Professor Columbus

Name: Professor Columbus
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1969-12-31
Duration: 1 h 33 min
Rating: 7.2
Cast: Rudolf Platte, Ankie van Amstel, Jeroen Krabbé

1968
1h 33m

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

YOUR RATING

Comedy

Reinhold Colbus is a conscientious but boring librarian who works in the German state library. He comes into an inheritance and suddenly finds himself the owner of an old whaling ship in Ams... Read allReinhold Colbus is a conscientious but boring librarian who works in the German state library. He comes into an inheritance and suddenly finds himself the owner of an old whaling ship in Amsterdam harbour, the Walburga VII. When he arrives in Amsterdam to inspect his property the... Read allReinhold Colbus is a conscientious but boring librarian who works in the German state library. He comes into an inheritance and suddenly finds himself the owner of an old whaling ship in Amsterdam harbour, the Walburga VII. When he arrives in Amsterdam to inspect his property the ship turns out be occupied by hippie squatters. Colbus starts to do up the ship, helped b... Read all

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IMDb RATING

7.2/10

YOUR RATING

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Featured review

6/10

Weird psychedelic German sixties comedy

"Professor Columbus" is an old librarian, played by German movie veteran Rudolf Platte, who just wants to go to the sea once in his lifetime. So he buys a big ship and takes a boat trip across the North Sea to London, accompanied by a bunch of stoned hippies and chased by the police.

When you read this short description, you might guess that this German movie was filmed back in 1968. There is no real plot at all, but it's rather a collection of slapstick and improvised scenes. The main focus of this early film by German seventies cult director Rainer Erler ("Das blaue Palais", "Fleisch") was to show what's possible beyond the limits of a conservative society - a typical topic of the late sixties like film experiments, mind expansion via drugs, sex, inner journeys, happenings, etc.

In that relation, this movie might be an interesting example to watch (especially a really weird hippie drug orgy on the boat), but otherwise you will get bored soon after a few minutes. Watch out for Dutch actor Jeroen Krabbé ("The Fourth Man", "The Living Daylights", "The Fugitive") in one of his early roles, and for Dutch actress Ankie van Amstel as a bare-breasted, carnaby-street-like dressed girl digging coal into the boat's steam engines. Unbelievable!!