The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser

The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
Director: Werner Herzog
Writer: Werner Herzog (writer)
Release Date: 1 November 1974 (West Germany)
Genre: Biography - Drama - History
Length: 1:49:45

* Cast :

* Bruno S. - Kaspar Hauser
* Walter Ladengast - Professor Daumer
* Brigitte Mira - Kathe, Servant
* Willy Semmelrogge - Circus director
* Michael Kroecher - Lord Stanhope
* Hans Musäus - Unknown Man
* Marcus Weller
* Gloria Doer - Frau Hiltel
* Volker Prechtel - Hiltel the prison guard
* Herbert Achternbusch - Bavarian Chicken Hypnotizer
* Wolfgang Bauer
* Wilhelm Bayer - Taunting Farmboy
* Franz Brumbach
* Johannes Buzalski
* Helmut Döring - Little King



The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974) is a West German film written and directed by Werner Herzog about the legend of Kaspar Hauser. Its original German title is Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle, which means "Every man for himself and God against them all". The film was part of the competition for the Palme d'Or at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival, where it won 3 awards including the Grand Prize of the Jury and Prize of the Ecumenical Jury.


The film follows the real story of Kaspar Hauser quite closely, using the text of actual letters found with Hauser, and following many details in the opening sequence of Hauser's confinement and release. One departure is his age: the historical Hauser was 17 when he was discovered in Nuremberg. The film does not specify Kaspar's age, but Bruno was 41 years old at the time of filming.


* Plot :

The film tells the story of Kaspar Hauser (played by Bruno S.), who lived for the first 17 years of his life chained in a tiny cellar with only a toy horse to occupy his time, devoid of all human contact except for a stranger who feeds him.


One day in 1828, the same stranger takes Kaspar out of his cell, teaches him a few phrases and how to walk, and then leaves him in the town of Nuremberg. Kaspar is the subject of curiosity and is even exhibited in a circus before being rescued by Herr Daumer (Walter Ladengast) who patiently attempts to transform him.


Kaspar soon learns to read and write and develops unorthodox approaches to religion and logic, but music is what pleases him most. He attracts the attention of clerics, academics, and nobility, but he is attacked by the same man who brought him to Nuremberg, who leaves him unconscious with a bleeding head.


He recovers but is again mysteriously attacked, this time stabbed in the chest. Kaspar rests in bed describing visions he had of nomadic Berbers in the Sahara Desert, and he dies shortly thereafter. An autopsy reveals an enlarged liver and cerebellum.