"Das fliegende Klassenzimmer" or "Flying Classroom" is a West German black-and-white film from the years 1954 (the year when Germany won the Soccer World Cup for the first time),so this one already had its 60th anniversary a while ago. The title is still somewhat known today, but this is really more due to the novel by Erich Kästner, one of Germany's most successful authors ever, being so famous. As he was still very much alive and well back then, he was also the one who adapted his own novel for the screen here. The director of this 90-minute film was Kurt Hoffmann, a pretty successful filmmaker as well back then. But none of them could really manage to make it work unfortunately. I watched the recent adaptation starring Ulrich Noethen and I must say this old film is even more underwhelming than the new modern approach to Kästner's material. It is about two groups of children struggling with getting along. And in the face of all this, there is also a handful adults, teachers and parents with their own struggles. There are dramatic moments in here, like a boy getting injured severely, but it is still a family film and comedy during pretty much its entirety. But it is never funny unfortunately. The only parts I somewhat liked were the ones that gave us some nice holiday spirit and Christmas music. Other than these I found it an extremely forgettable film that dragged a whole lot on many occasions. 4 out of 10 is still pretty generous and I give this one a thumbs-down. Extremely underwhelming. watch something else instead.

So I was searching something on Youtubeland and it was recommended to me randomly, Hungarian dubbed version, my native language. I thought I lost this movie forever as I never found it ever, we had it on vhs but it was gone years ago. So never seen it in German, but Hungarian sync actors were really nice at the time. So now I relive my old feelings, the book is one of my all-time favourites and I saw this wintertime at my grandmother's flat twenty+ years ago. It is still fantastic and endured during the years. The atmosphere, the human(e) emotions, the message is clear, it is one of the best guides to children about social / moral values, it helped me for sure, I think it is Kästner's absolute top 1. Some way I'll get it to show it to my children one day. One of th best heartwarming and heartfelt stories I have ever known so far. Please watch it and bring more humanity to the world!

This is yet another film-version of an Erich Kaestner Classic. Kaestner is one of the most popular German children's book authors of the 20th century. Among many other works, he penned "Emil and the Detektives" and "The Parent Trap". The author always includes the theme of honor, friendship and loyalty in his stories.

The setting here is an "Internat", a boarding school with strict rules and deep tradition. The upper class men are known to play pranks on the new students, and none of the teachers dare to interfere in student affairs. A side plot tells of an incident decades ago, involving a teacher who ended up living as a hermit, disillusioned with the world.

The way teachers deeply cared about their students, and the respect given to them in return reminds of the "good old days", when the profession had fewer material rewards, yet was much more fulfilling.

Look for a cameo appearance by the author in the closing scene, as he autographs his book for a young fan, played by Peter Kraus, who later emerged as a Teen Idol Rock & Roll Singer, becoming the German "Elvis". This is a very enjoyable movie. Those who are familiar with the times and the author will be very pleased.