Culver City,
California
x
Malchow and Gjedser Reff 1961
Maker: Hoffman Family
Date Made: 1961
Country: German Democratic Republic
Materials: 8mm; silent; color
Duration: 12:33
Collection/Series: Hoffman Home Movie Collection
Accession Number: 2009.032.017
Home movie filmed in Rostock and Malchow, East Germany. Panning shot across landscape with trees and church tower visible. Flower garden. Docked ship; woman in kerchief walks on wharf alongside it. The name Undine is painted on front of the ship. [Presumably this is the port city of Rostock, where the Undine was docked.] High-angle view of crowd crossing gangplank with sign that reads “See Fahrgastschiff ‘Undine’ fährt täglich…Gjedser Feuerschiff” (The seagoing passenger ship ‘Undine’ sails daily…[to the] Gjedser lightship). Quick view of ship named Lotse. Lighthouse tower on land; pedestrians walk atop a stone seawall. Steamship passes in open sea; passengers wave from deck. View of the Danish lightship or light vessel Gedser Rev (Feuerschiff Gjedser or Gjedser Reff in German). Mother and daughter on deck; they wave to camera. A small sailboat passes. Crowd on deck as ship nears shore includes sailor in striped jersey. Passing docked vessel with four uniformed sailors on deck. Passengers disembark from the Undine; mother and son are visible among the crowd. [change of scene at 6:06; presumably to the vicinity of Malchow] Mother knits, seated outdoors. Son, in shorts and striped socks, forms ant hill structure of sand or dirt on embankment; small shovel nearby. Close-up of numerous ants or termites crawling. Close-up of daughter knitting with yellow yarn, seated in stationary convertible car with top open. Mother sits in folding chair next to car with knitting basket beside her. Camera operator approaches until she puts her hand over the lens. Full-length shot of father in sport coat and tie walking on dirt road through forest. Mother, son, and daughter at open window of brick house. Wide panning shot across larger brick building and house. Daughter shakes out and folds bed linens at open window with yellow flowers in foreground. View of lake with large toy sailboat. Son, in swimming trunks, pulls it along with string. Daughter and son lie on picnic blanket in grass; mother sits in folding chair. Father sits reading in folding chair while mother sips from coffee cup. Son changes out of swimming clothes into short lederhosen; father smokes. Son displays sailboat and smaller toy boat for camera; a group of walkers passes through meadow in the background. Handwritten title card: “Ende!” (The End!).