In America during the mid-1950s there was a backlash against conservatism and conformity which was fueled by the rise of rock ‘n’ roll and a pervasive mood of rebelliousness and frustration among teenagers. Much of this was reflected in the pop culture of the era, especially movies such as The Wild One (1953), Rebel Without a Cause (1956), and Blackboard Jungle (1956). Yet, this social change was not exclusive to America and was happening simultaneously all around the world. Juvenile delinquency, gang warfare, wild, alcohol-fueled parties and sexually promiscuous behavior were typical of the kinds of anti-social behavior on display in films as diverse as Die Halbstarken (English title: Teenage Wolfpack, 1956) from West Germany, Kurutta Kajitsu (English title: Crazed Fruit, 1956) from Japan, and Violent Playground (1958) from Great Britain. One of the lesser-known entries in this category is Raggare! (1959) aka Blackjackets, which stirred up considerable controversy in its native Sweden but didn’t attract much attention outside Scandinavia (It never received a theatrical release in the U.S.). There are also hardly any black leather jackets on display and most of the characters don’t share any physical similarities with the cast of Grease.
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The Darling of Berlin

Eva Renzi makes her screen debut as an international model in Playgirl (1966), directed by Will Tremper.
A new kind of female protagonist emerged in the sixties who was free-spirited, independent, hedonistic and willing to exploit her beauty and charm for social advancement without being categorized as a typical prostitute. Audrey Hepburn certainly set the standard as the unconventional Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) but other famous examples include Julie Christie’s self-absorbed model in Darling (1965) and Genevieve Waite’s wide-eyed waif in Joanna (1968). Lesser known but a distinctly German variation on this prototype is 1966’s Playgirl (also known as That Woman in the U.S.) featuring Eva Renzi in her feature film debut. Continue reading
Voyage of Doom
A former actor from Austria turned film director, Georg Tressler is not a name familiar to most American movie fans but for German filmgoers of the fifties he created a sensation with this 1956 feature film debut, Die Halbstarken (released in the U.S. as Teenage Wolfpack). As topical, incendiary and controversial in its day as The Wild One (1953), Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Blackboard Jungle (1955), Die Halbstarken was a hard-hitting portrait of juvenile delinquency in post-war Germany and featured Horst Buchholz as a manipulative gang leader in a performance possibly inspired by James Dean. It was a huge hit and led Tressler to follow it up with two more youth-oriented films – Noch Minderjahrig (Under 18, 1957) and Endstation Liebe (Two Worlds, 1958). His fourth feature, Das Totenschiff (Ship of the Dead, 1959), was a complete departure from his trilogy in terms of content and was mostly ignored by critics and the public. But timing is everything and today Das Totenschiff looks like a lost classic from the pre-Berlin Wall era. And it may very well be Tressler’s finest achievement. Continue reading
