Christopher Columbus (1949)
Christopher Columbus is a British feature film directed by David MacDonald from the year 1949 with Fredric March in the title role. It describes the discovery of America by the discoverer Christopher Columbus .
action
Christopher Columbus dreams of exploring a westward sea route to India that is shorter than the land route to the east known to his contemporaries. With the help of the former confessor of the Spanish Queen Isabella I, he succeeds in speaking to the Spanish court with a request for support.
The king reacts negatively, but his wife Isabella enables him to present his ideas to a commission. While waiting for the decision of the commission , Columbus has to grapple with intrigues at court: Commissioner Bobadilla advises his cousin Beatriz de Peraza to woo Columbus so that he abandons his plans; When Columbus rescues Beatrice from the king's advances, who had already kept an eye on her 10 years earlier, Beatrice is sent away to the Canary Islands. When Columbus is about to leave the Spanish court, Isabella's former confessor stands up for him so that Columbus can start his journey of discovery.
During the voyage, Columbus used some deceptions to allay unrest and fears within his crew; so he gives the covered distance in the logbooks shorter in order to be able to explain why there is still no land in sight; He explains the then unknown misalignment of the compass by saying that the North Star had changed its position. Columbus can also put down a mutiny by the team, since he is warned in good time. Columbus offers the crew to sail another three days and, if unsuccessful, to turn back. In the night before the deadline, the hoped-for land is finally in sight.
Columbus declares the newly discovered land to be owned by the Spanish crown and calls it "San Salvador". The natives receive a friendly welcome; the country offers a warm climate and many fruits. But here too Columbus has to do with problems: Martin Pinzon is leaving secretly to be the first to reap the glory in Spain; one of Columbus' ships, the Santa Maria , ran aground. Since there is not enough space on the remaining ship, the Niña , for all crew members to travel home, Columbus leaves some men behind as a colony who are supposed to convert the locals to Christianity.
On the way home to Spain Columbus takes some natives and parrots with him; Columbus replies to the objection during a banquet that the discovery of the new country was a matter of luck, with Columbus' egg , to make it clear that everything is easy once you know the solution.
During the years that followed, during which the newly discovered land was explored and Spain's wealth grew, news reached the Spanish royal court that Columbus had waged war and exploited the natives. Columbus is imprisoned; Ferdinand and Isabella ordered him to stay in Spain. Columbus replies bitterly that people will talk about him when "they are long dead and forgotten".
Reviews
"Since the film cannot exist either as a biography or as a historical drama, it remains a monumental painting that entertains with its joy of colors and gorgeous sea adventures."
literature
- Annerose Menninger: Period films as a mediation of history. Stuttgart 2010
Web links
- Christoph Columbus in the Internet Movie Database (English)