Buddenbrooks (1959)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Buddenbrooks |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1959 |
| length | First part: 99 minutes Second part: 107 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 (both parts) |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alfred Weidenmann |
| script |
Harald Braun Jacob Geis Erika Mann |
| production | Film construction GmbH, Göttingen ( Hans Abich ) |
| music | Werner Eisbrenner |
| camera | Friedl Behn-Grund |
| cut | Caspar van den Berg |
| occupation | |
| |
Buddenbrooks is a two-part German fiction film from 1959. In several places it differs greatly from the original, the novel of the same name by Thomas Mann .
He starts right away with Tony's engagement to Grünlich and leaves out Johann Buddenbrook senior's generation entirely. Instead of his father-in-law Kröger, who does not appear, Jean Buddenbrook dies after the excitement over the revolution in March 1848. Tony has no daughter Erika in the film. Hanno dies before his father Thomas, who in turn collapses when he is sworn in as a senator and not later. Thomas Buddenbrook's greatest competitor is not called Hagenström in the film, but Wagenström. The year numbers almost never match those in the book.
action
First part
The Buddenbrooks are a respected and wealthy merchant family from Lübeck. Daughter Antonie (called “Tony”) makes fun of her honest admirer, businessman Bendix Grünlich, who is friends with the Buddenbrook family, while son Christian snubs his father, Consul Jean Buddenbrook, with negative headlines because of his admiration for a theater actress and therefore to one Sojourn abroad is sent to Jean Buddenbrook's English business friend. Son Thomas, in turn, maintains a secret relationship with the flower seller Anna.
When Bendix proposes to Antonie, she desperately flees to spend a vacation with her friends, the Schwarzkopf family. There she meets the neat Morten Schwarzkopf, and they both fall in love. But Grünlich tracks them down, father Buddenbrook advises Antonie to marry his friend Grünlich appropriately, which she finally does reluctantly.
At that time, the Buddenbrook family had to deal with the turmoil of the revolution of 1848 . Elisabeth's father is fatally injured by a stone throwing a revolutionary and shortly afterwards Jean dies of a heart attack during a thunderstorm. Thomas takes over the family business and is forced to part with Anna because of the family honor. Thomas Buddenbrook expands the family business and takes Christian into the company management after his return from England.
The first difficulties arise: Brother Christian settles private bills through the company, Grünlich is on the verge of bankruptcy. Thomas refuses to help Grünlich, Bendix's main creditor accuses Thomas that his father was too careless in choosing Bendix as his son-in-law.
While Antonie's marriage to Bendix falls apart, Thomas marries the merchant's daughter Gerda Arnoldsen.
Second part
Thomas Buddenbrook proudly records the birth of his son Justus Johann Kaspar (called “Hanno”) in the family chronicle. Antonie is also happy when she meets the Munich hop trader Alois Permaneder; both marry. Christian, on the other hand, is rejected by his mother when he tells her about his liaison with the theater actress Aline Puvogel. Nevertheless, he becomes engaged to Aline.
Meanwhile, the married life of Antonie and Alois is clouded, because he likes alcohol too much and stalks other women. During the dispute, Alois throws a “rejected” word at his wife's head. Since Alois also retires to live on the interest on his dowry, Thomas' efforts to prevent Antonie from another divorce and thus a scandal remain unsuccessful. After the death of his sister Clara, Thomas is angry to discover that his mother Elisabeth has paid out Clara's inheritance to her husband Tiburtius and that the company is lacking important funds.
After the death of mother Elisabeth, Christian saw the opportunity to marry his beloved Aline. On the company's hundredth anniversary, Thomas receives the good news that he is about to become a Senator. At the same time, Thomas receives news that a grain business that Antonie persuaded him to do has failed after the harvest was destroyed by hailstorms.
While a typhoid epidemic rages in the city, Thomas writes his will. A little later, his son also fell ill with the disease and died. Aline has Christian, who has become eccentric, admitted to psychiatry. Shortly before he was sworn in as a senator, Thomas felt uncomfortable and, despite visiting the dentist, collapsed dead during the swearing in.
Production notes
The film was made in the Real Film Studios in Hamburg-Wandsbek with external shots from Travemünde and Lübeck . Robert Herlth , Kurt Herlth and Arno Richter created the film structures, Herbert Ploberger designed the costumes. Eberhard Krause was production manager.
It was released in theaters on November 12, 1959 in the Ufa-Palast Kassel. The second part started on November 20, 1959.
Awards
In 1959 the film won two awards at the German Film Prize; one award went to Hanns Lothar for best supporting actor , another to Robert Herlth for best production design .
Reviews
“Honorable individual achievements in the preparatory first as well as in the action-rich second part cannot hide the fact that the film never does justice to the original; nevertheless quite remarkable as cinema entertainment. "
“Thomas Mann's panorama of the decline of an era could of course only be reproduced in a very limited way - the scenario team decided on a development sketch of Buddenbrook's private life. The fact that the film adaptation depicts the Hanseatic patrician world in an atmospheric manner is not least due to the outstanding buildings by Robert Herlth, who was awarded a Federal Film Prize for it. "
“A solid film adaptation of Thomas Mann's novel without its poetic interpretation. The second part is more effective than the first. "
literature
- Thomas Mann : Buddenbrooks. The decline of a family. Novel . Limited special edition. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2005, 758 pages, ISBN 3-596-16973-9
Secondary literature
- Timo Rouget: The reception in talkies and other media. In: Nicole Mattern u. Stefan Neuhaus (ed.): Buddenbrooks manual. Stuttgart: Metzler 2018, pp. 63–70. ISBN 978-3-476-04649-9
Web links
- Buddenbrooks - Part 1 at the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Buddenbrooks - Part 2 in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Buddenbrooks - Part 1 at filmportal.de
- Buddenbrooks - Part 2 at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Buddenbrooks (Part I) at www.filmportal.de, accessed on November 2, 2019
- ↑ Hans Abich - producer, publicist . In: CineGraph - Lexicon for German-Language Film , Lg. 20, F 8
- ^ Buddenbrooks. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Evangelical Press Association Munich, Review No. 780/1959