Chingachgook, the great snake
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Chingachgook, the great snake |
| Country of production | GDR |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1967 |
| length | 87 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Richard Groschopp |
| script |
Wolfgang Ebeling Richard Groschopp |
| production | Dorothea Hildebrandt |
| music | Wilhelm Neef |
| camera | Otto Hanisch |
| cut | Helga Krause |
| occupation | |
| |
Chingachgook, the great serpent is the DEFA produced -Studio for feature films group "Red Circle" Indian film by director Richard Groschopp which on motives of the Leatherstocking -Romans Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper is based. This flick is the second part of an extremely successful western series with Gojko Mitić as the leading actor and was premiered on June 25, 1967 in the Rostock open-air theater. The shooting of the film took place in Babelsberg as well as in Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia .
action
1740. In North America a struggle for the colonies rages between Great Britain and France , which develops into a war and includes the Indian tribes living there. The English have signed a treaty with the Delawars , while the French trust the Hurons to fight.
Chingachgook, a Mohican raised by the Delawares , is said to have the chief's daughter Wahtawah as a wife. But it is stolen by the enemy Hurons. In search of her, Chingachgook and his white friend Wildtöter am See meet the hermit Tom Hutter, known as "The Swimming Tom", his daughter Judith and the hunter Harry Hurry. He and Tom want to raid the Huron camp to sell the captured scalps to the British. However, they are captured by the Hurons. Chingachgook and Wildslayer manage to exchange the two prisoners for two elephant figures, which the Hurons see as great magic. When Harry shoots the Indians, they declare war on all white men. Harry makes off to be safe in the nearby fort on the one hand and to incite the British against the Hurons on the other. A romantic relationship begins to develop between Deer and Judith.
In the meantime, Chingachgook is captured while trying to free his bride Wahtawah and, since he refuses to join the tribe of the Hurons as the son of a chief, is sentenced to death on the stake . During the torture, the British raid the camp and kill all Hurons they can get hold of in order to sell their scalps. The wounded chief is able to flee with the help of Chingachgook and, when he dies, calls on his remaining warriors to live in peace with all Indian tribes. They respect the wish and give Chingachgook freedom again.
Chingachgook, Wahtawah and Wildslayer return to the Delaware tribe, while Judith goes to the fort with the British, as they don't live with Wildslayer in the wild, but he doesn't want to change his way of life either.
criticism
"DEFA production according to JF Cooper, freed from false mysticism, which streamlines the original, but maintains its humanistic content."
"The best of the many Cooper films, even if it neglects Cooper's humor because of the sheer problematic awareness."
History of origin
In the 1950s, the five leather stocking novels Wildtöter , The Last of the Mohicans , Boy Scouts , The Settlers on Susquehanna and The Prairie by the American writer James Fenimore Cooper were published in the GDR . These works enjoyed general popularity there and were well known.
More information
The aged Chingachgook appears as a fictional character within the novel series Leather Stocking by James Fenimore Cooper in addition to The Wildslayer in the stories The Last of the Mohicans , Boy Scouts and The Settlers on the Susquehanna .
The correct Delawarian pronunciation of the name Chingachgook is / xiŋɡaxˈgoːk /. In contrast to this, however, the two ch are spoken differently in the film , namely / tʃiŋɡaxˈgoːk /.
To the historical figure
The Indian Chingachgook († 1746) is an authentic person whom Cooper met under different names through the Moravian brothers and who had adapted them for his novels. Originally the Indian was called "Tschop" (or "Coop"). He came from the family of the Mohicans, which by 1740 was already living in a decimated alliance and under the protection of the Delaware. After the conversion and baptism by the missionaries, the Indian Tschop became "Brother Johannes" (or "John"), in the novel also "Mohican John", "Indian John" or "old brother John". Cooper gave it the name "Chingachgook" ("The Great Snake").
Web links
- Chingachgook, the great serpent in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Chingachgook, the big snake at the DEFA Foundation
Individual evidence
- ↑ Chingachgook, the great serpent. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ William A. Starna (1979), Cooper's Indians: A Critique (SUNY Oneonta) . Presented at the 2nd Cooper Seminar, James Fenimore Cooper: His Country and His Art at the State University of New York College at Oneonta, July, 1979. Originally published in: James Fenimore Cooper: His Country and His Art, Papers from the 1979 Conference at State University College of New York, Oneonta and Cooperstown. George A. Test, editor. (pp. 63-76). Cooper took the term directly from Heckewelder. However, it has been pronounced incorrectly since its appearance in Cooper's works. It is pronounced properly "chingachgook," the ch- in initial position resembling a gutteral "h" ("hung '"). Heckewelder, a German, rendered the spelling as Cooper wrote it, but the pronunciation would be as in Heckewelder's native language.