From Mayerling to Sarajevo
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | From Mayerling to Sarajevo |
| Original title | De Mayerling à Sarajevo |
| Country of production | France |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 1940 |
| length | 95 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Max Ophüls |
| script |
Carl Zuckmayer Marcelle Maurette Curt Alexander |
| production | Eugene Tuscherer |
| music | Oscar Straus |
| camera |
Curt Courant Otto Heller |
| cut | Jean Oser |
| occupation | |
| |
Von Mayerling bis Sarajevo (original title: De Mayerling à Sarajevo ) is a French melodrama by Max Ophüls filmed in the winter of 1939/1940 with John Lodge and Edwige Feuillère in the leading roles of the Austro-Hungarian heir to the throne who were murdered in the 1914 assassination in Sarajevo .
action
This historical drama set in Austria-Hungary focuses on the last and decisive 25 years of the Danube Monarchy up to the outbreak of the First World War. Beginning with the tragedy of Mayerling in 1889, when Crown Prince Rudolph first shot his lover, Mary Vetsera, and then judged himself, the topic of getting to know the new heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and the Bohemian Countess Chotek. The two young people fall in love and marry despite some resistance.
It soon becomes apparent that Franz-Ferdinand's modern ideas and zeal for reform, whose marriage to the countess at the Viennese court, who appears not necessarily befitting, quickly reached their limits. Emperor Franz Joseph is not exactly inclined to comprehensive reforms and relies entirely on his advisors, the military and the secret police. In order to employ the heir to the throne, who was perceived as a troublemaker, and keep him away from Vienna, the monarch appointed him inspector general of the Austro-Hungarian army. When Franz-Ferdinand was sent on a business trip to the province of Bosnia-Herzegovina in June 1914, terrible premonitions came over his wife and she asked to be allowed to accompany him. It is there that the fatal attack takes place.
In the final sequence, Ophüls' refers to the highly topical story at the time of the shooting (immediately before and after the outbreak of the Second World War) to a certain analogy between 1914 and 1939, since now, for the second time within a quarter of a century, the major European powers are heading towards an armed conflict, its outcome at this point seemed more than uncertain.
Production notes
From Mayerling to Sarajevo , Ophüls' last film was made in France before he fled the German Wehrmacht. After the experiences with the First World War, it is regarded as a credible and intense warning against a further, comprehensive armed conflict by the European powers, despite some staging weaknesses.
The world premiere took place in Paris on May 1, 1940, just nine days before German troops marched into France. The German dubbed first broadcast of the film ran on October 28, 1979 on ZDF .
As with most of his (mainly French) productions since 1933, Ophüls gathered a plethora of fellow emigrants around him: the screenwriters Carl Zuckmayer and Curt Alexander , the cameramen Curt Courant and Eugen Schüfftan and the editor Jean Oser were of German origin, the producer Eugen Tuscherer , the composer Oscar Straus and the cameraman Otto Heller were of old Austrian and Bohemian descent. The costume designer Boris Bilinsky was a Russian exile. With the exception of Curt Alexander, all of the endangered (since Jewish) emigrants involved in this production managed to flee to safe countries abroad from 1940 onwards.
The film constructions come from the hand of Jean d'Eaubonne . Jean-Paul Le Chanois served Ophüls as assistant director and also had a small supporting role with the Sarajevo murderer Gavrilo Princip . Jacques Natteau was one of five camera assistants.
reception
The film has received very different reviews and ratings from critics over the decades. Here are a few examples:
“De Mayerling à Sarajevo was turned against the clock in the shadow of the war and against time, the coming and its foreseeable, yet unimaginable suffering. With a stick that kept changing as it was withdrawn one by one. The result: a time stamp and a masterpiece, especially in its torn and imperfection. "
"Stylistically less mature and formally less brilliant than other films by the director."
Bosley Crowther wrote in the New York Times on October 30, 1940 : "Thus the film," Mayerling to Sarajevo, "which inevitably must bear comparison with the haunting, poetic" Mayerling "of three years ago, is less a romantic tragedy of classic proportions, more a piteous account of the propulsion of two hapless lovers to a portentous doom. They are mere pawns in a terrible game, destroyed by destiny and not by their own devices. (...) Considering the fact that this picture was made in France during the tense months of last winter, it has been done with surprising effectiveness. True, it hits tedious stretches, there is too much emphasis upon court details and the direction of Max Ophuls is occasionally listless or ponderous. But Edwige Feuillere creates an altogether lovely and sensitive Countess Sophie, John Lodge plays Francis Ferdinand with a slightly monotonous but compelling masculinity and other members of the cast are uniformly good. And the final sequence - the fateful episode of Sarajevo - is enacted with amazing vividness. Here, at last, on the screen is one of history's most tragic events - the beginning, not the end, of a terrible drama. This is the concentrated point of the entire film. "
"Max Ophüls' last work before the occupation of France was the historical spectacle" From Mayerling to Sarajewo ", with which the emigrant also sought to convey a highly topical, pacifist final message that brought people together."
The "Dictionnaire du cinèma" saw some tendencies towards melancholy in Ophüls' late works immediately before the outbreak of war, such as Werther, Ohne ein Morgen and Von Mayerling bis Sarajewo .
Web links
- From Mayerling to Sarajevo in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Some sources name Eugen Schüfftan as the third chief cameraman
- ↑ From Mayerling to Sarajevo. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ^ De Mayerling à Sarajevo in New York Times . Translation: "So the film," Mayerling to Sarajevo, "which inevitably has to endure the comparison with the unforgettable, poetic" Mayerling "film from three years ago, is less of a romantic tragedy of classical proportions, more of a heartbreaking one from the drive of two unhappy Lover until their fateful downfall. They are only pawns in a terrible game, destroyed by fate and not by your own efforts. As a result, the picture remains devoid of any sense of fulfillment or poetic glorification as in "Mayerling"; forced the relentless climax closes a sad, pointless affair. The only satisfaction is that the two lovers die heroically together. (…) Considering the fact that this film was shot in the tense months of last winter, it was made with surprising effectiveness. Of course the film has its lengths; he places too much emphasis on courtly details, and Max Ophüls' direction is sometimes listless or clumsy. But Edwige Feuillere creates a consistently enchanting and sensitive Countess Sophie, John Lodge plays Franz Ferdinand with a slightly monotonous but convincing masculinity, and the other actors act equally well. The final scene - the fateful episode of Sarajevo - is created with an astonishing liveliness. Here at last one of the most tragic events in history becomes visible on the screen - the beginning, not the end of a terrible drama. This is the crux of the entire film. "
- ↑ In Jean-Loup Passek: Dictionnaire du cinèma, Paris 1992, p. 489, it says literally: "quelques plages du mélancolie"