The Goodies (film)

Musterknaben
Musterknaben
Directed by	Johannes Knittel
Written by	Gerhard Bengsch
Produced by	Alexander Lösche
Starring	Hartmut Reck
Cinematography	Ernst W. Fiedler
Edited by	Wally Gurschke
Music by	Günter Hörig
Distributed by	Progress Film
Release date	27 November 1959;
Running time	74 minutes
Country	East Germany
Language	German

Musterknaben (Role Models; English-language title: The Goodies; also known as Das Beschwerdebuch or Alles aus Liebe)^[1] is an East German romantic comedy film, directed by Johannes Knittel. It was originally released in the GDR in 1959 and again in Hungary in 1960.

Plot

Bassi and Edwin are the two laziest, most irresponsible construction workers in their workers' brigade. When they fall in love with their neighbors Thea and Susi, they pretend to be reliable young men and accompany their friends to a meeting of the local chapter house. To keep up appearances, the two are forced to undertake several duties which they would not have dreamed of doing otherwise. The plot turns into a chain of comical mistakes, but eventually the two new couples reunite and all ends well.

Cast

Hartmut Reck as Bassi
Rolf Herricht as Edwin
Brigitte Krause as Thea
Gudrun Wicherta s Susi
Erwin Geschonneck as Susi's father
Peter Marx as Kaiser
Fritz Diez as Weber
Paul R. Henker as Scholz
Hans Klering as Grimm
Werner Lierck as Tetzlaff
Gerd Biewer as Graf
Sabine Thalbach as Röschen
Jean Brahn as Fritz
Agnes Kraus as old teacher
Lotte Loebinger as Klara
Werner Dissel as uncredited role

Reception

The West German Catholic Film Service regarded the film as one "with a weak plot line, the same old gags used over and over again."^[2] The film critic of the journal Cinema wrote that "even in the 1950s, it was not witty."^[3]