Into blue life
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Into blue life |
| Country of production |
German Empire Italy |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1939 |
| length | 94 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Augusto Genina |
| script |
Alessandro de Stefani Franz Tanzler Augusto Genina based on an idea by Franz Karl Franchy |
| production |
CO Barbieri Franz Tanzler |
| music |
Franz Grothe Alessandro Cicognini Giovanni d'Anzi |
| camera |
Günther Anders Konstantin Irmen-Tschet |
| cut | Waldemar Gaede |
| occupation | |
| |
Into the blue life is a German-Italian feature film by Augusto Genina made at the turn of the year 1938/39 with Lilian Harvey and Vittorio de Sica in the leading roles.
action
Annie Wagner, called Mimi, works as a cloakroom in a Vienna theater. She lives the little girl's dream of a prince who will one day free her, and of little happiness in the big, wide world. Out of sympathy, a well-known singer employed at the theater allows her to take a jaunt into the countryside in her car. Only the noble pedigree dog of the artist should be carried out in this way. When the Italian violinist Riccardo Albanova sees her getting out of the vehicle with the animal, he assumes that Annie must be a young lady from better circles.
One day a dance ball is being held in the orchestra room. As a highlight, the lucky ones are thrown into the air that look like stars. One of these lots falls through an open hatch into the basement where Annie works. She can hardly believe her luck when she opens the lot: Mimi has the main prize in her hands! The prize is a trip to Italy, but Mimi cannot take it because the representative of the ball committee refuses to recognize her as the winner. For that Annie would have to have a ticket to the ball.
A certain Mr. Forster turns out to be a saving angel, because he can solve the problem. Annie then gushes out: She explains verbatim to this rich American that she has always wanted to travel to Italy to meet the prince of her dreams there. Forster has an idea. The elderly gentleman met the young violinist Riccardo on a train ride and offers him to hire him - he just has to play the Prince of Dreams for Annie. When Riccardo sees Annie again in this way, he is delighted with the delicate, young woman and falls in love with her instantly.
Mimi also likes the handsome Italian extremely well, but she is not naive enough to assume that a prince would get involved with such an inexperienced girl from a low class. In the Blue Grotto on Capri , Riccardo Mimi finally wants to confess the whole truth, but then he loses courage. The cloakroom breaks its castles in the air and returns home to Vienna with a nice memory. When Mr. Forster sees his protégé so dejected, he makes it clear to Mimi that the young “prince” is just a simple violinist who is just as penniless as she is. Annie is very happy about it and bursts into the middle of the orchestra rehearsal, in which Riccardo is also participating. Both now know that they will have a future together.
Production notes
The film was shot in two language versions from mid-October 1938 to early January 1939 in Cinecittà . The numerous outdoor shots were made in Venice, Florence, Rome, Capri, Naples and Vienna. The Reich German premiere took place on April 4, 1939 in Vienna, the Berlin premiere was eight days later in the Ufa-Palast am Zoo .
Guido Fiorini and Gastone Medin designed the film structures in the Roman studios. The costumes are by Manon Hahn . The lyrics to the songs in the German version were written by Willy Dehmel .
The songs “Life is so beautiful” and “Guten Tag, liebes Glück” were voiced by Lilian Harvey, while Vittorio de Sica performed the song “My little princess” in German.
Into the blue life was not a great film success and received little attention in Germany. Harvey couldn't come close to her hit films until 1937.
The Italian version was called Castelli in aria (castles in the air). This version had its premiere during the International Film Art Exhibition in Venice on August 15, 1939. Harvey, de Sica, Treßler, von Stolz and Odemar repeated their roles here, the actors in the smaller roles were all Italians.
Reviews
In La Tribuna you could read: “Not the best film by Genina, everyone agrees. But is it still a film that can be enjoyed? If you follow the success he had in Germany, you can answer with 'yes'. (…) The fable was brought to life with grace, with a fresh naivete on the part of Harvey; De Sica with that generous warmth that draws us into all his sentimental adventures, always so adventurous, always so sentimental. "
In the specialist magazine Film it was said: "Augusto Genina's film is perfectly balanced, on the swing of the true and the non-true, a fairy tale that lives spontaneously from its stars."
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ulrich J. Klaus: Deutsche Tonfilme 10th year 1939. p. 103 (053.39), Berlin 1999
- ↑ Alberto Albani Barbieri in: La Tribuna , edition of August 17, 1939
- ↑ Lucio D'ambra in: Film , Issue No. 42 of October 7, 1939
Web links
- Into the blue life in the Internet Movie Database (English)