"As far as your feet will take you": In the footsteps of a famous director
Created: 08/25/2022, 10:51 am
By: Andreas Schwarzbauer
She can tell a lot about him: Elisabeth Lang researched director Fritz Umgelter, who lived in Gröbenzell and would have celebrated his 100th birthday this year, for an exhibition in the Jexhof farm museum.
© Weber
Director Fritz Umgelter would have celebrated his 100th birthday this year.
Umgelter, who lived in Gröbenzell, directed more than 100 films and series and significantly influenced the development of German TV.
Gröbenzell - Among his works are crime scenes, six episodes of the dream ship, game shows and children's series such as "Die Rote Zora" or the Augsburger Puppenkiste.
"It was particularly important to him to dare to tackle serious issues," says Elisabeth Lang.
The Fürstenfeldbruck native researched the director for the exhibition in the Jexhof farm museum.
“He thought his way into literary subjects.
That really impressed me,” says Lang.
Umgelter shot plays about the Second World War at a time when homeland films were particularly popular.
In addition, literary adaptations were an affair of the heart for him.
He adapted books by Kleist, Dürrenmatt and Schiller for television.
After the Notabitur to the Air Force
Both can be explained by Umgelter's past.
The director was born on August 18, 1922 in Stuttgart.
After graduating from high school, he volunteered for the Air Force.
He wanted to avoid forced recruitment by the SS.
He fought in World War II and later used this time in many of his films, Lang knows from conversations with Umgelter's wife Ingrid.
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The native Swabian then studied literature and – although he was not religious – theology in Tübingen, Strasbourg and Munich.
"He wanted to deal with the questions of guilt, responsibility and reconciliation after the horrific war experiences," says Lang.
Moved to Gröbenzell with his wife
After graduating, Umgelter first worked as a stage designer, director and actor at the Stadttheater in Augsburg before moving to the Hessischer Rundfunk.
In 1956 he became self-employed as a freelance stage and television director.
He met his wife Ingrid and moved to Gröbenzell with her.
In the years that followed, his career picked up speed.
Umgelter was a workaholic.
"He was always working on at least two projects at the same time," reports Lang.
This resulted in a long list of works that he shot primarily for television.
One of the greatest successes: the television series "As far as your feet can carry you" from 1959. © WDR
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Although he also directed some films, he did not like this work.
He was constantly being talked into it by production.
In one film, for example, a children's choir had to sing at the end to underline the good ending, reports Lang.
"But Umgelter always had his own ideas about how things should be implemented," says the Fürstenfeldbruck resident.
He was able to implement this more freely on television.
Death threats in the mailbox
Two of his greatest successes with high ratings were the two miniseries "So far your feet carry" (1959) and "On the green beach of the Spree" (1960), which dealt with the Second World War.
In the latter, Umgelter also portrayed the mass extermination of the Jews in the East. Lang reports that he was heavily attacked for this.
Ingrid Umgelter told her about the notes in the mailbox with the inscription “They forgot to gas you”.
He also shot the fourth part in the district.
The Olchinger See became the Spree and the tanks crossed on the Ascherbachstraße.
Entire street as a backdrop at the Ascherbach
Gröbenzell Albert Donhauser can still remember it well.
"I was twelve or 13 years old at the time and it was a sensation that a film was shot here." He followed the shooting with curiosity.
A whole street was built along the Ascherbach as a backdrop.
"From the front it looked like several single-family houses, from the back you could see that only the roof battens had been nailed together," Donhauser remembers.
The tanks were dummies mounted on cars by the film crew.
Stove pipes would have served as cannons.
"We thought everyone would notice that right away, but it just looked natural in the film," says Donhauser.
In 1967 Umgelter received the TV Film Award for Best Director for “Fried Potatoes Included” and the Adolf Grimme Prize in 1971 for “Like a Tear in the Ocean”.
The lavishly staged three-part series "The Winter That Was a Summer" from 1976 attracted international attention.
His last work was six episodes for "Das Traumschiff" in the early 1980s.
On May 9, 1981, he died of his second heart attack.
You can find more current news from the district of Fürstenfeldbruck at Merkur.de/Fürstenfeldbruck.
