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Wir Wunderkinder

Wir Wunderkinder
Wir Wunderkinder poster.jpg
Cover of the Illustrierte Filmbühne showing Hansjörg Felmy and Robert Graf.
Directed by Kurt Hoffmann
Produced by Hans Abich ()
Rolf Thiele
Written by Günter Neumann
Heinz Pauck ()
based on a novel by Hugo Hartung ()
Starring Hansjörg Felmy
Robert Graf
Music by Franz Grothe
Cinematography Richard Angst
Edited by Hilwa von Boro
Production
company
Filmaufbau GmbH
Distributed by Constantin Film Verleih
Release date
  • 1958 (1958)
Running time
107 minutes
Country West Germany
Language German

Wir Wunderkinder is a 1958 West German comedy film directed by Kurt Hoffmann and starring Hansjörg Felmy and Robert Graf. The black-and-white film is also known in English as Aren't We Wonderful?.

The film recounts the lives of two schoolmates, Hans Boeckel and Bruno Tiches from the fictional town of Neustadt an der Nitze, against the backdrop of German history in the first half of the 20th century. It is told by a narrator (Wolfgang Neuss) who is supported by Wolfgang Müller with music. Through their presentation and discussion of events in the film these two provide a running commentary on political and social issues between the acts of the movie and link them together with explanations and songs.

On the anniversary of the Völkerschlacht in 1913, the two boys, Hans and Bruno, rush a balloon that is supposed to travel to Leipzig and carry a laurel wreath to Emperor William II. Hans is caught and punished, but Bruno stows away, causing the balloon to crash far from its intended goal. However, he tells a tall tale of his trip to Leipzig and his meeting with the Kaiser, for which he is congratulated and awarded a gift. This marks a trend for the future: While hard-working Hans has to work struggle for everything in life, carefree Bruno is lucky and seems to succeed without even trying.

The action fast-forwards to the post-World War I period when Bruno works at the 'Bankhaus Stein & Co.', having befriended his schoolmate, the son and heir of the bank, Siegfried Stein. He also deals on the black market. Some years later, during the inflation of 1923, Hans has to sell newspapers to pay his way through university at Munich. Bruno calls on him and asks for some food and money, having quit his job as a "slave of the Jewish capital" to join up with the Bewegung of Adolf Hitler. Hans falls in love with fellow student Vera von Lieven. However, she becomes ill and has to go to Switzerland for her health. Hans finishes his PhD and becomes a journalist with a Munich newspaper. Bruno joins the NSDAP and makes a career as a Nazi.

During a Fastnacht party in 1932, Hans meets Kirsten, a student from Denmark. After the Nazis seize power, Siegfried Stein visits Hans and asks him for help. Stein wants to know whether he should flee across the border immediately or wait for a passport. Hans promises to talk to Bruno, who is now in a position of authority in the party and lives in a large house confiscated from a Jewish doctor. However, he finds that Bruno is quite unwilling to help a Jew.


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