The night before

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title A look back
on the previous evening
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1944
length 86 minutes
Rod
Director Gerhard Menzel
script Gerhard Menzel
production Willi Forst
music Willy Schmidt-Gentner
camera Jan Stallich
cut Hans Wolff
occupation

The evening before , also under the title Ein Blick zurück , is a German film melodrama written in 1943 by the screenwriter Gerhard Menzel , whose only film director this was, with Rudolf Forster in the lead role of a lawyer looking back. At his side are a host of stars from the Third Reich in other leading roles, including EF Fürbringer , Hilde Körber , Hilde Weissner , Gustav Diessl and Hermann Thimig .

action

The experienced lawyer Dr. Eugen Friderici when he remembers the evening before the outbreak of war in 1939, August 31, in the presence of his friend, the ENT doctor Prof. Amersfors. That was three years ago, and that last day of August 1939 was an eventful day for Friderici. As always, he had his hands full; his clients demanded a lot from him. This was always at the expense of his marriage to Valentine, called "Vally", and the two children Franz and Melanie, called "Meli". Little Franz had a high fever that day and Friderici learns from the attending doctor that the boy has to go to the hospital to have an operation there. This fact prevents Vally from abandoning her long-cherished decision, her husband, who hardly cares for her and the children. She already has a new guy on the hook, the charmer and much more attentive Erwin Corbach, a concert pianist. She has just received another love letter from him. But Franz's illness thwarted Vally's plans.

Under these circumstances, Eugen Friderici can hardly concentrate on his work. When he learns from the housemaid Thea that Madame is looking for the big trunk, he already suspects that Vally wants to leave him. Yet the husband remains strangely reluctant to solve his own problems. Franzen's serious illness and another grief that her older daughter Melanie, a young woman with theater ambitions, is going through brings Valentine to her senses, and she decides not to leave the Friderici household in a rush. Vally breaks up with her lover Erwin and shortly afterwards receives a visit from Fanny Köhler, one of her husband's two secretaries. Fanny almost became Friderici's lover and would have liked to benefit from a divorce between her boss and Vally, but now she has to realize how Vally has decided to keep her marriage. For the evening Friderici invited all those people to his house whom he had helped today. He is afraid of returning home to an empty apartment and is all the more astonished that at home, on the eve of the Second World War, he will still find his wife, who has chosen him. Both are resolving to be more there for each other in the future.

Production notes

The shooting of On the Eve began on January 4, 1943 in the Rosenhügel studios in Vienna. The film premiered on December 1, 1944 in Berlin and celebrated its premiere in Vienna on February 16, 1945.

The production costs amounted to about 1,229,000 RM; the income up to January 1945 was only 95,000 RM. The approaching end of the war prevented a box office success.

Willi Forst's production company produced the film under the umbrella of Wien-Film, directed by Karl Hartl . Production manager was Hans Somborn . Werner Schlichting and Fritz Jüptner-Jonstorff designed the film structures, Fred Adlmüller was responsible for the costumes. JA Vesely was the unit manager. Cutter Hans Wolff also worked as Menzel's assistant director. Alfred Norkus and Gerhard Franke monitored the sound .

Reviews

In the lexicon of international films it says: "A melodrama enhanced by good performance."

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ulrich J. Klaus: German sound films 11th year 1940/41. P. 94 f. (045.40), Berlin 2000
  2. ↑ The previous evening. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed May 1, 2020 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 

Web links