User Reviews

Alois Hingerl, service-worker #172 in the main station of Munich, performs a job with such haste that a sudden stroke transports him straight to heaven. Once there, St. Peter gives him his new name ("Angel Aloisius"), his harp and private cloud. However, Aloisius isn't altogether happy with the afterlife: First of all, there is no beer in heaven, no sneezing tobacco ("Schmaizla"; sometimes called Bavarian cocaine) and to rejoice and singing praise all day long isn't much to his taste either. His praise-singing soon deteriorates to a rant, which causes disharmony in heaven. Upon realizing that Aloisius is a native of Munich and hence not heaven-compatible, God decides to give Aloisius a new job: He is ordered to convey the "divine advice" to the government of Munich but upon feeling the capitals floor under his feet, his way takes him straight to the "Hofbräuhaus" (Munich's most prominent beer hall), where he orders one beer after another – hence the government awaits the "divine advice" to this day.

That ending cost Ludwig Thoma (one of the few prominent authors from Bavaria) a hefty fine when he published his satire in 1911. But the figure of Aloisius struck a cord with the Bavarian, turning him into somewhat of a mascot. Aloisius is generally how Bavarians (and especially the residents of the capital, Munich) like to view themselves: laid back, easy-going (no, they don't like the term "lazy"), ever defiant (no, they don't like the term "stubborn"), feisty (not "bellicose") and despite being generally arch-catholic, primarily concerned with fleshly pleasures.

And so "Ein Münchner im Himmel" not only one of the earliest cartoons produced in Munich but at the same time one of the only ones. The animation is rather shoddy, makes the average Ralph-Bakshi-cartoons look like something produced in the Gibli-studios but that doesn't concerns the average fan much. There really isn't any dialog as the soundtrack has been adopted from an audio-track by comedian Adolf Gondrell (who had died eight years before the cartoon was produced), who narrates the story and gives Aloisius is voice. But despite the poor "technical" quality, it's considered a national treasure in the free-state and can only be recommended as "anthropological study" of Bavarian mentality.

Among Bavarian cartoons it's certainly a 10/10.

This is an animated comedy short film from over 50 years ago about a Bavarian and what happens to him when he dies and enters the pearly gates. Lots of trouble in the heavens. The screenplay is by Ludwig Thoma and he managed the pretty unique achievement that roughly 50 of his works were put on the screen long after he died (1921). The one who narrates the story is Adolf Gondrell and that proves that it is an old recording of his used in here as by 1962 he was already dead for almost 10 years. This is the first of 3 (short) movies by director Walter Reiner and he got a fair deal of help from his wife Gertraud.

All in all, I have to say that this is a very Bavarian short film. I am pretty certain that these will love it, also the politics-related joke at the end, but for people outside of Southern Germany, this may be not too appealing at all and that includes myself. I have to say I found this rarely funny and the fact that they did not even cut out the audience noise from Gondrell's performance makes this look a bit amateurish. Sorry, but heavy clapping does not fit the animation at all. I personally would not recommend watching this. Animation has rarely been a great area for German filmmakers and this one here is sadly no exception.