On Holy Waters (1960)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | On holy waters |
| Country of production | Switzerland |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1960 |
| length | 109 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alfred Weidenmann |
| script | Herbert Reinecker |
| production | Henrik Kaestlin |
| music | Hans-Martin Majewski |
| camera | Otto Heller |
| cut | Lilian Seng |
| occupation | |
| |
On holy waters is a Swiss Heimatfilm by Alfred Weidenmann from 1960. The leading roles are next to Hansjörg Felmy , Cordula Trantow , Hanns Lothar , Karl John , Gustav Knuth and Gisela von Collande .
action
The mountain farmers in the remote and rain-free village of St. Peter in the Swiss canton of Valais are dependent on the nearby glacier for their water supply , from where a pipe made of wooden jugs (see Suone ) leads into the village. The line, which is constantly exposed to the weather, has to be repaired frequently. As the pipeline was built along steep rock faces, repairs there are extremely dangerous and have already claimed several lives. For this reason the inhabitants of the (fictional) place speak reverently of the "holy water".
Another avalanche destroys the water pipe. According to village law, whoever has to carry out the dangerous repairs is determined by lot from all male villagers. After "Presi" Hans Waldisch, the mayor and the richest farmer of the village, the indebted with him day laborers has set Seppi Blatter sent under pressure - if he register as a volunteer, he shall be adopted by the Presi all debts - Blatter reports to the Municipal Assembly "Voluntarily" for repairs. He dies while working on the steep face and many villagers believe that the priest is to blame for Blatter's death. However, in the run-up to the work, Blatter's wife Fränzi had his mind changed in a one-to-one conversation and destroyed the contract that regulated the business between Blatter and Presi, but without informing the village community. However, since he was convinced that Blatter was the best and most technically skilled repairman of the Kännel, he let it happen that Blatter volunteered, believing that the contract would still exist.
Presi marries a woman from the city the following summer. She moves into the village with her nephew Thöni Grieg and immediately begins to open up and redesign the inn run by Presi for tourism, which she also succeeds in: people from all over the world now visit the village. On the one hand, this leads to prosperity, but it also messes up the village structure. Blatter's son Roman, who is in a relationship with Presi's daughter Binia, leaves St. Peter to work in India for three years . Thöni is Roman's rival and hopes, with Presi's blessing, to be able to marry Binia. Since the young woman is determined to wait for Roman, Thöni intercepts all of Roman's love letters as an employee of the local post office and in the end even pretends to Binia that Roman died of cholera in India . At the same time he wrote to Roman that Binia had married and that his sister Vroni had died.
After three years, Roman returns to St. Peter as an engineer believing that Binia is married and that his sister Vroni is dead. He only wants to visit the graves of his parents and sister in his home village and then move on. But it turns out differently, Thöni's intrigues are uncovered, whereupon he takes refuge in the mountains. Roman learns that Binia has remained loyal to him and is still waiting for him. The villagers are now also convinced that Roman means it honestly with Binia.
As a mining engineer, Roman is now able to blast a tunnel through massive rock. He makes the community the offer to build a new water pipe that the avalanches can no longer harm. When another avalanche damaged the old wooden pipeline, he took over the construction management for a tunnel pipeline. When Roman is still hanging on a rope in the wall after the work has been completed, Thöni tries to murder him by cutting the rope with an ax. However, Roman can save himself at the last second and the construction work can be completed. Presi, who has long considered Roman to be a crossheaded and useless man, now has to realize that this is a capable and reliable young man. He therefore gives his consent to marry Binia.
The village's water supply is now permanently ensured. The film ends with a reverent gesture by the villagers towards the now permanently flowing holy water .
production
Novel
The film is based on the novel of the same name by the Swiss writer Jakob Christoph Heer from 1898. The rights to it were initially acquired from the film producer Erwin C. Dietrich . After Dietrich had had poor success with his production The King of Bernina, which was also based on a novel by Heers , he sold the option for An holy waters to his competitor Henrik Kaestlin from the Zurich Cine Custodia based in Chur.
Production notes
For the buildings were Rolf Zehetbauer , Max Röthlisberger and Heinrich Weidemann responsible. The technical advice for the mountain scenes was provided by the mountain guide Alfons Supersaxo. The interior shots were taken in the studios of the Bavaria Atelier-Gesellschaft mbH . Munich-Geiselgasteig. The film features the song Les Rogations , sung by La Chanson du Rhône, music: Jean Daetwyler , text: Alois Theytaz.
With Alfred Weidenmann, Herbert Reinecker, Hans-Martin Majewski, Hanns Lothar and Cordula Trantow, the Swiss producer Kaestlin was able to sign five Federal Film Prize winners for the film. The script adaptation was done by Herbert Reinecker , who later celebrated his greatest successes with the series Der Kommissar and Derrick .
Filming, publication
In Evolène and Saas-Fee in the canton of Valais rotated with the support of the authorities film was simultaneously in the Federal Republic of Germany and Switzerland (Zurich) on 23 December 1960 premiere . In the USA the film was released under the title Sacred Waters in 1962, in Belgium it was released under the French title De l'eau au prix de leur sang , in France under the titles Les eaux saintes and Les eaux saintes du valais.
The film was released on October 27, 2005 by ems GmbH as part of the “Filmpalast - cinema hits from yesterday. Unforgettable Stars and Their Films ”was released on DVD. Lichtspielhaus released the film on November 26, 2009, also on DVD.
Remake
It is a remake of the film of the same name from 1932, which in turn is based on a novel by Jakob Christoph Heer published in 1898 .
criticism
For the lexicon of international films , An Heiligen Wassern is “a well-groomed, eye-filling and cozy home film”.
The film-dienst is ambivalent in its assessment: “… it is certainly not a great work of art. Among the other lightweight strips in the 'Filmpalast' series, it is still a beautiful find - a sparkling semi-precious stone after all ”.
Kino.de spoke of a “solidly made home film” that is set in Switzerland.
Web links
- In holy waters in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- On holy waters at filmportal.de
- At holy waters, film review at udorotenberg.blogspot.de
- On holy waters on filmposter-archiv.de
- At holy waters full film on gloria.tv
Individual evidence
- ↑ Benedikt Eppenberger, Daniel Stapfer: Girls, Machos and Moneten. The incredible story of the Swiss cinema entrepreneur Erwin C. Dietrich , Verlag Scharfe Stiefel, 2006, p. 25
- ↑ On holy waters Fig. DVD case Filmpalast - cinema hits from yesterday. Unforgettable stars and their films (in the center of the picture: Hansjörg Felmy, Cordula Trantow)
- ↑ On holy waters Fig. DVD case for the cinema (in the center of the picture Hansjörg Felmy, Cordula Trantow, on the left Hanns Lothar)
- ↑ Klaus Brüne (Ed.): Lexicon of International Films . Volume 1. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1990, p. 131.
- ↑ On Holy Waters in the Lexicon of International Films , accessed April 14, 2012
- ↑ On holy waters see kino.de
