What happens to a fire department when its town never has any fires? That was the idea behind TruTV’s comedy Tacoma FD. But it wasn’t the first time someone thought of this. It’s also the concept behind Set a Fire, the Fire Brigade Is Coming (Zünd an, es kommt die Feuerwehr), the 1979 East German …
Tag: Katrin Martin
The Man Who Replaced Grandma
The Man Who Replaced Grandma (Der Mann, der nach der Oma kam) belongs to the comedy of errors genre—specifically the sub-genre that finds comedy in the mistaken belief that someone is being unfaithful.1 Some classic Hollywood films have mined this vein for comedy, most notably Preston Sturges in his hilarious 1948 film, Unfaithfully Yours, as …
The Devil’s Three Golden Hairs
Märchenfilme, or fairytale films, were an important staple of the DEFA library. They were usually less susceptible to political interpretation, which made them palatable to Western audiences as well as the people of East Germany, which, in turn, meant money from the West. The Märchenfilme allowed the GDR to take advantage of the free market …
East German Cinema Blog 