Ο Αιμίλιος και οι Ντετέκτιβ

carina ☆3.0

This is how I found out Billy Wilder was Austrian and (co-)wrote the script for this film btw. I think it’s a pretty good and fun adaptation of Erich Kästner’s classic children’s book that sticks relatively close to the original material. The dream sequence in this one is crazy, and the villain looks so incredibly evil, and I mean he is evil — he gives Emil candy so he’ll fall asleep and he can rob him??? Also, Gustav’s horn is so annoying — like stop honking, my boy 😭February 2026 Ranked

Sidibus3.0

English Version below ...Emil und die Detektive (1931)Parole Emil!Emil Tischbein darf die Ferien bei seiner Grossmutter in Berlin verbringen. Auf der Zugfahrt lernt er Herrn Grundeis kennen. Bei seiner Ankunft in Berlin ist jedoch sein ganzes Geld gestohlen. Gut, dass Emil Gustav mit der Hupe und dessen Freunde kennen lernt. Gemeinsam mit den Jungs und seiner Cousine Pony Hütchen heftet er sich an die Fersen des Diebes.Einer der allerersten Kinder-Tonfilme. Kaum zwei Jahre nach Erscheinen von Erich Kästners Klassiker.Gleich in der Anfangsequenz hab ich die alte Mühle von Werder an der Havel erkannt. War dort erst kürzlich auf Besuch. Witzig...Gustav mit der Hupe, der fliegende Hirsch mit dem Tretroller Mustang ... die Detektive sind einfach 1A. Die Traumsequenz im Zug war bemerkenswert surreal. Nach einem Drehbuch von Billy Wilder.Für das Alter eine sehr flotte Verfilmung. Der Bösewicht sieht auch wirklich fies drein.-------------------------------------Emil and the Detectives (1931) Watchword Emil!Emil Tischbein is allowed to spend the holidays with his grandmother in Berlin. On the train ride he meets Mr. Grundeis. When he arrives in Berlin, however, all his money has been stolen. It's a good thing that Emil meets Gustav with the horn and his friends. Together with the boys and his cousin Pony Hütchen, he follows the thief. One of the very first children's talkies. Barely two years after the release of Erich Kästner's classic. Right in the opening sequence I recognized the old mill in Werder an der Havel. I was there recently on a visit. Funny... Gustav with the horn, the flying deer with the Mustang scooter... the detectives are simply top notch. The dream sequence on the train was remarkably surreal. Based on a script by Billy Wilder.A very fast-paced film for the age group. The villain looks really mean too.

Rick Burin4.0

This early talkie take on the classic kids' book, made in Germany from a script by Billy Wilder and Emeric Pressburger, is both remarkably accomplished and true to the spirit of its source. Stylish, airy and with some great location shooting, it's also a kiddie companion to the adolescent People on Sunday, that gobsmacking slice of summer escapism that had come a year earlier.The story sees mischievous, resourceful Emil (Rolf Wenkhaus) being put on the train to Berlin by his mum. In his pocket is the 140 marks he must give to his grandmother: a fortune to their impoverished family. Enter the most suspicious-looking man in the world (creepy Fritz Rasp), who drugs Emil with a poisoned sweet - cue a stunning Expressionist dream sequence - and makes off with the money. When our hero comes to, he chases the criminal across town, before falling in with a gang of young ruffians (the "detectives" of the title) with whom he hatches a plan to take back the dough.There's a wonderful sense of immediacy to the film - the novel was only two years old when it was shot - tied to an understanding of how children actually behave (their dogged determination, instant alliances and unselfconscious eccentricities) and, during parts of the picture, a semi-documentary atmosphere that allows these broadly realistic characters to flourish, while offering a vivid snapshot of pre-Nazi Berlin.At the same time, and for all the film's intelligence, entertainment value and humour, there's an undeniable eeriness to it. That same poverty which drives the plot forward helped to usher in the Nazis, while blonde-haired, blue-eyed Wenkhaus went on to star in one of the Third Reich's first propaganda shorts - playing a member of the Hitler Youth - before perishing off the coast of Ireland in 1942, when his bomber was shot down. Those notorious events you've read about in history textbooks took place on these streets, down which pad the footsteps of these spirited young performers, who in the coming years will each be affected in their own way by Hitler's accession to power.Ignoring such inevitable intrusions, Emil is an excellent piece of work: often technically dazzling - though not without some stiltedness and a few rough edges - and superbly written, with Wilder inventing a bizarre, brilliant silent prologue centring on the taunting of a local lawman, and filling his script with funny set-pieces (special mention for the "Native American" messenger-boy visiting Emil's grandmother) and at least one unbearably tense set-piece. There's also considerable quote appeal in the shape of Emil's love interest, Pony Hutcheon: barely a minute goes by without someone imploringly or excitedly declaring: "Purny Hurrcheon!"Incidentally, the BFI disc includes a scene-for-scene British remake from 1935. Perhaps that was what Truffaut had in mind when he asked Hitchcock whether the words "British" and "cinema" were incompatible.