I just watched the 2015 Swiss version of "Heidi." Not cutesy, certainly not Disney...and Heidi and Peter are barefoot! A major point in the book, in which Heidi "began pulling off her shoes and stockings." Here's the trailer: Heidi The great Bruno Ganz plays Grandfather.
Hi, thank you for mentioning this wonderful movie! After all these disneyised "softwashed" filmings of the Heidi novels this is the first one with ambitions to be authentic and close to the original stuff. Of course Bruno Ganz, a real great Swiss actor who unfortunately died last year by cancer, is a wonderful Alpöhi. But the two kids, Heidi and Peter, are real gems also. They didn't play act before and were chosen from a casting of 500 local kids from the Swiss canton Grissons. The outdoor scenes were filmed on site in the Swiss Alps. The scenes playing in Franfurt were taken in Quedlinburg, Halberstadt and Altenburg, as the Frankfurt old town was destroyed in WWII. There is a little featurette online including some statements and footages from the taking, unfortunately only in German: The funny coincidence is I just came back recently from a hut in the alps just similar the one in the movie ;-)
I didn't know Ganz had died. An enormous talent. Maybe the only actor who could (almost) make Hitler sympathetic. Yes, finally a more faithful movie version of "Heidi." I liked how Clara was barefooted when she first walked. The two kids who played Heidi and Peter unfortunately have said they won't make any more movies. Very natural talents, especially Anuk Steffen as Heidi. The music was also wonderful. I hope to someday visit the Swiss Alps.
There is a good interview with Bruno Ganz about the Heidi movie and about his motivation to play Alpöhis's part. But it's completely in Swiss German, I don't know if you can understand it. Btw. in the original version of the movie while in the mountains the people do speak Grisons dialect of Swiss German. I think this magic vanishes in the english dubbing.
Yes, I read that seeing the film in the original dialect is a richer experience. The version I saw was dubbed in English.
currently the full movie is availabe on the streaming platform of german broadcast ZDF up to januara 5th, as it was shown on tv some days ago. Film: Heidi
