In the bush of Mexico - The mystery B. Traven

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Television broadcast
Original title In the bush of Mexico - The mystery B. Traven
Country of production Federal Republic of Germany
original language German
year 1967
length 25 minutes
Episodes 5 in 1 season
genre adventure
Director Jürgen Goslar
production Star TV
music Erich Ferstl
First broadcast October 31, 1967 on German television
occupation

In the bush of Mexico - Das Rätsel B. Traven is a five-part West German docu-drama or documentary fiction by Jürgen Goslar . A reporter ( Gerd Heidemann ), an archaeologist ( Ferdinand Anton ) and a film director (Jürgen Goslar) go to Mexico to search for B. Traven . The songwriter Dieter Süverkrüp has a guest appearance as "revolutionary". The series is one of Stern-TV's first productions ; the first broadcast took place from October 31, 1967.

action

A reporter, an archaeologist and a director go to Mexico in search of B. Traven in order to clarify his identity. The research leads to Chicago and back to Germany, where they trace the most varied of traces, such as the revolutionary Ret Marut, who was active in the Munich Soviet Republic and has since disappeared. They also realize that Traven wanted to continue the failed November Revolution of 1918 in his novels .

Specialists will help you with your research. a. Evaluate photos. One of the many false leads comes from the former Spain fighter Ernst Fallen de Droog , who claims that he met Marut personally under the alias "Ziegelbrenner" on the Teruel Front. Based on his knowledge of Traven's novel “ Das Totenschiff ”, it had been proven for him that Marut was identical to Traven, but “Ziegelbrenner” was accidentally shot by his own people at the front. Professor Keiter of the University of Hamburg , who is presented with a photo from Spain with “Marut”, completely rules out an identity with Ret Marut. Another lead is followed with the German adventurer August Bibeljé, whose former wife Hedwig Meier believes that her ex-husband and Traven are identical.

Finally, with the help of Traven Torsvan's wife, Rosa Elena Luján, the research team succeeds in making a film of B. Traven. The riddle is solved: B. Traven is identical to Traven Torsvan alias Ret Marut. At the end of the film, the director asks the reporter why Traven has been in hiding for 40 years. He leaves the question open: “Maybe out of love for Germany, maybe out of fear of Germany”.

Episodes

  1. P.O. Box 2701
  2. The search result: fleeting
  3. Through the land of spring
  4. The second man
  5. What do you care about my face

production

According to director Goslar, Heidemann had been looking for B. Traven on behalf of Stern since 1963 , and according to Heidemann's own information on behalf of Stern - editor-in-chief Henri Nannen personally. It was u. a. was shot in Mexico as raw material for a television production, which, however, was not suitable for publication without a script and direction . So Goslar took over the direction, while the archaeologist and Americanist Anton worked on the script.

Due to extremely limited financial resources, the torsion bar including the "actors" consisted only of Goslar, a cameraman, a sound engineer, Anton and Heidemann. In addition, Mexican amateur actors were hired locally ; in one case a German Lufthansa - Stewardess that occurred without a fee as a tourist. Some scenes were filmed in Teddy Stauffer's Hotel in Acapulco .

According to Goslar, the series was a huge success with the general public and inspired him to direct the two-part television film The Mexican Revolution (1968) and the television series The Cotton Pickers (1970). For the production, excerpts from the films The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Dead Ship , which were produced on the basis of the novel of the same name by Travens, were used. Ten years later, Heidemann published his research on Traven under the title Postlagernd Tampico. The adventurous search for B. Traven ( Munich 1977, ISBN 3-442-06604-2 ).

Lore

The series was edited on DVD in 2011 in the Pidax series classics series . The bonus material includes a. a longer interview with director Goslar, in which he discusses the production of the series.

Web links