Emil and the Detectives (Disney) (1964)

4& = The Zaniest Crime Comedy of the year! "y WALT DISN EY presents EMil #3? DETECTIVES TECHNICOLOR® Introducing The Three Skrinks Starring WALTER SLEZAK BRYAN RUSSELL ROGER MOBLEY Featuring Heinz Schubert Peter Ehrlich Cindy Cassell With Elsa Wagner Eva-Ingeborg Scholz Wolfgang Volz Franz Nicklisch And Brian Richardson David Petrychka Robert Swann Ann Noland Ron and Rick Johnson Screenplay by A J CAROTHERS Based on the novel ‘‘Emil and the Detectives”’ by Erich Kastner Directed By PETER TEWKSBURY Associate Producer PETER V. HERALD Music Played by The BERLINER SYMPHONIKER Director of Photography GUNTHER SENFTLEBEN Art Directors ................... WERNER SCHLICHTING, ISABELL SCHLICHTING Film Editors .___.. Production Manager......................... Assistant Director. ..._................... Camera Operator ... Costumes .. SOE ere ote a ei ee eR ... THOMAS STANFORD, COTTON WARBURTON, A.C.E. A Ga meee: Cache PAUL WALDHERR Reed eer oes BRIGITTE LIPHARDT vite entree ERA. BOFER LEO BEI, JOSEF WANKE niece BU a aoe at ete JUPP PASCHKE JOACHIM SCHMALOR Meer eate he BERNHARD REICHERTS Produced at Filmstudio Templehof, West-Berlin, Germany TECHNICOLOR® ©Distributed by: Buena Vista Distribution Co., Inc. RUNNING TIME: 1 HOUR, 39 MINUTES HUMORIST WALTER SLEZAK SHOWS IT RUNS IN FAMILY When Walter Slezak, star of Walt Disney’s feature motion picture, “Emil and the Detectives,” tells the story behind the title of his best-selling book, “What Time’s The Next Swan?” it immediately becomes clear that heredity and environment worked beautifully together to create the actor’s celebrated subtle sense of humor. As a young fellow, Walter grew up under the influence of his father, the late Leo Slezak, one of this century’s greatest Wagnerian tenors. Leo was a giant, six feet, seven inches tall, with a sense of humor to match his size. As Walter tells it, the elder Slezak was standing in the wings during a performance of “Lohengrin” before a packed house in the New York Metropolitan Opera waiting to be wheeled out on stage in a wooden swan, thus bringing the scene to its climax. However, an overzealous stage hand jumped the cue and rolled the swan, empty, onto the stage. Leo’s remark, as he calmly looked over the head of the helper at the tenorless swan, has become a backstage classic at the Met. “What time’s the next swan?” he asked placidly. This is the same kind of humor that the great singer’s son has repeatedly injected into his acting, doing so again as Baron, a criminal mastermind with two bungling assistants, in Disney’s latest major movle, In color by Technicolor, “Emil and the Detectives” stars Slezak, Bryan Russell and Roger Mobley. THREE SKRINKS ARE FUNNIEST TRIO IN DISNEY HISTORY The three skrinks in Walt Disney’s “Emil and the Detectives,” are probably the funniest trio in Disney history. The bungling bank robbers from Berlin are portrayed by the established comedian, Walter Slezak, the two newcomers from Germany, Heinz Schubert and Peter Ehrlich. Together they attempt to burrow into a bank vault and escape unnoticed with a bag of dough in their 1937 Mercedes Benz. On the way, they slap each other around, demonstrating, each in his own way, a mastery of the art of pummels and pratfalls. While Slezak plays Baron, the mastermind who must put up with the shortcomings of his dimwitted henchmen, Ehrlich and Schubert, the two oafs, carry on a running battle for the boss’ favor. Walter’s take-off on the archcriminal type blends perfectly with Ehrlich and Schubert’s slapstick rendition of underworld flunkies. Long a master of subtle humor, Slezak finds himself taking part in some pretty raucous slapstick durIng a scene in which the three crooks are crowded together in an underground tunnel with a picnic basket full of dynamite and nitroglycerin. When the outsized patrician of the underworld elects Ehrlich to carry his 260 -pound frame through a sewer, Slezak becomes another comic casualty in this cloak and dagger calamity. Schubert, a real Disney find, plays his first comedy role, and is truly Chaplinesque with his sight gags, while Ehrlich, as the heavy’s heavy, carries on as a continental Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom. Suspense-Filled ‘Emil and the Detectives’ Gets the Walt Disney Comedy Touch “Emil and the Detectives,” a best-selling book for thirtyfive years and one of the most internationally popular motion picture properties of our time, is now deftly brought to the screen by Walt Disney. The action and suspense of the famous tale by German author Erich Kastner, is strongly sustained in the Disney picture, along with a great deal of well-paced comedy: a marvelous cliff-hanger with the lightest of Disney touches. A few years ago, the famed Burbank producer filmed his wonderful comedy, “The Parent Trap,” which was also based on a novel by Erich Kastner. Besides being a box office blockbuster, the picture completed Hayley Mills’ climb to fame. In color by Technicolor, “Emil and the Detectives.” starring Walter Slezak, Bryan Russell and Roger Mobley, is a laugh-loaded satire on human nature, a subtle spoof on the popular foreign-intrigue and private-eye themes. From the comic mystery opening scene, when a pint-sized pickpocket shadows a young victim — through a slambang man-hunt in colorful West Berlin by a force of juvenile sleuths — to the unexpected ending, the emphasis is on real excitement. In bombed-out buildings, along dark, deserted streets, and in forbidding tunnels, tension builds like a burning fuse heading for a charge of ARN This edge-of-the-seat skulduggery has the polished and lovable heavy, Walter Slezak, as an underworld baron out for the express purpose of collecting a tidy profit from his Operation Banklift. A handsome Disney contractee, Bryan Russell, plays the title role of the fleeced youngster. Roger Mobley is the suave, all-knowing moppet who heads the detective band that takes up Emil’s cause celebre, and a pert and pretty screen newcomer, Cindy Cassell, is a determined school reporter who follows close on their heels. As a kind of Mutt and Jeff comedy team, Disney introduces German actors, Heinz Schubert and Peter Ehrlich, playing Slezak’s partners in crime, Grundeis and Muller, who along with Slezak, make up the three crooks Disney calls “skrinks,” one of the funniest trios in movie history. “Emil and the Detectives” was directed by Peter Tewksbury. Peter Herald was associate producer. A J Carothers wrote the screenplay. Buena Vista releases. DISNEY COINS WORD A new word is about to be added to the glossary of English slang by that innovator among producers of entertainment, Walt Disney. You might say it’s another first for a man whose history is packed with them. The word is “skrink.” It isn’t in Webster’s or Roget’s, but is introduced to the English-speaking public in “Emil and the Detectives.” To demonstrate the word’s versatility, the three skrinks in the Disney film, Walter Slezak, Heinz Schubert and Peter Ehrlich, rob a Berlin bank, a skrinky thing to do, and attempt to skrink away from Gustav and his helpers, who have been like a skrink in the side of the three skrinks. Mat EM-2A THE DETECTIVES—These are the good guys in Walt Disney's ‘‘Emil and the Detectives” who are on the trail of the bad guys (called ‘‘skrinks’’). Bryan Russell, who plays the part of the detectives’ ‘‘client,’”’ is at left. Roger Mobley, their leader, is next to him showing off his badge. Mat EM-2B THE SKRINKS—The bad guys are called ‘'skrinks’’ in Walt Disney's Technicolor comedy thriller, ‘‘Emil and the Detectives.” The three skrinks here are, left to right, Peter Ehrlich, Walter Slezak and Heinz Schubert. THE LOCATION Berlin — at once the most talked about, most photographed, most written about and most modern city in the world — provided the locations for this colorful story. Following Emil’s worried footsteps, screen audiences will see for themselves the wide boulevard of the Kurfurstendamn with its luxurious shops, its beautiful flower beds its sleek cars and wealthy shoppers. Chasing the pickpocket, Grundeis, into a cafe, the camera tracks past one of the most impressive sights of Berlin, the almost surrealistic Gedachtniskirche (Memorial Church) built around the ruins of the city’s tribute to the Kaiser Wilhelm. The famous Cafe Kranzler, the historic fortress of the Zitadelle, the Zoo Park, the Hardenbergstrasse, in the heart of the business district, and the world renowned Kempinski Hotel all play their part in the story. Exciting shots of the Berlin underworld photographed in the seedy quarter near the former Potsdamerplatz, in the shadow of the infamous Berlin Wall, provide a startling contrast to Berlin’s world of luxury. POPULAR FILM PROPERTY Every time the story of “Emil and the Detectives” has been told on the screen — and so far it has been made six times — it has proven ever more popular. The picture has been filmed twice in German, the first in 1931, and for which the adaptation was made by the now famous producerdirector, Billy Wilder, and again in 1954. Gaumont British made an English version in 1935 under the same title, which was released as “Emil” in the United States. The Japanese filmed it in 1956 under the title of “Little Detective.” There was even a Brazilian production in Portugese called “Catch The Thief,” released with Spanish sub-titles in South America in 1958. The first German film is considered a “classic” for its time and is a favorite with audiences at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. “Emil and the Detectives” holds a movie record, but author Kastner nas almost topped himself. His later novel, “Das Doppelte Lottchen” was filmed four times, in Germany, in Brazil and twice by American companies. And one of these versions was Disney’s “The Parent Trap.”