The bush ghost (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The bush ghost |
| Country of production | GDR |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1986 |
| length | 162 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Vera Loebner |
| script | Friedemann Schreiter |
| music | Uwe Hilprecht , Anton Günther |
| camera | Wolfgang Pietsch |
| cut | Thea Richter |
| occupation | |
| |
Das Buschgespenst is a two-part film on GDR television by director Vera Loebner, shot in 1986 in the Ore Mountains . The mix between drama, crime and homeland films is based largely on Die Sklaven der Arbeit , the second section of the novel The Prodigal Son by Karl May . The title was taken from the edited version Das Buschgespenst (Volume 64 of the Collected Works). It was the first film adaptation of a May novel in the GDR.
action
In winter, the border village of Hohenthal in the Ore Mountains is deeply poor. For the male residents, there are only two professional alternatives, either to become a miner or a linen weaver. A third, illegal alternative is the booze , which so many there pursue. The young Eduard Hauser did not find a job in the mining industry, so he only had the option of doing homework for the Seidelmann company in order to take care of his parents' family.
The weaving family Hofmann lives in the neighboring house, and Eduard falls in love with their daughter Angelika ("little angel"). But Angelika's father is hostile to the emerging connection. His daughter should have a better life than him. When the rich manufacturer's son Fritz Seidelmann invites Angelika to the masked ball and - without revealing himself to her - sends her an Italian dress, Hofmann lets his daughter go to the ball and receives a high wage as a thank you and despite the delivery of faulty woven goods from Seidelmann . Eduard Hauser, on the other hand, has to live with a substantial wage deduction from Seidelmann, even though he did a perfect job.
During this time, a stranger appears in the evening near the Wunderlich family's forester's house. As a wealthy merchant, he takes the forester on his sledge to the forester's house and invites himself there at the same time. Wunderlich, who accuses him of smuggling, expels him from the door. Hardly in the house, a poor old man appears who wants to be taken by the merchant on his sledge. One after the other, both appear at the door again and again, but never at the same time, until Wunderlich realizes that it is one and the same person. Kindly received, the mysterious stranger gains the trust of the family. He, who introduces himself as Franz Arndt and has developed himself to the prince of misery through gentle gifts , researches events that go back twenty years. At that time the old forester's house burned down except for a few outer walls. The corpse of the forester's son was found in its ruins. The wife of the then forester accused her husband of arson, who was subsequently imprisoned for many years for murder. Arndt reveals himself to be the former forester when walking to the forester's house ruins, Wunderlich, his successor in the forester's office, first wants to arrest him as a supposedly runaway convict, but lets him go after further information ...
In his research, Arndt is repeatedly confronted with reports of the bush ghost that is said to be wreaking havoc in the border forests of the Ore Mountains. After the alleged killing of a border gendarme by the bush ghost, events roll over. Eduard Hauser had sent a threatening letter to Seidelmann's friend Strauch in the official city in order to be able to take part in the masked ball in his place and in his costume and to protect Angelica. He had carelessly signed this letter as a bush ghost. Through Seidelmann's mediation, the letter got into the hands of the public prosecutor, who then arrested Hauser as a supposed bush ghost with his tips pushed under . A little later, Angelika Hofmann was arrested as the “friend of the bush ghost”, who had seized a rifle when Hauser was arrested, from which a shot went off that made Seidelmann fall over in shock. This ends the first part of the film.
It is only thanks to the efforts of Arndt and his loyal helper, Förster Wunderlich, that in the second part of the film the true identity of the bush ghost and the actual events surrounding the fire in the old forester's house are revealed.
Further information
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The first broadcast of the first part took place on December 26, 1986 in the first program of the television of the GDR. The second part followed on December 28, 1986.
One of the locations for outdoor shots was Zwönitz (Hotel "Roß" on the market, built in 1537). In the film this house was called “Gasthof 'Zur Sonne'”. In Zwönitz, filming was also carried out in the paper mill, now the technical museum and inn "Zur alten Mühle". Another location was the Baldauf Villa in Marienberg . Here on August 28, 2015, the premiere of the play "Das Buschgespenst", based on the film of the same name, took place.
The film offered prime roles for Rolf Ludwig and Kurt Böwe. Ludwig in particular slipped into different costumes as Arndt and was able to demonstrate his enormous versatility by depicting different characters (beggar, gendarme, invalid, merchant, waiter and church official). His statement in the film that he had always wanted to be an actor in a large German theater was a tongue-in-cheek allusion to the place where Ludwig and Böwe worked in Berlin .
In the village pub, whose landlord is played by Fred Delmare, there is a picture of Karl May. On leaving, the forester notices Staub in the picture and says: "He didn't deserve it".
Web links
- The Buschgespenst in the Internet Movie Database (English)