Adventure quad divider

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16 television adaptations that were produced between 1964 and 1983 are referred to as adventure four-parters. The multi-part programs were usually first broadcast during Advent or Christmas. Most of the four-part films were produced by the German television broadcaster ZDF in international coproduction with France and are also known as Advent four-part or Christmas four-part .

Production notes

In the early 1960s, the German film and television producer Walter Ulbrich came up with the idea of ​​having television multi-part series produced in international co-production. In this way, the costly production of epic adventure films could be financed. Ulbrich, who had many international contacts through his many years of production, was able to inspire French producers for the idea. The multi-parts were usually produced alternately under German and French leadership. Classics from world literature such as Robinson Crusoe , Don Quixote , Treasure Island or The Adventures of Tom Sawyer were initially used as models . As production manager, Ulbrich supervised the entire production process and in many cases was also involved in the design of the four-part series as a scriptwriter.

Although the well-known literary models had already been adapted for the cinema, their epic plot could be told more faithfully and in detail in the four-part series. Ulbrich was also regarded as a particularly careful producer who paid attention to every detail in the production of the films. A stylistic device favored by Ulbrich was to have the action commented on by a narrative voice. This gave him great freedom when editing the films, as he could use the voice of the omniscient narrator to bridge gaps in the plot or to convey important information. In the later four-part series, the narrative voice was dispensed with, as this stylistic device was felt to be out of date.

Experienced directors such as Wolfgang Staudte and Wolfgang Liebeneiner were behind the camera in the multi-part series . The quality of the Advent four-part series was rated differently by critics, but especially in the 1960s and 1970s the films achieved high ratings and were real street sweeps .

Some of the leading actors achieved their national or international career breakthroughs with the multi-part series, for example Robert Hoffmann as Robinson Crusoe , Michael Ande as Jim Hawkins ( Treasure Island ) or Hellmut Lange as Leather Stocking . Raimund Harmstorf was identified with his role as a sea ​​wolf throughout his life and was also committed to international film productions in the 1970s. This role made him so popular that he was the only leading actor to be cast in the title role a second time, as Michael Strogoff in the 1976 four-part series . Only the leading actor in Don Quixote , Josef Meinrad , was already well-known at the time of the filming Stage and film actor.

Well-known film and television composers contributed the music to the four-part pieces. Among other things, Hans Posegga was responsible for the music of the " Seewolf ". The French composer Vladimir Cosma wrote the theme tune for " The Adventures of David Balfour " in 1978 , which became a well-known catchy tune.

After the success of the four-part series on ZDF, Erste Deutsche Fernsehen also began producing multi-part series. However, these did not adhere so closely to the four-part scheme. Since many of the great literary classics had already been produced as Advent four-part films, novels were filmed here that were a little less known.

At the same time, similar TV series were shot without German participation, for example the Spanish-French-Italian multi-part series The mysterious island (1973) with Omar Sharif as Captain Nemo.

In the late 1970s it became apparent that suitable templates for the Advent four-parters were becoming increasingly difficult to find. In 1982, with " The Black Boomerang " for the first time, no novel was used, but an original screenplay was filmed. A year later, ZDF decided to discontinue the series with “ The Man from Suez ”.

The “Advent four-parter” on ZDF

year title Director First broadcast
1964 The strange and unique adventures of Robinson Crusoe from York,
recounted by himself		 Jean Sacha 3rd - 24th Oct 1964
1965 The story of Don Quixote of the Mancha Carlo Rim Oct 8-29, 1965
1966 Treasure Island Wolfgang Liebeneiner Dec 25, 1966 - Jan 1, 1967
1968 Tom Sawyers and Huckleberry Finn's adventures Wolfgang Liebeneiner 1st - 22nd Dec 1968
1969 The leather stocking tales Pierre Gaspard-Huit (part 1 + 4)
Jean Dréville (part 2 + 3)		 25.-28. Dec 1969
1971 The sea wolf Wolfgang Staudte , Sergiu Nicolaescu 5th - 26th Dec 1971
1973 " Cagliostro " (3 parts in Germany)
"Joseph Balsamo" (7 parts in France) 		André Hunebelle 23 Dec 1973 - 1 Jan 1974
1974 Two years of vacation Sergiu Nicolaescu , Gilles Grangier 8-29 Dec 1974
1975 Call of the gold Wolfgang Staudte, Serge Nicolaescu 21.-30. Dec 1975
1976 Michael Strogoff Jean-Pierre Decourt Dec 28, 1976 - Jan 6, 1977
1978 The Adventures of David Balfour Jean-Pierre Decourt 8-17 Dec 1978
1979 Mathias Sandorf Jean-Pierre Decourt 2nd-11th Dec 1979
1980 Deadly Secret - The Adventures of Caleb Williams Herbert Wise 2nd-14th Dec 1980
1981 Race to Bombay Christian-Jaque Nov 29 - Dec 8, 1981
1982 The black boomerang Rudiger Bahr Nov 28 - Dec 7, 1982
1983 Suez's man Christian-Jaque 4th - 13th Dec 1983

More adventure four-parters

year title Director music Channel
1973 The strange life story of Friedrich Freiherrn von der Trenck Fritz Umgelter Miloslav Hurka ZDF
1975 The involuntary journeys of Moritz August Benjowski Fritz Umgelter Hans Posegga ZDF
1975 Christoffel von Grimmelshausen's adventurous simplicity Fritz Umgelter Rolf Unkel ZDF
1976 The winter that was a summer Fritz Umgelter Rolf Unkel ARD
1978 Wallenstein Franz Peter Wirth Eugene Thomass ZDF
1978 Scharnhorst Wolf-Dieter Panse Henry Krtschil DFF
1979 Martin Eden Giacomo Battiato Ruggero Cini ZDF
1980 Fantômas Juan Luis Buñuel , Claude Chabrol Georges Delerue
1984 The iron way Wolfgang Staudte Rudolf Gregor Knabl ZDF
1988 Wind and stars Lawrence Gordon Clark José Nieto ARD
1989 Island of the mutineers François Leterrier Jean-Claude Petit ARD

With the exception of Island of the Mutineers , all the multi- parts are available on DVD.

media

Film music

The composers Vladimir Cosma (four multi-part series) and Hans Posegga (five multi-part series) were most frequently used for the film adaptations, although production manager Ulbrich used music from one multi-part series again in another, as happened with the music from “The Treasure Island”, which was also used for Part in "Tom Sawyers and Huckleberry Finns Adventures" and "The Leather Stocking Tales" was used. In “Robinson Crusoe”, music by Robert Mellin and Gian Piero Reverberi was used for the English version, and music by Georges van Parys for the German / French version . When "Cagliostro" was made into a film, Hans Posegga wrote the music for the German version, the French version entitled "Joseph Balsamo" was given music by Hubert Rostaing, and when "Zwei Jahre Ferien" was made into a German version, Hans Poseggas Music taken, but music by Alain Le Meur for the French version “Deux Ans de Vacances” . The music of many of the multiple parts appeared on LP around the time of the first broadcast. From "Tom Sawyers and Huckleberry Finns Adventure" there was the music of Vladimir Cosma in France in 1969 on two EP singles and one normal single. Some CD recordings were only released for film and music fans much later and are now sought-after collector's items.

  • Adventure classics - Treasure Island, Sea Wolf, Leather Stocking ... - 2CD, BSC Music (with several excerpts from all four-part pieces)
  • Robinson Crusoe , soundtrack of the English version of the film music, CD (1990 + 1997), Silva Screen FILMCD 705
  • Treasure Island - original soundtrack of the ZDF four-part, CD (2002), BSC Music
  • The Sea Wolf , CD (1997), MSC Records MSC 4990
  • Lockruf des Goldes , CD (1994), Tarantula Records, together with Two Years of Vacation
  • Michael Strogoff , CD (1998), Larghetto Music / Pomme Music
  • Kidnapped (The Adventures of David Balfour), CD (1987), Pomme Music (also contains the music from "The Roses of Dublin")
  • L'Homme de Suez (The Man of Suez), CD (2006) limited edition, Cinéfonia Records (also contains the music from “La Chambre Des Dames”)

DVDs

All of ZDF's "Advent four-part" series have been released on double DVDs by Concord Home Entertainment .

2004

  • "The Sea Wolf"

2005

  • "Call of the gold"
  • "Treasure Island"

2006

  • "The Leather Stockings Tales"
  • "Robinson Crusoe"
  • "Tom Sawyers and Huckleberry Finn's Adventure"
  • "Don Quixote of the Mancha"
  • "Michael Strogoff"
  • “Der Seewolf” - new edition with improved image quality

2007

  • "Two years of vacation"
  • "Cagliostro"
  • "Mathias Sandorf"
  • "The Adventures of David Balfour"

2008

  • "Deadly Secret"
  • "Race to Bombay"
  • "The black boomerang"
  • "The man from Suez"

They are also sold as a 4-part collection of different series in the form of DVD collection boxes under the title Die Legendäre TV-Vierteiler .

  • "The woman in white" appeared in the street sweeper series (10)
  • "Wind und Sterne" appeared in the series Great Stories

Blu-ray

In 2012 Concord Home Entertainment released the multi-part series “Der Seewolf”, “Die Lederstockpf-Erzählungen” and “Lockruf des Goldes” in a Blu-ray box with the title The legendary TV four-part series in HD quality. The multi-parts are also available individually on Blu-ray.

See also

literature

  • Oliver Kellner & Ulf Marek: Seewolf & Co. - The great adventure four-part series of ZDF , Schwarzkopf and Schwarzkopf, ISBN 3896026321

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Entry at SoundtrackCollector.com
  2. ↑ Entry at SoundtrackCollector.com
  3. ↑ Entry at SoundtrackCollector.com
  4. ↑ Entry at SoundtrackCollector.com
  5. ↑ Entry at SoundtrackCollector.com
  6. ↑ Entry at SoundtrackCollector.com
  7. ↑ Entry at SoundtrackCollector.com
  8. ↑ Entry at SoundtrackCollector.com
  9. ↑ Entry at SoundtrackCollector.com

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