Comedian Harmonists (English title: The Harmonists) is a 1997 German film, directed by Joseph Vilsmaier, about the popular German vocal group the Comedian Harmonists of the 1920s and 1930s. The film was supported by the German and Austrian film fund.

Plot

In 1927, unemployed German-Jewish actor Harry Frommermann is inspired by the American group The Revelers to create a German group of the same format. He holds auditions and signs on four additional singers and a pianist. Naming themselves the Comedian Harmonists , they meet international fame and popularity. However, they eventually run into trouble when the Nazis come to power, as half the group is Jewish.

Cast

• Ben Becker as Robert Biberti
• Heino Ferch as Roman Cycowski
• Ulrich Noethen as Harry Frommermann
• Heinrich Schafmeister as Erich A. Collin
• Max Tidof as Ari Leschnikoff
• Kai Wiesinger as Erwin Bootz
• Meret Becker as Erna Eggstein
• Katja Riemann as Mary Cycowski
• Noemi Fischer as Chantal, Collin s girl friend
• Dana Vávrová as Ursula Bootz
• Otto Sander as Bruno Levy
• Michaela Rosen as Ramona, brothel madame
• Günter Lamprecht as Erik Charell
• Gérard Samaan as Roman s father
• Rolf Hoppe as Gauleiter Streicher
• Jürgen Schornagel as Reichsmusikdirektor
• Rudolf Wessely as Mr. Grünbaum
• Susi Nicoletti as Mrs. Grünbaum
• Giora Feidman as clarinet player
• Kathie Lindner as wardrobe mistress
• Trude Ackermann as Robert s mother

Reception

Comedian Harmonists succeeded in Europe and was the highest-grossing German film of 1998 with a gross of over $16 million. U.S. President Bill Clinton told critic Roger Ebert it was among his favorite films of the year, although the movie did not get widespread release, hence reception in the United States.

Bernd Reinhardt of the World Socialist Web Site called it an exciting film which is well worth seeing and which pays proper attention to the sextet s music. He also remarked on the film s attention to historical detail and the importance of its theme of musical internationalism.

Awards and nominations

At the 1998 German Film Awards, Comedian Harmonists won the awards for Best Fiction Film, Best Editing (for Peter R. Adam), Best Actor (for Ulrich Noethen), Best Supporting Actress (for Meret Becker), and Best Production Design (for Rolf Zehetbauer). Joseph Vilsmaier was nominated for Best Direction, losing to Wim Wenders for The End of Violence. At the 1998 Bavarian Film Awards Joseph Vilsmaier won the awards for Best Director. Ben Becker, Heino Ferch, Ulrich Noethen, Heinrich Schafmeister, Max Tidof and Kai Wiesinger won a Special Prize

Vilsmaier was nominated for Best Cinematographer for Comedian Harmonists at the 1998 European Film Awards.

American version

The U.S. Miramax release contains at least one difference from the original: in the original, there is a scene, when the Harmonists arrive in New York and perform in front of the U.S. Navy, where the camera singles out one African American navy man who is visibly enjoying the music, until he gets a stinging look of rebuke from a superior officer. This segment was cut from the American release.

Legacy

The film led to the writing of a musical play, Veronika, der Lenz ist da – Die Comedian Harmonists, which opened at the Komödie on the Kurfürstendamm in Berlin on 19 December 1997. When this production closed, the actors who had played the original sextet formed themselves into a new group called the Berlin Comedian Harmonists, which is still in existence in 2021.

External links

• Comedian Harmonists at IMDb
• Comedian Harmonists at Rotten Tomatoes

Year	1997
ReleaseDate	1997-12-25
RuntimeMins	115
RuntimeStr	1h 55min
Plot	The film chronicles the rise and fall of Germany’s most famous a capella group, the Comedian Harmonists, in 1930s Germany.
Awards	Awards, 13 wins & 3 nominations
Directors	Joseph Vilsmaier
Writers	Jürgen Büscher, Jürgen Egger, Klaus Richter
Stars	Ben Becker, Heino Ferch, Ulrich Noethen
Produced by	Hanno Huth,Reinhard Klooss,Danny Krausz,Ute Kuntze-Just,Herbert Schmidt,Jirka Sirotek,Peter Sterr,Joseph Vilsmaier
Music by	Harald Kloser,Thomas Schobel
Cinematography by	Joseph Vilsmaier
Film Editing by	Peter R. Adam
Casting By	Barbara Vögel
Production Design by	Jindrich Götz,Rolf Zehetbauer
Art Direction by	Cornelia Ott
Set Decoration by	Bernhard Henrich
Costume Design by	Lubos Hanyk,Ute Hofinger
Makeup Department	Helga Klein,Zdenek Klika,Heiner Niehues,Ruth Philipp,Georgie Schmid-Schmidsfelden,Alena Sedova
Production Management	Manfred Fritsch,Andrea Gabler,Ludvík Maly,Monika Maruschko,Pavel Nový,Adam Park,Andreas Payer,Michael Sauerteig,Petr Vasicek,Stephanie Wagner,Ulrike Weiss,Ralf Zimmermann
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Sven Blum,Thomas Louis Pröve,Jeanette Rosenmaier
Art Department	Martin Baar,Bedrich Cermák,Gerhard Deimel,Gerhard Dohr,Thomas Fuchs,Harald Haimböck,Susanne Hein,Rudolf Hobsig,Thomas Hörhan,Stephan Krausz,Ana Meckel,Zoran Mitic,Fritz Müller,Sophie Müller,Udo Neges,Adolf Nurschinger,Peter Obermeier,Jürgen Paptistella,Ferdinand Prinz,Josef Riehs,Peter Schuler,Christian Schäfer,Johann Schäfer,Friedrich Thaler
Sound Department	Stefan Busch,Tim J. Carroll,Heinz Ebner,Stephan Fandrych,Joo Fürst,Lisa Geffcken-Reinhard,Hans Hohenwarter,Michael Kranz,Dietmar Krenn,Robert Osterberger,Jan Piepenstock,Jörn Poetzl,Nina Roll,Günther Schönbein,Hanna Vilsmaier,Martin Wolf,Dan Edelstein
Visual Effects by	Nastuh Abootalebi,Manfred Büttner,Christine Detering,Martin Kett,Guido Lück,George Maihöfer,Doug Philip,Andreas Schellenberg,Thomas Tannenberger,Dominik Trimborn,Frank Wegerhoff
Camera and Electrical Department	Petro Domenigg,Tibor Gal,Armin Golisano,Kurt Kopecky,Anton Mayer,Willi Neuner,Eddy Saller,Ludwig Sauermann,Jörg Widmer
Casting Department	Julia Becker,Kathrin Hoffmann
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Melissa Desrosiers,Natalie Grögler,Marie Heitzinger,Katharina Henrichs,Jürgen Katzengruber,Lulu Landgraeber-Goroll,Jarmilla Lostaková,Beate Morbach,Jitka Novotna,Petr Pluhar,Marketa Prochazkova,Theresa Pultar,Patricia Schömitz,Udo Seltner
Editorial Department	Stephanie Achleitner,Katja Birklein,Marco Pav D Auria,Andrea Dvorak,Hannelore Wernhart
Music Department	William Boston,Karin Gatzke,Winfried Grabe,Benoit Grey,Rolf Moser,Jan Piepenstock,Armin Steiner,Bernd Strasser,Thomas Teske,Dana Vávrová,Thomas Wanker,Jim Pasquarella
Script and Continuity Department	Peter Engelmann,Alfred Holighaus,Ulrich Limmer
Transportation Department	Ludwig Adler,Susanne Auth,Christian Florin,Marco Haaf,Andreas Kahri,Alexander Kiening,Sandro Kumric
Additional Crew	Jeremy Amar,Ergün Cevik,Peter Czada,Dina Eichhorn,Katrin Fuchs,Michael Hohm,Susanne Kolar,Ulrike Ladenbauer,Norbert Maass,Peter Maria Norrenberg,Leona O Neill,Gabie Reiter,Ward Ricke,Jonathan Roumie,Eric Sagl,Michael Schweuneke,Birgit Seidel,Enrico Squeri,Pavel Stránský,Gabi Traindl,Regina Weber,Wolfgang W. Werner,Thomas Wiesner,Karl Lang
Genres	Biography, Drama, Music
Companies	Bavaria Film, Beta Film, Parathon
Countries	Germany, Austria
Languages	German, English, French, Hebrew
ContentRating	R
ImDbRating	7.2
ImDbRatingVotes	3476
Keywords	sex worker,antisemitism,reference to friedrich schiller,reference to wilhelm tell by friedrich von schiller,comedian harmonists