Prior to watching German film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 87 minute long 1970 film, Pioneers In Ingolstadt, I'd only been subjected to one of his films, the execrable Whity. OK, at least Whity had some outrageous unintended perverse sexual humor going for it. Pioneers In Ingolstadt lacks even that. In fact, it's really not so much a film as a series of extended blackout sketches. Given the period it was made, and given that many of the scenes take place in a Munich public park, at a bench, at night, in ridiculously poorly lit (or overlit) scenes, that cinematographer Dietrich Lohmann should have been shot for committing to celluloid, my mind immediately flashed back to the ABC television sitcom that ran from 1969 to 1974: Love, American Style. I specifically recall similarly set up scenes between recurring characters played by Arte Johnson and Ruth Buzzi. Now, that show was no great thing, but, at least, there were occasional sketches that were well acted and, well, funny! Not a one of the sketches in Pioneers In Ingolstadt can claim either mantle.
In fact, in researching the film, I found out that it was originally made for German television, was shot in under two weeks, and was one of eleven films that Fassbinder made in a twelve month period at the start of his filmic career. All of this shows, and in spades. Despite being adapted from a 1928 play of the same name, by Marieluise Fleisser, there really is nothing the film offers. The acting is wooden, stiff, and utterly without emotion. The writing is scattered, anomic, and without any point. The characterizations are nonexistent. And, not a single scene or characterization yields anything that shows up in a later scene as a payoff. In short, this is one of the worst films ever made. It is pretentious, dull, poorly conceived, and executed with even more of a creative dearth.
In fact, in researching the film, I found out that it was originally made for German television, was shot in under two weeks, and was one of eleven films that Fassbinder made in a twelve month period at the start of his filmic career. All of this shows, and in spades. Despite being adapted from a 1928 play of the same name, by Marieluise Fleisser, there really is nothing the film offers. The acting is wooden, stiff, and utterly without emotion. The writing is scattered, anomic, and without any point. The characterizations are nonexistent. And, not a single scene or characterization yields anything that shows up in a later scene as a payoff. In short, this is one of the worst films ever made. It is pretentious, dull, poorly conceived, and executed with even more of a creative dearth.