User reviews

Karl Valentin's Firmling is the only German movie in my top-ten list of what I think are the best movies of all times. We see a father (who must be 70 or so) who takes his son to a restaurant after the confirmation ceremony (son still holds a candle when entering the place). Father is already drunk when entering and gets even more drunk during the course of action. What makes it so special is the variety of subjects it handles during the relatively short period of 25 minutes: war friendship ('we were out there...'), simple man's ignorance ('they have Affentaler in a bottle!' - he thinks Affentaler is a cheese), father-son relationship ('why is he laughing?' 'Well he is young' 'that's no reason to laugh, I was young too, I was may be younger than him!') and then of course the unprecedented story of his friend who gives him his son's suit even though he doesn't know the boy! Certainly not everybody can laugh about something like that but I have seen this movie 20 times or so and still find it amazing! Karl Valentin plays a drunk which lets the famous 'Dinner for One' look pale in comparison.