Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11"The double Lottie" ["Das Doppelte Lottchen"] [1950]
Video Item Preview
Share or Embed This Item
- Topics
- German cinema, Josef von Baky
This is a delightful film even if you cannot understand the language. Wikipedia's plot summary will provide the basic idea for this beautifully photographed film.
Erich Kastner, the author of the 1949 novel, introduces the film and narrates.
Wikipedia...
Plot summary
Two nine-year-old girls--rude Lisa Palfy (orig. Luise Palfy) from Vienna, and respectful shy Lottie Horn (orig. Lotte Korner) from Munich--meet on a summer camp in Bohrlaken on Lake Bohren (orig. 'Seebuhl am Buhlsee'). Lisa has curly hair; Lottie wears braids. Apart from that, they look alike.
They have never seen each other before, but soon find out that they are identical twins. It turns out that their parents divorced, each keeping one of the girls. The two girls decide it is unfair that neither of them has ever been told that she is a twin, or that her other parent is still living. They decide to trade places at the end of the summer so that Lottie will have a chance to get to know her father and Lisa will get to meet her mother. Lottie curls her hair, Lisa braids hers, and both go off to where they have never been before. The adventure begins.
While many adults are surprised at the changes in each of the girls after they return from camp ("Lottie" has suddenly forgotten how to cook, gets in a fight at school, and becomes a terrible student, while "Lisa" has begun to keep a close eye on the housekeeper's bookkeeping, will no longer eat her favorite food, and becomes a model student), no one suspects that the girls are not who they claim to be.
When Lottie (pretending to be Lisa) finds out that her father is planning to remarry, she becomes very ill and stops writing to her sister in Munich.
Meanwhile, Lottie's mother comes across a picture of the two girls that was taken while they were at summer camp. She quickly realizes what has happened and Lisa tells her the entire story. The discovery turns out to have come just in time. The girls' mother calls her ex-husband in Vienna to tell him what has happened and to find out why Lottie has stopped writing. When she hears that her daughter is ill, she and Lisa immediately travel to Vienna to be with her.
The four of them (father, mother, Lisa and Lottie) are still in Vienna for the girls' birthday. The girls tell their parents that they don't need any presents on this birthday or ever again as long as they don't have to be separated again. The parents talk it over, realize that they are still in love and decide to get remarried.
MargheritaDTorbiera, IMDb reviewer, wrote...
There have been many remakes of this movie, mainly in the US and in Germany, but this is the one and only real one!!! Following the book line by line, even the authors comments (given by the author Erich Kastner himself in the movie!) on what is happening, the story is highly enjoyable and more than touching!
Set in Austria/southern Germany in the beginning fifties, the story about the unhappy divorce of the famous musician and conductor Ludwig Palffy and the hardworking (at that time!!!) mother/journalist Louiselotte Korner is ever so realistic. Don't let yourself being prejudiced by it's old appearance; this movie is worth watching! Sentiments and misunderstandings, a laugh and a cry, everything comes up. Here, the switch is kept up for at least a couple of weeks, with all the difficult situations to master. In the later movies, like the latest Parent Trap, how funny and nice that one is, the exchange doesn't last more than a few days. But these original Lotte and Louise had a REALLY hard time, keeping it up so long!
To me, all the main characters are sympathetic, and that's a must in a movie like this. You really want them to get together again, and are so happy when they finally manage! With, as a symbol, Palffy's atelier moved to the condo next door, instead of somewhere else in the city.
The only real minus is the fact that the twins Louise and Lotte don't really look alike. It's quite easy to tell them apart, and therefore rather strange that nobody notices. Their acting isn't all that fantastic either, but on the whole this movie is - at least in my opinion - the best parenttrapmovie ever made.
Erich Kastner, the author of the 1949 novel, introduces the film and narrates.
Wikipedia...
Plot summary
Two nine-year-old girls--rude Lisa Palfy (orig. Luise Palfy) from Vienna, and respectful shy Lottie Horn (orig. Lotte Korner) from Munich--meet on a summer camp in Bohrlaken on Lake Bohren (orig. 'Seebuhl am Buhlsee'). Lisa has curly hair; Lottie wears braids. Apart from that, they look alike.
They have never seen each other before, but soon find out that they are identical twins. It turns out that their parents divorced, each keeping one of the girls. The two girls decide it is unfair that neither of them has ever been told that she is a twin, or that her other parent is still living. They decide to trade places at the end of the summer so that Lottie will have a chance to get to know her father and Lisa will get to meet her mother. Lottie curls her hair, Lisa braids hers, and both go off to where they have never been before. The adventure begins.
While many adults are surprised at the changes in each of the girls after they return from camp ("Lottie" has suddenly forgotten how to cook, gets in a fight at school, and becomes a terrible student, while "Lisa" has begun to keep a close eye on the housekeeper's bookkeeping, will no longer eat her favorite food, and becomes a model student), no one suspects that the girls are not who they claim to be.
When Lottie (pretending to be Lisa) finds out that her father is planning to remarry, she becomes very ill and stops writing to her sister in Munich.
Meanwhile, Lottie's mother comes across a picture of the two girls that was taken while they were at summer camp. She quickly realizes what has happened and Lisa tells her the entire story. The discovery turns out to have come just in time. The girls' mother calls her ex-husband in Vienna to tell him what has happened and to find out why Lottie has stopped writing. When she hears that her daughter is ill, she and Lisa immediately travel to Vienna to be with her.
The four of them (father, mother, Lisa and Lottie) are still in Vienna for the girls' birthday. The girls tell their parents that they don't need any presents on this birthday or ever again as long as they don't have to be separated again. The parents talk it over, realize that they are still in love and decide to get remarried.
MargheritaDTorbiera, IMDb reviewer, wrote...
There have been many remakes of this movie, mainly in the US and in Germany, but this is the one and only real one!!! Following the book line by line, even the authors comments (given by the author Erich Kastner himself in the movie!) on what is happening, the story is highly enjoyable and more than touching!
Set in Austria/southern Germany in the beginning fifties, the story about the unhappy divorce of the famous musician and conductor Ludwig Palffy and the hardworking (at that time!!!) mother/journalist Louiselotte Korner is ever so realistic. Don't let yourself being prejudiced by it's old appearance; this movie is worth watching! Sentiments and misunderstandings, a laugh and a cry, everything comes up. Here, the switch is kept up for at least a couple of weeks, with all the difficult situations to master. In the later movies, like the latest Parent Trap, how funny and nice that one is, the exchange doesn't last more than a few days. But these original Lotte and Louise had a REALLY hard time, keeping it up so long!
To me, all the main characters are sympathetic, and that's a must in a movie like this. You really want them to get together again, and are so happy when they finally manage! With, as a symbol, Palffy's atelier moved to the condo next door, instead of somewhere else in the city.
The only real minus is the fact that the twins Louise and Lotte don't really look alike. It's quite easy to tell them apart, and therefore rather strange that nobody notices. Their acting isn't all that fantastic either, but on the whole this movie is - at least in my opinion - the best parenttrapmovie ever made.
- Addeddate
- 2012-02-21 14:52:07
- Color
- Black and White, foreign language/no subtitles
- Ia_orig__runtime
- 98 minutes 43 seconds
- Identifier
- theDoubleLottiedasDoppelteLottchen1950
- Run time
- 1:38:43
- Sound
- sound
comment
Reviews
Reviewer:
Rob van Wely
-
favoritefavoritefavorite -
December 28, 2022
Subject: the german spoken film can be found here:
Subject: the german spoken film can be found here:
Reviewer:
Markus Arminius 23 -
favoritefavoritefavorite -
January 16, 2017
Subject: Film language
Subject: Film language
the language of the film is Hungarian
Reviewer:
cestmoicestmoi
-
favoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
January 2, 2017
Subject: Someone should do something to change this movie !
Subject: Someone should do something to change this movie !
This little 1950 movie is quite nice. It is the 1st, and best rated on IMDB, of the numerous adaptations (15-20 worldwide during half a century !)- of the eponymous famed 1949 German children book... But it is rather ridiculous to have to listen to a German movie... dubbed in another little known East-European language... -indeed this one is the Hungarian version titled "A két Lotti" dubbed in Hungarian one may find for ex. on Youtube (ref. e5VfiRNW1LY) ... Especially ridiculous since we are here on a site targeting an English speaking audience, and especially when the narrator is the writer of the eponymous literary source, German author Erich Kästner himself ! Before even giving you an address for subtitles -it exists, various languages : Fr, En, Sp, Por, Ge--, I'd rather encourage you to find first on the web a copy with a more suitable audio (and if you speak Hungarian... you probably won't want them) ! This movie is available in German -at least today!- for streaming for ex. on Youtube (ref. uXTBAiEy5JA), Veoh (ref. v38253052E5GSNJaW), etc.
Reviewer:
rnrossi
-
-
April 1, 2012
Subject: English subtitles
Subject: English subtitles
English subtitles can be found here
http://www.opensubtitles.info/en/movie-subtitles-searcher.figuf/3259463
SORRY! There's another German Movie with the same name. I can't find subtitles for this 1950 movie. If anyone finds them, please post. Thanks.
http://www.opensubtitles.info/en/movie-subtitles-searcher.figuf/3259463
SORRY! There's another German Movie with the same name. I can't find subtitles for this 1950 movie. If anyone finds them, please post. Thanks.
Reviewer:
GideonBernstein
-
-
February 22, 2012
Subject: Sounds Familar to Me.
Subject: Sounds Familar to Me.
Sounds like a rip-off of "The Parent Trap", but this was produced first.
Reviewer:
douglip
-
favoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
February 22, 2012
Subject: Wonderful
Subject: Wonderful
Very sweet film. Picture is just slightly ahead of the soundtrack. Download the ogg video and view using a VLC player (play it all file). Advance the sound slightly in the interface tab and it lines up perfectly! :)
Reviewer:
Boekweit
-
favoritefavoritefavorite -
February 21, 2012
Subject: Not in German
Subject: Not in German
This is a perfect copy, unfortunately, however, this film is not in German. It is dubbed in what I think is Hungarian, but since I don't speak Hungarian I could be wrong about that. But I do speak German and this film definitely is not in it.
