Die Halbstarken (1956)

Most of the German films of the 1950s were musical comedies, sentimental dramas or Heimatfilms. An exception was the teen drama Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956) which brought dark alleys, petticoats, leather jackets, American cars, teenage sex and crime to the screen. Germany's first look on juvenile delinquency gave also a rare realistic view of life in a German city during the Wirschaftswunder era, the years of the economic miracle. The film became a cult hit all over Europe and two new stars were born, Horst Buchholz as the charismatic gang leader and Karin Baal as his 15-year old femme fatale.


German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden/Westf., no. 2329. Photo: Interwest / Union / Haenchen. Publicity still for Die Halbstarken (1956).


Austrian postcard by Lichtbild-Vertrieb Paula Weizmann, Wien, no. F 7. Photo: Interwest / Union-Film / Haenchen. Publicity still for Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956).

Hard, raw and realistic

Young author Will Tremper did not like the sentimental films that were made in Germany and Austria during the 1950s. While German film makers produced cheesy Heimatfilms and family comedies, Hollywood presented energetic teen dramas as The Wild One (Laslo Benedek, 1953) with Marlon Brando, The Blackboard Jungle (Richard Brooks, 1955) and Rebel Without a Cause (Nicholas Ray, 1955), featuring James Dean.

In that vein, Tremper and director Georg Tressler decided to make a film that would become a classic of German post-war cinema.

With the exception of lead actor Horst Buchholz, they chose non-professionals to play the young gang members. Remarkable is also that the jukebox doesn't play the then new and hot rock & roll, but jazz music. Composer Martin Böttcher made the Soundtrack with Mister Martins Band.

The result was a sensation. According to Hal Erickson at AllMovie, the young actors are "exuding a raw energy that many 'pros' could not emulate.

For Volker Scheunert at IMDb, Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956) is his favourite German film of the 1950s: "This one is hard, raw and realistic, omitting any false sentimentality or romanticism."


Horst Buchholz. German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden Westf., no. 2171. Photo: Interwest / Union-Film / Haenchen. Publicity still for Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956).


Karin Baal. German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden/Westf. Photo: Interwest / Union / Haenchen. Publicity still for Die Halbstarken (1956).


Christian Doermer. German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden-Westf., no. 140.

Dreaming of a Buick Cabriolet

Die Halbstarken - what can be translated as The Hooligans - was shot on location in West Berlin in 1955 and 1956.

Horst Buchholz plays 19-year old Freddy Borchert, who has been thrown out of his home by his overly strict father (Paul Wagner) and the charismatic but tough teenager has to survive on the streets of West-Berlin.

In an indoor swimming pool he meets his younger brother Jan (Christian Doermer). Freddy pretends to have a good job but he has risen to the head of a youth gang and leads a life of crime.

Jan knows that his parents need the huge sum of 3,000 Deutschmarks to pay their debts, and asks his brother if he could help them. Freddy says yes for his mother’s sake. He is preparing his 'biggest coup' ever: a mail car robbery that would not only allow him to help his parents but to fulfil his dream - buying a Buick Cabriolet.

But the robbery goes wrong. In order to reassert himself as the leader of the pack and to prove to his girlfriend Sissy (Karin Baal) that he is a man, Freddy breaks into the a villa of a wealthy man. Surprised by the owner, the situation escalates.


Horst Buchholz. German postcard by Franz-Josef Rüdel, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 1858. Photo: Interwest / Union-Film / Haenchen. Publicity still for Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956).


Horst Buchholz. German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden Westf., no. 2204. Photo: Interwest / Union-Film. Publicity still for Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956).

A soda-sucking Lolita

At his blog Pause Rewind Obsess, Tim Lucas writes: "in his fourth credited screen appearance, Buchholz actually pulls off something comparable to what John Travolta achieved in Saturday Night Fever. He is positively magnetic in his dramatic scenes, which lets us believe the power he exudes over his mates, but he explodes onscreen - as they say - when he jitterbugs with his girlfriend (future krimi queen Karin Baal) at a local bar."

Karin Baal was chosen out 300 girls, who had joined a talent search for the part. Tim Lucas: "Playing a 15 year old girl, she looks and acts sophisticated beyond her years, but was in fact only 15 (sic, she was 16) in real life; never was she more photogenic or captivating than she is here. A soda-sucking Lolita who matures on our watch into a manipulative, trigger-pulling femme fatale, Baal's Sissy Bohl is an unforgettable character."

For the German release some of the voices of the young and inexperienced performers had been dubbed. Brigitte Grothum for instance dubbed for Karin Baal and Lutz Moik for Kalle Gaffkus.

In 1957 Die Halbstarken could be seen in a dubbed version, titled Teenage Wolfpack - in Britain and the US as well. The tagline was "Think of a law, they've broken it. Think of a crime, they've committed it." The American distributor billed Horst Buchholz as 'Henry Bookholt', and Karin Baal as 'Karen' Baal to help disguise the foreign origin of the film.

Director Georg Tressler was awarded the Filmband in Silber (Silver Filmband) as best new director in 1957. After Die Halbstarken, he made many films and TV productions until the 1990s. Will Tremper continued as a screenwriter and director of nonconformist films. He passed away in 1998.

While Horst Buchholz became an international Star and died in 2003, Karin Baal and Christian Doermer have made their own careers in German Film and Television.


Karin Baal and Horst Buchholz. German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden/Westf., no. 2202. Photo: Interwest / Union / Haenchen. Publicity still for Die Halbstarken (1956).


Horst Buchholz. German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. 140. Photo: Union Film / Kiehl. Publicity still for Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpck (1956).


Karin Baal. German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden/Westf., no. 2096. Photo: Interwest / Union. Publicity still for Die Halbstarken (1956).


Hansjoachim Ketzlin. German postcard by Labaphot. Photo: Interwest / Union / Haenchen. Publicity still for Die Halbstarken (Georg Tressler, 1956). Ketzlin played Willi. During the 1970s, he returned to the cinema as an actor in soft sex films. He also produced three films, including the mediocre thriller Das Amulett des Todes/Cold Blood (Ralf Gregan, Günter Vaessen, 1975) starring Rutger Hauer before his Hollywood breakthrough.

Sources: Volker Scheunert (IMDb), Tim Lucas (Pause Rewind Obsess), Wikipedia (German), Filmportal.de, and IMDb.

Christian Doermer

German actor Christian Doermer (1935) has appeared in 83 films and television shows since 1954. His breakthrough was as Horst Buchholz’ brother in the successful teen drama Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (1956).


German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. 298. Photo: H.D. / Bavaria / Schorcht.

Germany's First Look On Juvenile Delinquency

Christian-Michael Doermer was born in Rostock, Germany in 1935. He was the son of Dr. Hartmut Doermer and the actress Ruth von Zerboni.

He studied sociology and economics in Frankfurt and Marburg. His mother led the acting school Zerboni in Munich and through her interference he made his acting debut in Geliebtes Fräulein Doktor/Beloved Miss Doctor (Hans H. König, 1954) with Edith Mill.

In 1956 he made his stage debut at the Deutschen Schauspielhaus in Hamburg. His first bigger film role was in the crime film Viele kamen vorbei/Many Passed By (Peter Pewas, 1956).

Then he had his breakthrough in the classic Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956) as the ambivalent younger brother of Horst Buchholz.

Volker Scheunert at IMDb: “There was hardly a realistic view of (West-)German society during the years of the ‘Economic Miracle’. Young author Will Tremper did not like that sentimental stuff. Obviously influenced by Hollywood teen dramas he and director Georg Tressler in 1956 realized Germany's first look on juvenile delinquency, a film that is now regarded a classic of German post-war cinema. This one is hard, raw and realistic, omitting any false sentimentality or romanticism.”

In 1957, Doermer appeared in the German war film Der Stern von Afrika/The Star of Africa (Alfred Weidenmann, 1957) portraying the combat career of Luftwaffe World War II fighter pilot Hans-Joachim Marseille (Joachim Hansen). Marseille was killed in a plane crash after over 150 kills in North Africa. The film was very successful at the German box office, although the critics predominantly gave it a fair rating.

He appeared in another teen drama Die Frühreifen/The precocious (Josef von Báky, 1957) with Heidi Brühl and Christian Wolff, but mostly played supporting parts in such comedies as Ohne Mutter geht es nicht/Without Mother It Does Not Work (Erik Ode, 1958) with Ewald Balser and Adelheid Seeck.


German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden-Westf., no. 140.


German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden-Westf., no. 388. Photo: A. Grimm / CCC / Bavaria. Publicity still for Ohne Mutter geht es nicht/Without Mother It Does Not Work (Erik Ode, 1958).

A Declaration By 26 Young German Filmmakers

Christian Doermer reunited with Will Tremper for the thriller Flucht nach Berlin/Escape to Berlin (Will Tremper, 1961). He played a disappointed young SED official who settles in West Berlin with his girlfriend (Susanne Korda). For this role he won a Filmband im Gold award as Best Young Actor.

On TV he could be seen in the very popular crime series Das Halstuch/The scarf (Hans Quest, 1962) based on a Francis Durbridge novel and starring Heinz Drache.

Doermer then played the lead role in Das Brot der frühen Jahre/The Bread of Those Early Years (Herbert Vesely, 1962), based on the novel by Heinrich Böll. It was entered into the 1962 Cannes Film Festival.

That year, he also appeared in L'amour à vingt ans/Love at Twenty (1962) a French-produced omnibus project of Pierre Roustang, consisting of five segments directed by five directors from five different countries. He appeared in the charming, but somewhat sentimental German episode directed by Marcel Ophüls about an unwed mother (Barbara Frey) who contrives to trap the father of her baby.

As the only actor, he signed the Oberhausen Manifesto, a declaration by a group of 26 young German filmmakers at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen in 1962. The manifesto was a call to arms to establish a ‘new German feature film’ and among the signatories were the directors Alexander Kluge and Edgar Reitz.

The signatories to the manifesto became known as the Oberhausen Group and are seen as important forerunners of the New German Cinema that began later in the decade. The Oberhausen Group were awarded the Deutscher Filmpreis in 1982.

In 1963 Doermer founded his own film company Cine Dokument Film. In the following decades, he realized several films for which he was the writer, producer, director and actor.


German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 2178. Photo: Bavaria / Vogelmann.


German postcard by WS-Druck, Wanne-Eickel, no. 349. Photo: A. Grimm / CCC / Bavaria / Filmpress. Publicity still for Ohne Mutter geht es nicht/Without Mother It Does Not Work (Erik Ode, 1958).

G-man Jerry Cotton

Christian Doermer starred in the drama Schonzeit für Füchse/No Shooting Time for Foxes (Peter Schamoni, 1966), which won the Special Jury Prize at the 16th Berlin International Film Festival.

That year, he could also be seen in a supporting part in the thriller Die Rechnung – eiskalt serviert/Tip Not Included (Helmut Ashley, 1966). It was the third film in the Jerry Cotton series with George Nader as the G-man.

Doermer also made some films in Great Britain. In the action-thriller The Syndicate (1968), he is among a group of prospectors who plan to mine a Kenyan savannah for its rich, and as yet untapped uranium. The group slowly deteriorates under threat of double cross and jealousy.

He had a big part in the drama Joanna (Michael Sarne, 1968). He played an aspiring painter/art teacher, who has a fling with the title figure, Joanna (Geneviève Waïte), a provincial girl studying art in London. The film was listed to compete in Cannes, but the festival was cancelled due to the events of May 1968.

Doermer also appeared as a German soldier in Sir Richard Attenborough’s film musical Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), telling the story of WWI through its popular songs.

In the early 1970s, Doermer stopped with acting and focused himself on his production company. As a writer, producer and director, he made several TV documentaries about India, Africa and Asia.

After his complex feature film about General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, Lettow-Vorbeck: Der deutsch-ostafrikanische Imperativ/Lettow-Vorbeck: The German-East Africa Imperative (Christian Doermer, 1984) became a flop, Doermer turned to acting again.

He mostly worked for television, such as in Väter und Söhne - Eine deutsche Tragödie/Fathers and Sons (Bernhard Sinkel, 1986) with Julie Christie.

In 1989 he founded with Hans Clarin, Günther Maria Halmer, and the actresses Mona Freiberg and Cornelia Froboess, the production company Ensemble am Chiemsee that works primarily for private television and local media.

Later acting work included parts in the TV films Wambo (Jo Baier, 2000), about the murder of Bavarian actor Walter Sedlmayer, and Stauffenberg (Jo Baier, 2004) about the unsuccessful Valkyrie Operation against Adolf Hitler in 1944 by General Stauffenberg (Sebastian Koch).

Most recently, he was seen in Gierig/Greedy (Ralf Huettner, 2011), an episode of the TV series Kommissarin Lucas.

Since 1961, Christian Doermer is married to Lore Schmidt-Polex and they have three children.


American trailer for Die Halbstarken/Teenage Wolfpack (Georg Tressler, 1956). Source: Sleaze-O-Rama (YouTube).


Trailer for Schonzeit für Füchse/No Shooting Time for Foxes (Peter Schamoni, 1966). Source: alleskino (YouTube).

Sources: Volker Scheunert (IMDb), Stephanie d’Heil (Steffi-Line.de), Cinedokumentfilm.de (German), Filmportal.de (German), Wikipedia (German and English) and IMDb.