Two Times Lotte (1950)

That was an excellent one.

A lot of fun.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

"Das doppelte Lottchen" or "Two Times Lotte" is a West German black-and-white film from 1950, so this movie is already over 65 years old. It is one of the two pretty famous works by director Josef von Báky and he also won a German Film Award for it, but the real star here is of course writer Erich Kästner, who also received a German Film Award, just like the movie itself that was honored as best of the year with the Golden Candlestick, the equivalent to the Lola back then. It runs for approximately 100 minutes and I cannot say I am too familiar with the cast here. But the lack of really well-known actors (at least by today's standards) is not the major problem here. The major problem is the writing and this is especially disappointing given Kästner's fame and the fact that he adapted the book himself. It is one major aspect that was frequently a problem, namely the complete lack of shades. All the characters were depicted as likable, except the lover of the girls' father who was depicted completely unlikable, so we would cheer for the parents getting together. It's really cheap and uninspired in my opinion and apart from that I cannot say that I liked the parents a lot. No matter how much they tried to justify it, there is no excuse for denying your daughter that she has not only a sister, but an identical twin. And I personally felt that the Günther twins also did not display the greatest range really. Not surprised at all that they stopped acting quickly. Peter Mosbacher was by far the one who gave the best performance in here. But he alone cannot make up for all the flaws with this movie. I do not recommend the watch and the Lohan (happy 30th birthday Linds!) version is for example far superior.

First, I admit to shedding so many tears on this movie since I don't know when. The story of the two unknown sisters who reengineer their parents' marriage is deeply touching, very well executed... and a nice fairy tale ("Kindermärchen", as the last word of the soundtrack says).In practice, divorce isn't children's play. (I've been there myself, divorced with two daughters.) The magic moment where they reunite after 7 years isn't made so plausible either.Anyway, I enjoyed the show - a big sweet dream (with partly impressive cinematography) which includes a very bad dream sequence. In the German version, author Erich Kästner's voice-over is sometimes too much of good, but it certainly adds a stamp of authenticity. Lovely, if you're in that particular mood - I was tonight :^)

Two girls: one lives with the father and the other with the mother.As they are twins they exchange their personalities and their parents do not notice it.They are trying to rebuild their family ,to reconcile them.This is the kind of stuff which might seem maudlin ,but Joseph Von Baky's treatment is pleasant,nay even interesting: the dreams scenes are the best as if the scenarists had read Bruno Bettelheim (whose book about fairy tales was yet to come).Germany was very fond at the time of those sentimental comedies .It was also Romy Schneider's debut and most of her films were of the same kind.A movie for the whole family,actually for the parents provided that they still keep their child's soul.

There have been many remakes of this movie, mainly in the US and in Germany, but this is the one and only real one!!! Following the book line by line, even the authors comments (given by the author Erich Kästner himself in the movie!) on what is happening, the story is highly enjoyable and more than touching! Set in Austria/southern Germany in the beginning fifties, the story about the unhappy divorce of the famous musician and conductor Ludwig Palffy and the hardworking (at that time!!!) mother/journalist Louiselotte Körner is ever so realistic. Don't let yourself being prejudiced by it's old appearance; this movie is worth watching! Sentiments and misunderstandings, a laugh and a cry, everything comes up. Here, the switch is kept up for at least a couple of weeks, with all the difficult situations to master. In the later movies, like the latest Parent Trap, how funny and nice that one is, the exchange doesn't last more than a few days. But these original Lotte and Louise had a REALLY hard time, keeping it up so long!To me, all the main characters are sympathetic, and that's a must in a movie like this. You really want them to get together again, and are so happy when they finally manage! With, as a symbol, Palffy's atelier moved to the condo next door, instead of somewhere else in the city.The only real minus is the fact that the twins Louise and Lotte don't really look alike. It's quite easy to tell them apart, and therefore rather strange that nobody notices. Their acting isn't all that fantastic either, but on the whole this movie is - at least in my opinion - the best parenttrapmovie ever made.