Trivia / Die Feuerzangenbowle

• Adaptation Overdosed: Three films and since 2004, a musical.
• Audience Participation: Some German universities show the movie as a kind of event. Which involves a stiff drink (guess which scene), using flashlights, alarm clocks and Roman candles.
• Dawson Casting:
  • When Heinz Rühmann made the first film, he was 31 and boyish-looking enough to pass for a young man. When he made the second film, he was 41 and thus too old to even pretend to be a Gymnasium student (who should be 18 or 19 years old).
  • To make Rühmann at least somewhat believable, most of his classmates were played by actors who were younger than him but still too old to be in school: Hans Richter was 24, Rudi Schippel 21, Maria Litto 24, Karin Himboldt 23 (playing 17-year-old Eva), and the most egregious case would be Clemens Hasse who was 35.
  • Averted with Georg-Michael Wagner, who was 19.
• Reality Subtext: Many scenes were made again and again, until they were perfect. (Another reason this movie is considered so good.) The reason? The film was made during World War II. The actors who played the other students would've had to join the Wehrmacht, which could have meant a good chance to die. That's why the makers tried to extend the production as long as possible. Some actors were still conscripted and died on the fronts.
• Troubled Production: The film was made in 1943/1944, right during World War II. In fact, the crew tried to spend as much time as possible making the movie, as the alternative (being conscripted and sent to the fronts) would have been unpleasant.

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