HE020 Emil und die Detektive

Hate Expectations

We're watching the detectives. Technically, we were reading Erich Kästner's Emil and the Detectives (Emil und die Detektive, 1929) and watching some of the five films they shot based on the extremely popular German book. Despite being on the case on and off for months, we at Hate Expectations somehow let a few facts slip past our absurdly large magnifying glasses, which may have caused a bit of confusion during the recording of this episode. Here are a few clues that may help you eager gumshoes set the record straight:

• Erich Kästner never married, but he did have a son with his partner Luiselotte Enderle: Thomas Kästner.
• The Berlin Wall was erected in 1961, before the 1964 adaptation.
• The first talkie, The Jazz Singer, was released in 1927.
• Broadway Melody was the first talkie to win best picture (outstanding picture) at the Academy Awards in 1930, one year after Wings was the first movie to win the award at all.
• Lottie and Lisa (Das Doppelte Lottchen) by Erich Kästner was the basis for the Disney movie, The Parent Trap (1961).
• The U-bahn station featured in the 1964 film is the Görlitzer Bahnhof.
• Rolf Wenkhaus, the actor who played Emil in the 1931 film, died when his plane was shot down off the coast of Ireland in 1942.
• The 1935 adaptation used the same script and shot list as the 1931 version.
• Grundeis was also known as Müller and Kiessling in the book.
• The man reading the newspaper on the streetcar/the reporter in the book is named Herr Kästner.