Fabian

Erich Kästner (1899-1974) – writer and screenwriter, playwright and author of children’s books, journalist and publicist, humorist and satirist – was the only eyewitness in 1933 to the burning of his books by the Nazis. And although he was blacklisted and often without work or income, Kästner never emigrated, continuing instead to write under different pseudonyms. Some film historians argue that his greatest triumph as a screenwriter was the script he presented to Goebbels for Josef von Baky’s Münchhausen (1943), the UFA epic to celebrate German cinema’s preeminence on the world’s screens, under the cryptic pseudonym "Berthold Bürger – thus honoring Bertolt Brecht while recognizing himself only as a “citizen.”

Critics have also acclaimed Wolf Gremm’s Fabian (1978) as one of the best screen adaptations of an Erich Kästner novel made. When published in 1931, the book had attacked militarism, fascism, and the dubious code of the Spiessbürger (petit bourgeois) from a standpoint of moral outrage and with a broadside of barbed wit. Variety critic Gene Moskowitz noted that the Regina Ziegler production released through United Artists had captured the timeless message of the Kästner classic: “It offers an arresting look at these days through a young man who keeps seeing the injustices building up around him, but enjoys the free-wheeling life that a rich friend and easy woman bring his way Wolf Gremm shows a neat balance of humor, fine blending of scenes, and an unforced reflection of the times that led to the war and Nazi ways.” Re-released on German television as a special event to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Erich Kästner’s birth, Wolf Gremm’s “Fabian” appears as timely today as it did twenty years ago. –Ziegler Film