The legacy of the Guldenburgs

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Television series
Original title The legacy of the Guldenburgs
Country of production Germany
Year (s) 1986 - 1988
Production
company		 new German film company (ndF)
length 45 minutes
Episodes 38 + pilot film (90 minutes) in 3 seasons
genre Family series
idea Michael Baier
music Eberhard Schoener
First broadcast 1987 - 1990 on ZDF
occupation
Location of many outdoor shots, Gut Wotersen

Under the title The legacy of Guldenburgs the beaming ZDF from 1987 to 1990 one of the most successful television series of its time. In addition to the pilot film The Golden Chain with a total playing time of 90 minutes, 38 further episodes of 45 minutes each were broadcast. The series was produced by the new German film company (ndF).

content

The theme of the series is the life of the fictional German noble family von Guldenburg. The family lives at their ancestral home in Guldenburg Castle. The head of the family, Martin Graf von Guldenburg, runs the business, which includes the Guldenburg stud as well as a brewery . In addition, the family owns the majority shares in the private bank Schulte & Co. in Lübeck . The family is in a difficult economic situation, which the count is hiding from his family. The competing Balbeck family tries to take advantage of the emergency and to appropriate the property of the Guldenburgs.

When the Count had a fatal accident in a car accident shortly after his 60th birthday, the family realized that they were on the verge of ruin. The count leaves behind his second wife Christine with their two children Alexander and Susanne, who live with their mother at the castle. He also has two grown children from his first marriage: Thomas and Evelyn. His brother, the scientist Dr. Max von Guldenburg, does not value the traditions of the aristocratic family, devotes himself to his research and is an advisor on private problems of individual family members. Not far from the castle lives the deceased's mother, who as a matriarch tries to uphold the traditions.

Other actors

background

  • The fictitious brewery's “Guldenburg Bier” was actually available in stores for a while. After the success of the series, the Brauhaus zu Jever , which had also supplied the layout for the Guldenburg brewery, sold a beer called "Guldenburg Premium". The Bavaria-St. Pauli Brewery , which served as the backdrop for the Balbeck Brewery , which competed with the Guldenburgs, also sold a beer under the name "Balbeck Pilsener". The layout was very similar to that of the Astra brand , which was sold by the St. Pauli brewery. Glasses and tankards of both brands were also manufactured and sold. Even if the two beers are no longer available under the fictitious label, Guldenburg beer cans are still offered at internet auctions.
  • The actress of Countess Hertha von Guldenburg, Brigitte Horney , died three days before the end of the shooting of the second season. Since she played a leading role, the script for the third season had to be completely rewritten after her death.
  • The pilot film for the series is now mostly broadcast in two parts.

music

The music for the series was composed by Eberhard Schoener . "The Legacy of the Guldenburgs - Original Film Music for the ZDF TV Series" was released in 1989 on LP, MC and CD. The title music from the series opening credits is also included on the sampler "The most beautiful melodies from ZDF - Musical highlights of popular ZDF series" from 1994. It is an instrumental version of the song Call the Circus , the melody of which Schoener composed for Esther Ofarim in 1982 . The song was first published in 1982 on Ofarim's LP "Complicated Ladies". It was released again on CD in 1998 on the sampler "The Sound Of Derrick".

reception

Audience ratings

When it was first broadcast, the series achieved a market share of up to 49%, making it a " street sweeper ". The pilot film reached almost 18 million viewers when it was first broadcast on January 29, 1987, the first season saw an average of 16.8 million. The second and third seasons, broadcast from 1989 to 1990, still had ratings of over 11 million viewers.

Reviews

The series was perceived as the “German answer to Dallas and The Denver Clan ” even though the production company had “a great German family epic”, which “should be different from Dallas ”, in view. The series was received extremely negatively by contemporary critics in the late 1980s.

In a review on spiegelonline in 2009, however, it was praised that the series was "filmed with great attention to detail". Today's viewers are doing “the nice slowness of the eighties good”. The cast was praised for seeing the "German television elite of the eighties". “Awesome” is “Wilfried Baasner as the wicked son-in-law Achim Lauritzen and Iris Berben as his desperate, drunk wife”. “But unbeaten” is Ruth-Maria Kubitschek as the brewery manager, who became “depressed, dependent on alcohol and pills” in the course of the series.

Hendrik Steinkuhl noted in 2017 that the series was "the last street sweeper" and "a large but underrated series with strong women", of which Christiane Hörbiger was "the strongest among the prominent women". Steinkuhl also highlighted the play by Iris Berben ("Seldom has Iris Berben been better than in the role of the unstable count's daughter") and above all Wilfried Baasner as the "outstanding villain". "Such a crazy Mephisto figure" had "not existed before and after". On the other hand, he criticized Sydne Rome who, with her “very clear acting talent”, clouded the “joy of the series”, as well as the “terrible” synchronization of the non-German speaking actors Sydne Rome and Stewart Granger. Granger's “Fantasy German” sounds “like a parody of Marc Terenzi ”.

Ruth Maria Kubitschek later said about her role: "That was a wonderful role, I really enjoyed it".

literature

  • Axel Rode, Michael Baier : The legacy of the Guldenburgs. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1987, ISBN 3-7857-0447-X .
  • Axel Rode: The legacy of the Guldenburgs. Volume 2: Years of Temptation. The new episodes of the big television series. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1990, ISBN 3-404-11530-9 ( Bastei-Lübbe-Taschenbuch 11530 general series ).
  • Michael Baier: The legacy of the Guldenburgs. Volume 3: The Fateful Testament. The latest episodes of the big television series. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1990, ISBN 3-404-11565-1 ( Bastei-Lübbe-Taschenbuch 11565 general series ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The legacy of the Guldenburg ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ndf.de @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ndf.de
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Hendrik Steinkuhl: The Legacy of the Guldenburgs - The Last Street Sweeper , spiegel.de, January 31, 2017, accessed on August 29, 2018
  3. ↑ a b c 25 years ago. In: digitalfernsehen.de. Retrieved August 29, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Foundation stone laid for Brauquartier in Hamburg baunetz.de, June 21, 2004
  5. ↑ Brigitte Horney In: Der Spiegel 31/1988, August 1, 1988.
  6. ^ Ester Ofarim - Call the Circus , accessed on August 23, 2018
  7. ↑ The glamorous Guldenburgs , accessed on August 29, 2018
  8. ↑ Beer and pictures for the average papi, spiegelonline, May 8, 2009, accessed on August 29, 2018