Franz Antel

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Franz Antel June 28 1913 August 11 2007 was a veteran Austrian filmmaker Born in Vienna Antel worked mainly as a film producer in the interwar years After World War II he began writing and directing films on a large scale In the late 1940s 1950s and 1960s these were mainly comedies romantic slapstick andor musical and Kuk films all of which for Austrian and German TV stations alike have been a staple of weekend afternoon programming ever since In between there is quite a sober film about the Oberst Colonel Redl affair that shook the AustroHungarian Monarchy on the eve of World War I From the late 1960s encouraged by the new opportunities in the film industry brought about by the sexual revolution Antel gradually switched his main interest to soft porn and ribaldry It was in particular his series of Wirtin hostess films directed under the pseudonym François Legrand with which he tried to win international recognition Titles included The Sweet Sins of Sexy Susan 1967 Sexy Susan Sins Again 1969 Wild Willing amp Sexy 1969 and Dont Tell Daddy aka Naughty Nymphs in the USA 1972 Among the actors Antel worked with were Hans Moser Paul Hörbiger Oskar Werner Curd Jürgens Tony Curtis Herbert Fux Heinrich Schweiger Arthur Kennedy Carroll Baker Edwige Fenech George Hilton Marisa Berenson Britt Ekland Andréa Ferréol 1981 was a turning point in Antels career when he adapted for the big screen a stage play by Ulrich Becher and Peter Preses Set from the days of the Anschluss of 1938 until after the end of the war Der Bockerer is about a Viennese butcher named Karl Bockerer Karl Merkatz whose common sense rather than intellect tells him to oppose the Nazis and who dares to show resistance just because he is never fully aware of the possible fateful consequences of his actions While Bockerer and his wife survive the war unscathed their son joins the SA but after some internal intrigue is sent to the front and killed Der Bockerer IV The films strong antifascist message the moving dialogue and performances by the crème de la crème of Austrian actors and actresses Ida Krottendorf Alfred Böhm Heinz Marecek Hans Holt Dolores Schmidinger and many more made Der Bockerer an unusually successful film and gave new impetus to Antels career He made three sequels which follow the lives of the Bockerers well into the 1960s each depicting a crucial historical event in Austria or one of its neighbouring countries     Der Bockerer II 1996 is about the tenyear occupation 19451955 of Austria by the allied powers     Der Bockerer III Die Brücke von Andau 2000 is set at the time of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and finally     Der Bockerer IV Der Prager Frühling 2003 deals with Dubčeks Prague Spring of 1968 Antel would recount an anecdote about himself describing how in order to live up to his reputation as a womanizer he used to carry a pair of high heels in his luggage which he then would occasionally place in the corridor in front of his hotel room especially when he was travelling alone Description above from the Wikipedia article Franz Antel licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia