The Threepenny Opera (1931)

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Movie
Original title The Threepenny Opera
Country of production Germany , USA
original language German
Publishing year 1931
length 112 minutes
Rod
Director Georg Wilhelm Pabst
script László Vajda , Léo Lania , Béla Balázs
production Seymour minor number
music Kurt Weill
camera Fritz Arno Wagner
cut Hans Oser
occupation

The Threepenny Opera is a German-American feature film by Georg Wilhelm Pabst from 1931. It was based loosely on Bertolt Brecht 's play of the same name . In the era of National Socialism , the film was banned.

action

The film takes place in London's underworld. The gang leader Mackie Messer discovers the beautiful Polly after a trip to his whore Jenny and immediately decides to marry her. His gang quickly steals a wedding outfit and the same evening the party takes place, at which Mackie's friend, Police Chief Tiger-Brown, is also present.

When Polly's father, the "beggar king" Peachum, learns of the hasty wedding, he is beside himself because Polly should work in his company that organizes the beggars and collects their money. He calls on Tiger-Brown to arrest Mackie Messer and threatens to let his beggars disrupt the Queen's coronation. On Brown's advice, Mackie fled and found refuge with the whore Jenny, who turned him over to the police out of jealousy and revenge.

In the meantime, Peachum has formed his band of beggars. Polly buys a bank she runs with Mackie's gang. And when he escapes from prison with Jenny's help, he is a bank director. Peachum can't stop his beggars anymore. Tiger-Brown loses his police post because of the disruption of the coronation procession. He and Peachum eventually find themselves at Mackie Messers Bank and become partners.

background

The executive production company was Nero-Film for Tobis-Klang-Film and Warner Brothers . Bertolt Brecht was initially hired for the film version, but in contrast to his play, Brecht wrote sharper anti-capitalist attitudes in the script. He was then banned from production. This romanticizing film adaptation emerged from the plot of the stage play and the recordings for the film called Brecht's “The Bump”. Brecht and Weill brought a civil case against them, which was unsuccessful in the first instance; however, the parties then agreed in a settlement. (see also: The Threepenny Opera # The Threepenny Trial )

The buildings of the film come from Andrei Andreyev . The shooting took place from September to November 1930. It premiered on February 19, 1931 in the Berlin “Atrium”. National Socialists protested against the screening of the film in Nuremberg and other places. After they came to power, it was banned in 1933.

The film was shot under Pabst's direction at the same time in a French version with a predominantly different cast.

Reviews

The contemporary criticism particularly emphasized the technical aspects of the cinematic equipment and the play of the main actor Forster.

Trivia

Despite the ban, the film was shown in Neubabelsberg, the young film eleven "as a prime example of the best camera, best direction, best representation". On his 50th birthday, it was given to the "film lover" Adolf Hitler along with 49 other films (including Woman in the Moon , Spies ) and the actors had to sign.

Bertolt Brecht wanted to have the film banned because it did not meet his intentions. The production company then offered him 30,000 marks if he withdrew the lawsuit. Brecht refused - and lost the process.

literature

  • Wolfgang Gersch The Threepenny Opera . In Günther Dahlke, Günther Karl (Hrsg.): German feature films from the beginnings to 1933. A film guide. Henschel Verlag, 2nd edition, Berlin 1993, p. 246 f. ISBN 3-89487-009-5

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Premiere invitation (inside pages)
  2. ^ Bans, censorship and ratings in the Nazi state , at Filmportal.de
  3. ↑ Hans-Michael Bock , Rudolf Körösi: Fritz Rasp tells . TV documentary film 1972. Approx. 15th minute, see Fritz Rasp tells on YouTube , accessed on October 11, 2019.
  4. ↑ Fritz Rasp tells , approx. 17th minute.

Web links