Search - El Nino y El Muro on DVD

Great movie

FDF | colorado, usa | 04/01/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One of the best movies of the berlin wall! sweet and fun!

a keeper!"

El Nino y El Muro(1964)

Jorge A. Zarco | Fresno, CA USA | 10/06/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"El Nino y El Muro(1965, The Boy and the Wall)is a solid film. It's a product of its time. The Berlin Wall was torn down in the late 1980's. It's a German/Spanish co-production with Mexican director Ismael Rodriguez at the helm. Nino Del Arco plays Dieter, a boy growing up in 1960's West Berlin. His dad buys him a toy ball that he covets from a local store. While playing with a construction worker, the ball is accidentally kicked over the Berlin Wall into East Germany! Dieter puts himself in danger by making friends with Martha, an East German girl, and by trying to recover his toy ball. This was a time when people could get shot for illegally crossing the Berlin Wall! There's a sub plot where the sensual, nubile daughter of the store owner is having a meaningless, lust-filled relationship with a male friend. An East German guard(played by Carlos Pinar) is in love with the teenage girl, but he can't reach her from the other side of the Berlin Wall.

The whole film is presented in Spanish even though parts of it were filmed in Germany. I guess the filmmakers were making it palatable for a broad audience. I liked Adolfo Waitzman's music score; it sounded very Elmer Bernstein-ish. 1960's B-movie starlet Linda Christian made a special guest appearance in the movie. Carlos Pinar was also in the fluffy, campy comedy Vestidas y Alborotadas(1968, known as Dos Gemelas Estupendas in Spain). The friendship between Dieter and Martha was very cute and it reminds me that I was a child once. A clip from this movie can be seen in a 12 minute Ismael Rodriguez featurette that is an extra feature on some Pedro Infante DVD's. This film is a good drama and it's more inspiring than depressing."