After her mother's death, the five year old orphan Heidi is brought by her aunt to her grumpy grandfather Alp, who leads a hermit life in the beautiful Swiss mountains. Heidi's natural cheerfulness quickly brings renewed joy in grandfather Alps life. Heidi becomes friends with the goatherd Peter who is about the same age as her and spent two beautiful years in the pasture. But then she is sent by her aunt to Frankfurt in the house of Consul Sesemann where Heidi should get a proper education and upbringing. After some initial difficulties Heidi eventually adjusts to her new situation and makes friends with Clara, the paralyzed daughter of the consul. Only with the strict governess Miss Rottingmeier she keeps getting in trouble. Miss Rottingmeier clearly can not cope with the free and outdoors spirit of Heidi. But Heidi lets a fresh wind blow through the Sesemann house and even causes Clara to overcome her illness.
Cinematography
Those Swiss Alps will ruin your local hiking trail forever.
Acting
Gustav Knuth's grumpy-to-puppy transformation is masterclass.
Production
Actual goats. Real mountains. Zero CGI guilt.
Director
Werner Jacobs
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This 1965 West German adaptation spawned decades of 'Heidi' tourism that still floods the Swiss Alps with pilgrims seeking their own grumpy grandfather.
Johanna Spyri's original 1881 novel was actually Swiss propaganda against German urbanization—Heidi's pastoral healing was political.
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