The song of the desert
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The song of the desert |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1939 |
| length | 87 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Paul Martin |
| script |
Walther von Hollander Paul Martin |
| production | Hans Conradi |
| music | Nico Dostal |
| camera | Franz Weihmayr |
| cut | Gertrud Hinz |
| occupation | |
| |
The song of the desert is a German melodrama from 1939 by Paul Martin with Zarah Leander in the leading role.
action
The story takes place in a North African mandate area. Here, in the desert "Rocky Camp", a copper mine is being built under the direction of the Swedish engineer Nic Brenten. Brenten, the kind of good-natured teddy bear with a heart of gold, is consistently pursuing idealistic and humanitarian goals with his commitment and wants to improve the living conditions of the locals, while other interested parties, above all the less scrupulous Englishman Sir Collins, is primarily out for big profits. In addition to the greedy profiteer, there are also some saboteurs apparently commissioned by Collins who want to prevent Brenta from being successful. The security of the local police forces is extremely inadequate, and so the Commissioner has asked for military support to secure the facilities and personnel. It comes in the form of an English cavalry regiment led by a Captain Frank Stanney, an old friend of Brenta.
Meanwhile, Sir Collins tries to bribe Brenten and get him to his side. Brenten resists this temptation, although he has long since cast his eye on the classy stepdaughter Collins, the dark beauty Grace. When Nic and Frank pour out their old friendship between men and puzzled over who can compete for Grace's favor (since it was once promised that a woman would never endanger the friendship of the two), Stanney emerged victorious. Bad luck for him that Grace has no interest in him. Nic is just as inflamed for Grace as she is for him, and so the old Swede finally breaks his word with his friend. The situation on site soon came to a head: Sir Collins, who absolutely wanted to get his hands on the copper mine for his own benefit and not for the benefit of the locals, tried hard to get Nic to give in and now openly used gun violence. Grace is unaware of her stepfather's activities.
He sows unrest and attacks a Bedouin tribe. Captain Frank Stanney receives strict instructions "from above". not to intervene in this matter, as these occurrences are not related to the "Rocky Camp". Nic wants to defend himself against the attacks and builds up a counter-defense with the Bedouins as a self-protection measure. The situation came to a head when a state of emergency was imposed on the copper mine and English soldiers took Nic prisoner without further ado to prevent him from carrying out his defensive measures. His friend Frank even receives the order to shoot Nic immediately. Grace is alarmed and very concerned about her loved one. She tries to buy time because she thinks she knows that relief from the Bedouin riders can be expected in about an hour. She sings song after song in front of the English soldiers and saves time. When Nic is finally taken away for execution, she collapses. At the last moment the Bedouins rush into the camp to free Nic. An exchange of fire ensues in which Sir Collins is fatally wounded. Nic can now start into a golden future at Grace's side and continue his noble work undisturbed.
Production notes
The filming of The Song of the Desert began on June 10, 1939 and ended shortly after the outbreak of World War II in September of the same year. The grand premiere of this Leander film took place on November 17, 1939 in the UFA-Palast am Zoo in Berlin.
Production group leader Hans Conradi also took over the production management. Otto Hunte and Karl Vollbrecht were responsible for the film construction, the costumes came from the Willi Ernst costume store. Fritz Thiery set the tone. The actor of the villainous Sir Collins, Friedrich Domin , who made his screen debut here, also assisted director Martin.
music
Zarah Leander sings the following Dostal songs with texts by Bruno Balz :
- "Fatme, tell me a fairy tale"
- "This evening I invite myself to love"
- "Maybe a beautiful woman will tell you"
- "I will cry a few tears for you"
- "Does a beautiful woman tell you 'maybe'"
useful information
At some points in the dialogue, the film conveys claused Nazi propagandistic elements such as the term “home” and the “Führer principle”. It is also noticeable that the hero of the film is a (neutral) Swede, while the villain of the play, Sir Collins, was designed as the incarnation of the greedy, villainous and exploitative Englishman.
The film cost 1.54 million Reichsmarks and had revenues of 2.576 million Reichsmarks by February 1941. Despite the profit of around RM 1 million, The Song of the Desert (compared to other Zarah Leander films of those years) is Leander's only failure at UFA
Reviews
Zarah Leander was very dissatisfied with the result, she herself described The Song of the Desert as "her worst film".
Paimann's Filmlisten praised Leander's acting and singing achievements, but found that the “plot using all sorts of coincidences and sought-after conflicts” in The Song of the Desert was “less original”.
The lexicon of the international film found little pleasure in the film and issued the following verdict: "Lardy oriental adventure colportage with pompous songs, in which the then 37-year-old [sic!] Zarah Leander has to act as a delighted schoolgirl."
Individual evidence
- ↑ The feature film of National Socialism on google.de/books, p. 57 ff.
- ↑ Ulrich J. Klaus: Deutsche Tonfilme 10th year 1939. P. 122 f., Berlin 1999
- ↑ ibid., P. 123
- ↑ The song of the desert in Paimann's film lists ( memento of the original from January 3, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The Song of the Desert. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed January 1, 2018 .
Web links
- The song of the desert in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The song of the desert at filmportal.de