Children, Mother, and the General

Children, Mother, and the General

110 mins | Drama, War | March 4, 1955

Laslo Benedek interrupted his thriving Hollywood career to return to Europe as director of the German Kinder, Mutter und ein General (Children, Mother and the General). The film is set in Berlin during the last days of WW II. Desperate for manpower, Hitler has ordered that all able-bodied teenaged boys --some as young as 15 -- be drafted into the army. Frau Asmussen (Hilde Krahl) is one of five mothers who learn to their horror that their boys have been slated to be cannon fodder on behalf of the Third Reich. Asmussen and the other mothers head directly to the front to plead with the German generals for the lives of their sons. Not directly an indictment of Germany's involvement in (or incitement of) the recent war, Kinder, Mutter und ein General stresses the futility and heartbreak of all wars everywhere.

Children, Mother, and the General

110 mins | Drama, War | March 4, 1955

Children, Mother, and the General
Laslo Benedek interrupted his thriving Hollywood career to return to Europe as director of the German Kinder, Mutter und ein General (Children, Mother and the General). The film is set in Berlin during the last days of WW II. Desperate for manpower, Hitler has ordered that all able-bodied teenaged boys --some as young as 15 -- be drafted into the army. Frau Asmussen (Hilde Krahl) is one of five mothers who learn to their horror that their boys have been slated to be cannon fodder on behalf of the Third Reich. Asmussen and the other mothers head directly to the front to plead with the German generals for the lives of their sons. Not directly an indictment of Germany's involvement in (or incitement of) the recent war, Kinder, Mutter und ein General stresses the futility and heartbreak of all wars everywhere.
IMDb rating 6.8
Producers Intercontinental Film GmbH
Original title Kinder, Mütter und ein General
Directors John Hoffmann, Rainer Geis, László Benedek
Writers László Benedek, Herbert Reinecker

Cast

Hilde Krahl

as Helene Asmussen

Ewald Balser

as General

Therese Giehse

as Elfriede Bergmann

Ursula Herking

as Dr. Behrens

Alice Treff

as Pastorin

Bernhard Wicki

as Hauptmann Dornberg

Claus Biederstaedt

as Verpflegungsgefreiter

Rudolf Fernau

as Stabsarzt

Hans Christian Blech

as Feldwebel mit den Orden

Klaus Kinski

as Leutnant, der nicht mehr lacht

Maximilian Schell

as Soldat, der nicht mehr mitmacht

Otto Lüthje

as Bahnhofsvorsteher

Adi Lödel

as Harald Asmussen