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.
Credits
Children, Mother, and the General Cast
| Name |
Character |
|
Klaus Kinski
He was 28, 65 years old when he died
|
as Leutnant, der nicht mehr lacht |
|
Maximilian Schell
He was 24, 83 years old when he died
|
as Soldat, der nicht mehr mitmacht |
|
Bernhard Wicki
He was 35, 80 years old when he died
|
as Hauptmann Dornberg |
|
Ewald Balser
He was 56, 79 years old when he died
|
as General |
|
Therese Giehse
She was 56, 76 years old when she died
|
as Elfriede Bergmann |
|
Claus Biederstaedt
He was 26, now 95 years old
|
as Verpflegungsgefreiter |
|
Rudolf Fernau
He was 57, 87 years old when he died
|
as Stabsarzt |
|
Otto Lüthje
He was 52, 74 years old when he died
|
as Bahnhofsvorsteher |
|
Alice Treff
She was 48, 96 years old when she died
|
as Pastorin |
|
Ursula Herking
She was 43, 62 years old when she died
|
as Dr. Behrens |
|
Hans Christian Blech
He was 40, 78 years old when he died
|
as Feldwebel mit den Orden |
|
Hilde Krahl
She was 38, 82 years old when she died
|
as Helene Asmussen |
Children, Mother, and the General Crew
