Weather-Beaten Melody, Fischerkoesen (1942)

[Aellostrike]

incredible! Disney has a rival? D:

[totallynothere]

holy crap! it looks like a 3D model!

[MountieFromHell]

dem visuals

[buttguy]

looks a billion times better than anything computer animated.

[OldForeignMusic]

Anyone know where I might find a full recording of the exact song used in this film?

[001tape]

a treasure

[vudumasta]

This cartoon was ahead of its time!

[Bellboy285]

This is easily one of the finest pieces of animation I've ever seen.

[fabditty]

Brilliant! So beautiful!

[VergetenPareltjes]

Anyone know what song that record plays?

[videorocker2001]

@VergetenPareltjes song's name is "wenn die woche keinen sonntag hätt". it was performed, as often back then, by different orchestras.

[Ronald070]

@videorocker2001 There's also a great recording of this song (Wenn die Woche keinen Sonntag hätt) on Youtube by the Karel Vlach Orchestra and the Allanovy Sestry (Allan Terzett), the 'Czech Boswell Sisters / Andrews Sisters', made in Prague in August 1944 (!) Very swingy!

[jtamsin]

Here is a film that was made in 1942. it was an anti-nazi film, if you notice all the creatures are different and they help each other to `perform´ this gave me inspiration my story. The film-maker was able to release his film by disguising his statement about diversity under the cartoon characters. It is really saying that we would be more beneficial as humanity if we were able to work and live together e even though we are all different.

[peterpeters75]

@jtamsin; BS.

[VertigoBee]

This is beautiful, and if I didn't know better I would have said it was done with computers. I wish I knew what they did to create that amazing effect! Especially when the camera goes around the flowers in a big circle, and when the camera rotates underneath the flowers. Thank you for uploading.

[dawgsupreme79]

This video in fact was made in the Hague in holland by fisherkosen and my nan johanna der kleyn all by hand sketching, it took about six months to create, 5 days a week and was paid good wages for it too, she also sketched the original snowman with him too. Oh one more thing, grow up anti german people ur all pathetic.

[baroughter]

that's fascinating.

[matrose61]

Hi!

My wife's grandfather Paul Kunstmann was a special effects camara with UFA at the time. His daughter Vera was his assistant. Both knew Fischerkoesen and highly appreciated his work.

I wonder if you could send me the file(s) of the movies. I would love to burn them on a cd and give it to Vera as a surprise.

Thanks anyway!

Matthias Rose

[GreatBigSea1968]

matrose61...did you ever get copies? I don't know how to send the file, but I've burned this to a DVD if you want a copy.

[matrose61]

By the way, last time I mismatched my grandfather-in-law's first name withe my grandfather's. His name was Ernst Kunstmann, not Paul.

[denniseugeneg]

how did you do that? i love this film and would love to copy it. dennis

[GreatBigSea1968]

To download YouTube videos: Use your favorite internet search engine to locate a program called "DVD VideoSoft." This is a free program that will allow you to download from YouTube. Then you can get software that will convert the files to DVD. I use one called "ConvertXtoDVD."

[Ronald070]

That's really interesting! I live in The Hague. Do you know which studio was used? In The Hague, you had the Profilti Studio's and Filmstad (founded by Loet Barnstijn). A lot of German films were made in Filmstad during the war.

[dawgsupreme79]

@Ronald070 Hi sorry for late reply! my nan says the street was langevoorhout! the studio was actually called fischerkoesen, I can try to find out more if need be.

[Ronald070]

@dawgsupreme79 Thanks for your answer! I will also try to find out more about Fischerkoesen's studio on Lange Voorhout. Fascinating, to learn that this great film was made in the city where I live!

[Ronald070]

@dawgsupreme79 Hi there! I just found an advertisement in a newspaper from 1943, where they are looking for young female painters to work for 'Fischerkösen Film Productie' Lange Voorhout 50 (accuracy required!) Nowadays, it houses the Spanish Embassy. I can mail you the page as PDF if you like.

[AnnaNiemas]

@dawgsupreme79

Thank you for this info ... Fischerkoesen was my grand-father. Was his sister Leni with him there also?

[dawgsupreme79]

@AnnaNiemas sorry my nan doesnt remember working next to a brother and sister type relationship although she has managed to remember taking some or having some pictures of co-workers packed away!!

[macNjulia]

Let me try to bring some clarification into this confusion about Jazz/Swing and Nazi Germany.

The musicians between 1933 and 1945, when jazz and Swing were oficially banned in Bermany, were inventive: one of the official 'cover ups' for this highly popular music was the label 'Foxtrott'. Main difference to the originals: no clarinet and no saxophone. Those instruments were considered (no kidding!) un-aryan! Absurd, but a reality musicians at the time in Germany had to deal with.

[macNjulia]

Lyrics were by Bruno Balz. He was later incarcerated by the nazis, because he was gay. Only the intervention of his buddy and composer of many highly successful song cooperations, Michael Jary (the most successful composer of popular music at the time), saved him from the 'concentration'/death camps. Balz was the lyricist of other songs that occurred in Hans Fischerkoesen's animations (e.g. 'Die Beine von Dolores', on YouTube under 'Stocking Advert').

[macNjulia]

Especially funny is the beginning of the lyrics: "Freier Tag, Feiertag..." A pun, which can translate either into:"day off, celebration day..." or "suitor day, celebration day..." Take your pick ... Considering Bruno Balz's ironic tone in most of his lyrics, and the observation that, together with the grammophone, a piece of a broken garter (with 'clover leaf, so someone 'got lucky') was left behind, leaves little to no doubt to what was meant. take your pick! ... Cheers, Julia

[oldandmoderntimes]

This is the original Bee Movie !

[17olaf61]

Hat schon die DDR gerne in Nostalgiesendungen gezeigt.

[antemaymay]

Remember ... that in 1942, all the effects done in this piece (and other works like it) were created optically and "inside" the camera. There were no computers then. This was a tedious process. But ... as you can see ... the result is fantastic!!!

Enjoy the animation and stop worrying about where it came from, or which era.

Thanks for posting this great work!!!!

[MissAmericanDream87]

Made in Nazi Germany. < shut the fuck up Oo

Not all Germans are bad! They do everything to get ''normal'' !

[baroughter]

? but it was made in Germany in 1942? it's an interesting historical fact about the film, i think.

[MissAmericanDream87]

In Germany right! Not in NAZI Germany! That sounds horrible 0.0

[kolkrabe19]

Not all Germans are bad ? What are they doing "to get normal", are you joking ?

[MissAmericanDream87]

omfg.

Why does all People forget that Hitler wasn´t a german men?!

All he can was very good speaking!! And the german follow him.. Thats all!

So stop talking shit.

If you don´t like this holy shit then watch other things, but please, please, please shut up!

(i´m sorry for my bad englisch but i think you understand)

[dawgsupreme79]

@MissAmericanDream87 nope made for germany! read my posts!!!

[emmajeanaudrey]

das schmetterlingsballett ist hochgradig knuffig...aber ich möchte jetzt eine biene sein :-)

[nemracmason]

holy crap! this looks like it was aided by computer animation! amazing!

[ericlebeau]

Nazi regime wanted a different style of music other than jazz, and did not convey the appearance that American music was banned at the time. What a strange and amazing music.

[rdolishny]

Thank you for posting this very important piece of animation history. I loved this from the moment I first saw it at the Ottawa Festival many years ago.

[robcat2075]

Certainly a slower paced aesthetic than anyting in the US at the time.

It looks like the phonograph was a real object on a turntable painted to look "toon" rather like the similar technique the Fleischers would sometimes use in their cartoons in the '30's

[boboshitface]

absolutely the best!! beats all the other cartoons today.

[baroughter]

agreed

[dsanw]

A masterpiece! Delightfully!

This is the kind of animation and music I really love. Thank you!

Thank you for sending, my dear Daniel!

[Friffers]

I was lucky to see this film sometimes in its nice original colours in the first months of 1945. It was shown in the cinema as introduction in the following spectacle pictures with Zarah Leander and others, produced to suggest us the feeling of normality in the cruel times of war.

However, I´m happy to find the film here in You tube, because I remember it with joy. But it´s a pity, that the correct colours are lost and you cannot watch.

[baroughter]

Amazing. Thanks for your comment, the original colors must have been beautiful.

[FilmTraum2]

Wow! Lovely!

[Jal8919536]

Love the use of the multiplane camera effect moving through the grass and the 350-degree shot around the abandoned record player, even if this short did come from Nazi Germany.

[Scythemantis]

Nice to see a female bee (scientific accuracy) and I love the design of that fly later on. The poor bee seems a little pressured to keep entertaining everyone, though!

It's such a beautiful animation overall.

[lemmatt]

Grandioser Zeichentrickfilm!! 5Sterne

[ZeSpekov]

lol the frog is a dj :D

[TremcladClock]

To date, this is still the most impressive piece of cell animation I have ever seen.

[jasuhiro]

Would it be that this was the peak of European animation ever. Here is everything: catchy music, gags, and simply the joy of animation.

[Olivinyl]

The name of the track is: "Wenn die woche keinen sonntag hätt"

You can get a instrumental version from: "Werner Schwarz mit seinen Solisten" from 1942.

I don´t know who performed the vocal version from the movie

Greets from Solingen

[thorhagen]

Breathtakingly fresh!

Greetings from Berlin!

[richragsdale]

wow

amazing

lovely style

and stunning execution!

[acetremendous]

This is superb and beautiful, just the kind of animation I search for and collect. THANK YOU for postng it!

It's not 50 years ahead of its time...it's just as it should be, for 1942. All the best animation happened between roughly 1928-1945. Nothing this good has happened since, as the industry learned to cut corners to save money.

[snuppy]

The industry isn't cutting money as much as it seems. Most CGI movies nowadays cost more money than cel animated movies ever did.

Example:

Snow White cost 1.7 million in 1937. That's 25 million in todays money.

One of the cheapest movies these days, Ice Age, would cost 70 million dollar if made today.

A big Disney movie like Ratatouille costs 150 million.

So where are the cornes being cut?:)

Even expensive movies like Pinocchio and Sleeping Beauty only cost around 40 million.

[acetremendous]

I see your well-presented point about the relative expense, but I can't agree. Most of today's bloated film budgets go to big salaries for big names, expensive catering, all sorts of junk unrelated to the quality of the animation. There are exceptions, but rarely if ever is an animateed film made now that is lovingly assembled frame-by-frame as were the best of the 1930s. It's not about money spent, it's about craftsmanship. THAT'S where corners are cut.

[acetremendous]

Also, cuts in budgets are directly responsible for Disney films going down the toilet, quality-wise. Specifically "Fantasia" (which Fischinger worked on, but was fired from for not kowtowing to Walt's vision) lost so much money and generated so little interest that they immediately streamlined their animation processes into the flat-looking stuff you see in "Alice in Wonderland" and so forth. Disney, as usual, blazed the trail for the rest of the industry.

[beararms2]

Wow!!! anyone know where i can get the music

[derslangerman]

Charlie and His Orchestra. i cant find out the exact name of the track. can anyone help me? ive listened to about 20 tracks so far with no luck.

[yillow1]

It looks great for being made in 1942.

[kiptw]

Love that Fischerkoesen work (as noted, the multiplane work is especially impressive). The jazzy music reminds me of those melodious hatemongers, Charlie and His Orchestra, who recorded swing music to catapult the propaganda for Goebbels. (YouTube doesn't want me to post a URL, but just Google on "Charlie and His Orchestra" for info from wikipedia and many mp3s at WFMU.) Thanks for uploading it!

[ragerule2006]

Yes, this film does do some mild criticism of the Nazis - they hated Jazz music. I'm surprised the director managed to get away with it. Just shows you what people are still able to do inside a regime like that.

[sernaberna]

this piece has such a warming effect. it came up in a media studies seminar and we discussed nazi germany's intentions when allowing it to show. surely the government didn't mind the happy-go-lucky, blissful attitude of the piece (it upkept a free, happy, facade for german culture). but when it comes to the things that would be considered risque, we thought maybe it was a way to provide audiences an illusion of freedom and lax government.

[electricsugarcube]

this is so amazing-another reminder of why youtube is awesome. everyone should try watching this with 'the surrealist waltz' by pearls before swine playing on repeat-it is pretty sweet

[MrBongers]

Amazing Multiplane camera work . Thank you for posting this rarity.

[gretzike]

cool cartoon^^

[RayRayMinimal]

thanks for posting...

[jesterkittycat]

Thank you for sharing!

[hypetraxx82]

very nice movie.... Its very nice. !!!!

[williamaustria]

"Quite jazzy for nazi Germany 1942." agree (?)

[mikebols]

so awesome! thanks for sharing. i was looking to see this in full length for a long time.

b.t.w. goebbels was a very strong admirer of disney. it's said that the furers elite met more than once to enjoy what was forbidden for the regular folk.

[limeybabefliping2end]

bee look hight or something, like on drugs

[Rothirsch]

WOW! AWESOME!!! This can easily par up to Walt Disney!! The used a multiplane with 5 layers and left/right, fore/back movings!! This was done in the same year by Disney in the gorgeous openening sequence of "Bambi" too, but the doing a complete 360° multiplane-turn in this short too!!! This was even not realized by Disney at this time! Disney did something similar first in the 1986 movie "The great Mouse Detective" and again in 1990 in "The Rescuers down under" with Computer-Animation.

[Tabascofanatikerin]

It is quite an amazing cartoon but I still find it a bit scary when I think about the circumstances of people of Europe at that time.

This cartoon was also shown in a German TV show named "Hitlers Hitparade" (= Hitlers charts). This song (translated "If the week wouldn't have a sunday") was played while you could see this cartoon and scenes from Jewish workers in German factories once and a while.

[HelloMarco]

Man, the Nazis were excellent.

[Deutschland1984]

Thanks for the post enjoyed it very much.

[mortfaucheur]

Oh yeah, where's my manners? Thanks again baroughter. Awesome post.

[mortfaucheur]

That's simply the most amazing cartoon I've ever seen. Adolf Hitler and Himmler's SchutzStaffel were running the government when this toon was made. While the government feverishly exterminated millions as the raison d'etre of policy, Fischerkoesen was creating this masterpiece. Life and history are complicated...

[mrincodi]

This is one of the best animations I have seen IN MY LIFE. Thanks for posting this gem. I mean, how did they do this without the aid of computers??" MY GOD! It's perfect! Thanks! Danke! ¡¡Muchas, muchas gracias!!

[mediareport]

Fisherkoesen was actually trying to subvert Nazi ideology in films like this, according to William Moritz in "Resistance And Subversion in Animated Films of The Nazi Era: the Case of Hans Fischerkoesen." Search for it, the article's online.

[FlakeyWaffle]

This cartoon was 50 years ahead of its time. Proof of german ingeneuity, too bad it was for a bad cause (at the time)

[Ronald070]

Wonderful! Beautiful and funny animation and nice music! Quite jazzy for nazi Germany 1942. I collect both German films and dancemusic from those days. Would love to have it on DVD. Can you advise me?

[kantico]

El estilo de animacion es increible y muy original, estoy sorprendido. El detalle de la diversidad musical y la diversidad en los personajes (De muchas formas, colores, tamaños, especies) hace que parezca un sarcasmo que provenga de la Alemania nazi.

[RatPfink66]

Technical tour de force and an ingenious premise. I don't know how they could have done all the drawing, though (hopefully not by slave labor).

[bratzscho]

thank u very much !!!!

[agntjennybaby]

great job , i love this!

[Rootbeeryum]

Wowzee's never seen a cartoon so 3d, especially not one this old. I'm amazed how entertained I was watching bugs make a record player work ;)

[raymondo1960]

Amazing use of perspective and multi-plane. Nice AGFAcolor photography, too.

[Toledo1837]

Great to see a decent copy up here. I had one a friend once sent me on disc that was a little less satisfactory, but watchable.

[chairsforcheap]

disney ain't got shit on hitler

[adiggityam]

Disney and Hitler were like this 69

[MrBongers]

Disney and Hitler pals ? Oh really ? I guess they must have had a split after Walt Disney produced "Der Fuehrer's Face" and "Education For Death" (both on YouTube; have a look) .

[adiggityam]

Yes, after America had gone to war with the Nazis, no?

[LoveTHYconan]

wow, yeah it is really 3d looking. that was really nice, i loved it.

[thejeep2000]

very 3d animation