It was the first French/East Germany co-production ;for the record the second one was "les sorcières de Salem " based on Arthur Miller's "the crucible" ; all the actors of these movies (Gérard Philipe, Simone Signoret ,Yves Montand ) were sympathising communists at the time .
It was the one and only time that Gérard Philipe had co-directed a film (with Joris Ivens ) .
For all the admiration I have for this outstanding actor (the man with the child in his eyes), his attempt at directing did not convince me the first time I saw it;I gave it a second chance yesterday,and once again I was disappointed.
Philipe had probably "Fanfan La Tulipe" in mind ; but the latter had a seasoned director (Christian-Jaque) and a great writer(Henri Jeanson). Here the script is disjointed , the lines fall flat and it hesitates between drama ( the death of Till's father) and pranks:these are the latter which saves the film from wreckage : Philipe is stunning as the court jester (admire his mime) and using a mirror to burn the indulgences (the Catholic wealthy bourgeois could redeem their souls by giving dough to the clergy ,a shameless practice Luther and Calvin denounced ) is a good trick .
In 1956, the Soviet tanks invaded Hungary ; the film was a total commercial failure.
