Rosemary (1960)

Apart from being a well-made film, 'Das Mädchen Rosemarie' (= German for 'the girl Rosemarie') reflects very well the big dilemma in the 1950's West Germany of Chancellor Conrad Adenauer.Conrad Adenauer lives on as one of Germany's great statesmen. He was responsible for the 'Wirtschaftswunder' (= German for 'the economic miracle', relating to West Germany's speedy recovery from the extensive damages of the lost Second World War). Adenauer rebuilt his country, and led it politically into the Western influence of the USA - making it a member of NATO.However, in one respect Adenauer failed: he did not deal effectively with the many Nazi-sympathizers in his country. In particular with those in its leading circles. There were just too many of them, and their abilities could not be missed for the re-building of the West German economy.It may be hard for Americans to appreciate, but 'Das Mädchen Rosemarie' is made special by this issue. The film emphasizes on the bankrupt moral state of mind of these business leaders - their former involvement with Adolf Hitler and his Nazi's is clearly written on their foreheads. In this respect this film's main theme, prostitution, connects very well.'Das Mädchen Rosemarie' even makes a historical document. I know of no other film dealing in such a clear, sharp and ruthless way with Germany's big post-war moral dilemma. A dilemma vanished by now, for the vast majority of these Hitler-infected leaders have died.

I believe that this film was not a very good one. It is not that I thought it was a bad movie, it is just that I found it very hard to follow and therefore I lost interest very early on in the movie. From the beginning, I did not find the movie visually stimulating at all. It just seemed very flat to me and therefore it was not exciting for me to watch. I think what bothered me the most about the film was the still shots. What is brought to my mind is the shots of just cars driving by. This was not stimulating to me at all. I feel that some how, the film needed to be more vibrant, perhaps maybe with color. I understand that the film was made in the 50s, however, hopefully the remake made use of color to add more visual stimulation to the movie. I guess I also lost some interest in the movie because I really did not like how the hotel clerk was "selling off" women. I do understand though that it was the practice at the time. I also felt like the acting was not dramatic enough. All in all, I believe that I lost interest in the film because I did not find it very stimulating. In my eyes, it was nothing great to look at and the music was nothing spectacular either. Lastly, the acting did not do anything to justify the film, and it simply just brought it down even more.

"Das Mådchen Rosemarie" portrays an interesting view of a West German girl'sintroduction to the capitalist society in which big companies and moneydominate. I found the film to be very interesting. I thought that the camera angles were very unique...especially in initial bar scene. I thought that moving the camera around the bar, without cutting, was a very unique way of viewing the room and all of the people in it. I think that the characters were acted out very well. Hartog was completelystone cold. He rarely ever showed emotion on his face, other than deepthought. Even in the end, when Rosemarie was attempting to get him to leavehis wife for her, he showed very little emotion. This was one aspect of the film that stood out to me. I particularly enjoyed the two young men who used their musical talents to help Rosemarie and later Rebecca on their way into the "big time." Although these two were essentially gold-digging scumbags, they introduced a fair amount ofhumor and unique songs to the film. A perfect example of this humor was when they "tried out" various girls to see which would be the best to take Rosemarie's spot in their trio of sorts. In the middle of the movie, I thought the plot was a little shaky, but in the end it all came together perfectly. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the film and thought it portrayed capitalism wonderfully.

A real art film,with bizarre music (especially the recurring music from the film's opening),great camera movements,and a film making technique that was truly ahead of it's time-you'll grin knowingly when you see the final scene.Unfortunately,the remake adopted none of the film's weird and bizarre stylings,instead only going for a straightforward reworking of the story.