Review of Natürlich die Autofahrer

"Natürlich die Autofahrer" is a West German black-and-white comedy film from 1959, so this one will soon have its 60th anniversary. It was directed by Etich Engels and written by Gustav Kampendonk. I see in their history that both were fairly prolific, but I must admit I have never heard their names before. What i have heard of, however, is the name Heinz Erhardt. He is one of Germany's most known comedians ever (and comedy actors) and still popular here long after his death. After having watched some of his films, I must say he plays similar characters usually, but that's not a problem at all as despite not having the greatest range on the planet, he always succeeds with his charisma. And this is also true for this film we have here. Unfortunately, the story is fairly uninteresting, and not even Erhardt can elevate the mediocre script.

When this film came out, Erhardt made a couple movies that focus on ways of movement, such as bike riding, walking or, in this very case, car driving. Some of these were in color, but this one here is not, it is still in black-and-white which was actually not really too common anymore for 1959. As a whole, I cannot say this was a really good or memorable watch and also in terms of comedy, this movie has not aged particularly well. That's why I give it a thumbs-down. Watch something else instead. It is another example of how the late 1950s/early 1960s were really not that good in terms of (West) German films.