2024, everybody is in their 70s pretty much that is still alive from the students. This also includes Hans(i) Kraus and you can surely say that he just offered the background story, was the reason why all the other students came with him then and stayed for the entire film, but if you compare his role and screen time to the aforementioned Lümmel/Pauker films, then he is almost a non-factor and basically a supporting character in his own movie, probably also because he does not sing.
Oh yeah, back then teachers were still called "Pauker" and school was called "Penne" in Germany. Nobody says that anymore. We just call them the more neutral terms "Lehrer" and "Schule". "Pauker" and "Penne" may be a bit more derogatory or maybe lacking respect or maybe just more colloquial. What can be said from a derogatory standpoint, however, without feeling ashamed is that there is nothing wrong with watching films and discussing them, but really only picking the ones who are not too great and mocking them for hours is not an approach that deserves supporting. Or even paying money to watch people do so if I go back to the television show I mentioned at the beginning of my review. But let's not get any further into detail there and instead say a few more words about this film here. Another music-related sequence I did like a bit was when this film had one character give a parody of singers that were famous in Germany back around 1970. It was a male singer, so he only parodied one female, but hey more than zero. Cannot say I was too familiar with here. Roy Black and Karel Gott are household names though. Without a doubt. And I like Gott especially. May the two rest in peace. The third male who got parodied there was Tom Jones, who I have seen live in concert, and I am glad that at this point he is still with us. Hopefully this is also true if you come here a few years later, some time after 2024. The one who parodied these folks by the way was also at least allowed then to briefly sing with his own style. It was alright, but the parts before that I preferred.
So while I still stand with my original review and opinion that this was not a particularly good film, it did have its moments nonetheless. It was not a catastrophe altogether. I mean the plot was quite a mess, but they did not care too much and instead focused on the music and on bringing some funny dialogues. They did not always succeed, that much is safe. I would say I am glad the film was this short and stayed under the 90-minute mark. I would say there was still content here that could have been left out because it just did not add a lot. If anything. Take those observant young boys waiting for escalations or also the sports teacher or what he is. The title was "Studienrat" and his younger wife who won a medal at the Olympic Games. 75 to 80 minutes would have been sufficient I guess. This is pretty much it then, oh wait no, there is one more thing. It was a different approach how the film opened and the characters or actors showed us the names of the cast on the screen. You don't see it too often, but it also underlines the lightness of it all. There was for example one actor it was I think whose name sounded a bit similar like the German word for "lion", so they shot this at a zoo near the lion area. It was only for that though; the zoo was not featured again during the film and also no lions were included. Actually, there weren't even animals included during the entire film I think. Maybe it made shooting easier. Do we learn anything from this film? Maybe that attractive female mannequins back then also made more money in one day already than teachers in a month. I guess it is okay if you skip the film. Definitely better than watching it and saying it is the epitome of an unwatchable film because despite its weaknesses, it is not.
Okay, I rewatched this in 2024 and want to share some additional thoughts I got and did not talk about back then: I probably meant "more" screen time when I was talking about Schündler and his character. For once, he does not play a bad guy here or a really unlikable teacher, but a character that is adored by the kids more than any other, perhaps also because they can effortlessly have their way with him. The director is Franz Antel and he was born in Vienna. Same is true for writer Kurt Nachmann. I guess you can say that both are better-known for the Bockerer film(s), which are almost cultural heritage in Austria, and that Antel overall had the better career perhaps, even if both were very prolific. Nachmann wrote more than 100 screenplays and Antel was also came close to directing 90 movies. While I still think that Carpendale's song is among the better from this film and he is also pretty accent-free, I did change my opinion that the best song here is the one they perform really close to the end, a rare English inclusion in fact that sounded like an alternative version of the French classic "Frère Jacques". It was catchy enough for me to download and I wanna hear it again. Unfortunately, you do not really find it anywhere else, so I guess it was really only written for this movie. Which is interesting because it is a German movie, but then again you also have actors like Jacques Herlin on board, who has acted in some pretty interesting international projects. So people back then certainly dd not perceive this film as the same level of trashy as most do today. They got in German voice actors for the international actors of course. Herlin's part is by the way something you would have seen from Schindler in other films. I liked the name Wimmer too because of the play on words it resulted in one occasion. If you speak German, you understand what I mean for sure because "Wimmer" is really close to the German word "wimmern", which means quietly whining. But he sometimes has a reason to, for example when he and a female character are ready to go to bed and the word "waterbed" gets a literal meaning here. At least, while constantly worrying about his dismissal if he does not succeed in preparing an especially feisty student for the German A-Levels (Abitur) that he is going to pass, he also gets the closest this film has to a romance inclusion.
They kept it all pretty harmless, even if you can say that the young characters are seen on quite a few occasions with really not a lot of clothing on their bodies. Schulmädchenreport anyone? But the boys too and this includes Ilja Richter, who was really very thin here and not an athletic body at all. I wonder how he can play such an alpha character. I am sure he is a nice guy and all, but this cannot even be justified through musical talent because his songs did not require a great voice (if we compare them to the likes of Carpendale for example), more tongue-in-cheek and he also profits from humor I guess. But it was just difficult to believe when he sings about all these girls relatively early on and they do seem to want him. Speaking of girls, we have Margot Mahler here who plays Dr. Schickedanz and she was fine. Sadly the actress died way too early. But her scene that mixes female anatomy with South American geography was one to remember. The writing there was alright I think. The only female inclusion more memorable to me perhaps was Mascha Gonska playing Inge because of how pretty she was. She is also one of the cast members still alive now. In 2024, everybody is in their 70s pretty much that is still alive from the students. This also includes Hans(i) Kraus and you can surely say that he just offered the background story, was the reason why all the other students came with him then and stayed for the entire film, but if you compare his role and screen time to the aforementioned Lümmel/Pauker films, then he is almost a non-factor and basically a supporting character in his own movie, probably also because he does not sing.
Oh yeah, back then teachers were still called "Pauker" and school was called "Penne" in Germany. Nobody says that anymore. We just call them the more neutral terms "Lehrer" and "Schule". "Pauker" and "Penne" may be a bit more derogatory or maybe lacking respect or maybe just more colloquial. What can be said from a derogatory standpoint, however, without feeling ashamed is that there is nothing wrong with watching films and discussing them, but really only picking the ones who are not too great and mocking them for hours is not an approach that deserves supporting. Or even paying money to watch people do so if I go back to the television show I mentioned at the beginning of my review. But let's not get any further into detail there and instead say a few more words about this film here. Another music-related sequence I did like a bit was when this film had one character give a parody of singers that were famous in Germany back around 1970. It was a male singer, so he only parodied one female, but hey more than zero. Cannot say I was too familiar with here. Roy Black and Karel Gott are household names though. Without a doubt. And I like Gott especially. May the two rest in peace. The third male who got parodied there was Tom Jones, who I have seen live in concert, and I am glad that at this point he is still with us. Hopefully this is also true if you come here a few years later, some time after 2024. The one who parodied these folks by the way was also at least allowed then to briefly sing with his own style. It was alright, but the parts before that I preferred.
So while I still stand with my original review and opinion that this was not a particularly good film, it did have its moments nonetheless. It was not a catastrophe altogether. I mean the plot was quite a mess, but they did not care too much and instead focused on the music and on bringing some funny dialogues. They did not always succeed, that much is safe. I would say I am glad the film was this short and stayed under the 90-minute mark. I would say there was still content here that could have been left out because it just did not add a lot. If anything. Take those observant young boys waiting for escalations or also the sports teacher or what he is. The title was "Studienrat" and his younger wife who won a medal at the Olympic Games. 75 to 80 minutes would have been sufficient I guess. This is pretty much it then, oh wait no, there is one more thing. It was a different approach how the film opened and the characters or actors showed us the names of the cast on the screen. You don't see it too often, but it also underlines the lightness of it all. There was for example one actor it was I think whose name sounded a bit similar like the German word for "lion", so they shot this at a zoo near the lion area. It was only for that though; the zoo was not featured again during the film and also no lions were included. Actually, there weren't even animals included during the entire film I think. Maybe it made shooting easier. Do we learn anything from this film? Maybe that attractive female mannequins back then also made more money in one day already than teachers in a month. I guess it is okay if you skip the film. Definitely better than watching it and saying it is the epitome of an unwatchable film because despite its weaknesses, it is not.
