Simply A Masterpiece

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

It's funny to see that most comments on this movie so far came from Ann Arbor on a single day... classroom assignment? Anyway, I think there's more to the story of Rosemarie Nitribitt. First, she was a real person, lived and died (strangled in her apartment) - see Wikipedia. Her life (including driving a Mercedes 190 coupe) and death was a major scandal in 1950s Germany (roughly comparable to the Keeler/Profumo affair in Britain), and the murderer was never sentenced. This film came out soon after, and somehow touches the sensible points (and others - witness the subtle appearance of the Bundeswehr - marching boots only). But it also alienates them, and the whole story, in a Brechtian way.The two musicians (one of them Mario Adorf of later fame) express the feelings of the "common people" in their songs. But the story is mostly about industrialists in black Mercedes 300s (loved their cavalcade in the parking garage) and their kith and kin. And Rosemarie's futile struggle to be accepted.This movie, technically brilliant as it is, is no easy watching. Being a German roughly familiar with those times, I still think I'll need one or two more viewings. But after the first watch, my impression is that they'll be worth the time. One thing that struck me immediately was the factory tour (Bruster - Gert Froebe - producing "electronic brains"??), with three union men collecting signatures for a child care proposal.German moviegoers in 1958 might have better understood all the subtleties. Almost 50 years later, this is a harder nut to crack, for me at least - but it promises to be worth it. In Germany, the DVD is inexpensively available in a 3-piece "Wirtschaftswunder" set at Weltbild, together with "Rosen für den Staatsanwalt" and "Die Halbstarken" which are very strong too. For me at least, fascinating.

I some what enjoyed Das Madchen Rosemarie because of the following reasons: camera shots in car, plot and storyline, setting, and several characters. The storyline was great and very creative. I guess I like those blackmail movies but, there is a couple parts that I didn't quite pick up on. For example, (this could be a spoiler) near the end Rosemarie receives a call from this guy in a booth and she demands 30,000. Then she hangs up. I was wondering how does she know this man? I felt like I either missed some connection during the movie or the director just threw that in there. Several characters stood out and kept my interest. The two singing men with their act and how they always kept on following Rosemarie. Were these guys suppose to be like musical narrators because sometimes they would be singing, but you would be watching Rosemarie in a different building? Regardless they added some of the comic relief that was needed in parts of the movie. I felt that Hartog was an odd character. He seemed to be too generous that you would expect him to do things in the movie. Another great aspect of this film is the writing. Some of the lines were great and the musical lyrics were hilarious!

I enjoyed this movie a good deal. The thing that stood out to me the most was the interesting camera angles. There were many times when the camera focused on an object instead of the people who were speaking. There was also many other interesting camera techniques. These various camera angles added to the over feeling of the film. This film also had a very interesting plot, showing how powerful the powerful are. No one can get too close to them, or know too much. The movie was darkly funny. There were many funny moments and even more irony. The most ironic part was the movie ending right where it began. It came full circle, and showed how small and invisible the poor were compared to the rich. The movie kept a constant contrast between the rich and the poor. The movie was full of black male, threats and using people. Everyone was pinned against everyone esle. This made the movie very interesting to me, but at the same time there was an entire subplot that was never made clear.There was secrets about the factory and a conflict between the French man and the English that was never made clear. This made the movie a bit hard to enjoy, because we never get to know what is actually happening. And then there is Rosemarie in the middle of it all, and by leaving out all the details it allows the movie to focus on her story, after all thats what this movie is about. Overall, the camera angles and irony made this movie enjoyable to me.

I believe that this film was not a very good one. It is not that I thought it was a bad movie, it is just that I found it very hard to follow and therefore I lost interest very early on in the movie. From the beginning, I did not find the movie visually stimulating at all. It just seemed very flat to me and therefore it was not exciting for me to watch. I think what bothered me the most about the film was the still shots. What is brought to my mind is the shots of just cars driving by. This was not stimulating to me at all. I feel that some how, the film needed to be more vibrant, perhaps maybe with color. I understand that the film was made in the 50s, however, hopefully the remake made use of color to add more visual stimulation to the movie. I guess I also lost some interest in the movie because I really did not like how the hotel clerk was "selling off" women. I do understand though that it was the practice at the time. I also felt like the acting was not dramatic enough. All in all, I believe that I lost interest in the film because I did not find it very stimulating. In my eyes, it was nothing great to look at and the music was nothing spectacular either. Lastly, the acting did not do anything to justify the film, and it simply just brought it down even more.