Feature Film, Germany, 1944
Over a glass of Feuerzangenbowle in a relaxed setting, several elderly gentlemen share stories from their school days. When it turns out that one of them—the successful writer Dr. Johannes Pfeiffer—was homeschooled in his youth, the others express their regret and urge him to make up for what he missed. And so the head teacher of a small-town high school gets a new student who turns the school upside down with his pranks. Along the way, Pfeiffer even manages to win over the principal’s pretty daughter.
This irreverent comedy film, based on the novel of the same name by Heinrich Spoerl, was released in 1944. Alongside Heinz Rühmann in his star-making role as the schoolboy Pfeiffer (“with three f’s”), popular actors of the time such as Erich Ponto and Paul Henckels delight in hilarious roles as members of the “teaching staff,” as do Hans Richter and Lutz Götz.
