The privateer of Louisiana

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Movie
German title The privateer of Louisiana
Original title The Buccaneer
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1938
length 126 minutes
Rod
Director Cecil B. DeMille
script Edwin Justus Mayer
Harold Lamb
C. Gardner Sullivan
Jeanie Macpherson
production Cecil B. DeMille
Paramount Pictures
music Boris Morros
George Antheil
camera Victor Milner
cut Anne Bauchens
occupation

The Buccaneer of Louisiana (original title The Buccaneer ) is an American pirate film from 1938 directed by Cecil B. DeMille , who also acted as a producer. The film is based on the novel Lafitte the pirate by Lyle Saxon. The leading roles are cast with Fredric March , Franziska Gaal and Akim Tamiroff .

action

During the British-American War , the corrupt Senator Crawford used the arson attack on the President's Palace in Washington, DC as an opportunity to summon British naval officers to a small island in the Mississippi estuary off New Orleans to attack the city . The privateer Jean Lafitte , who has built his own small empire with like-minded people in the swamps of Louisiana, gets caught between all stools. He is in control of Barataria Bay , which is a strategically important point just outside the city. The British want to get Lafitte on their side and promise him a not inconsiderable reward for his services. However, Lafitte feels like an American at heart. The situation for the pirate is also difficult because he is in a relationship with Annette, a young lady from high society in New Orleans.

When Captain Brown boarded the Corinthian , which was sailing under the American flag , the only survivor was a young Dutch woman named Gretchen. Lafitte feels obliged to take her in, she soon falls in love with him. Lafitte and his men are attacked by the Americans, many are captured, and only Lafitte himself can escape. He offers General Andrew Jackson much-needed equipment in exchange for his men’s release. Jackson agrees, Lafitte and his men fight and win the decisive battle by his side. Lafitte is socially acceptable, he and Annette forge marriage plans, when the fall of the Corinthian becomes known through a folly of Gretchen . Jackson fulfills a promise and gives Lafitte an hour head start. When Lafitte's ship sets sail, Gretchen is at his side.

Production and Background

The film also ran under the titles Lafitte, the Pirate and The Baratarians . According to Kay Weniger's film dictionary, he was also called Miss Pirate . In the opening credits, a treasure chest opens, from which a roll of parchment unrolls containing the immortal words that George Gordon Byron wrote about Jean Lafitte in Last of the Buccaneers .

The Buccaneers was DeMille's 64th film production. According to the film industry magazine The Hollywood Reporter in May 1934, Charles Laughton was originally supposed to star in this film. Filming began on DeMille's 56th birthday, August 12, 1937. According to Hollywood reporters , 350 guests were in attendance, Creole dishes were served, and the Governor of Louisiana is said to have sent a cake. Filming ended in late October 1937.

The film was shot on the oxbow lakes of the Mississippi near New Iberia , in Los Angeles and Santa Catalina Island as well as the Baldwin Oaks, where around 450 actors re-enacted the Battle of New Orleans. For this purpose, parapets with cotton balls, furniture and sandbags were erected on four hectares of the Baldwin Oaks area east of New Orleans. Baldwin Oaks, California , was chosen for its resemblance to the Chalmette area , where the actual battle took place on January 8, 1815. According to the Hollywood Reporter, fifty actors were hired to play the pirates. According to press material at the time, Lafitte's residence was stocked with silver pieces from the famous Mario Ramirez collection valued at $ 250,000. Dan Syre Groesbeck made 173 sketches of the costumes to be made, and the sculptor Dwight Franklin even made miniature wax figures of all the main characters. Groesbeck also painted a miniature of Mrs. de Remy's brooch that Gretchen wore at the ball in the film. Paramount chartered two redesigned, frame-rigged warships and three gunboats from the 1814 period. The 700 stills and 3000 negatives of the shoot amounted to ten times more material than can be seen in the end of the film. The cast and crew amounted to almost 10,000 participants. The character of Dominique You embodied by Akim Tamiroff was adapted to the real gunner of Napoleon . In contemporary reviews, Tamiroff was highly praised for his performance. According to reports at the time, he was said to have received a fee of $ 150,000 for his role. DeMille had seen the Hungarian actress Franziska Gaal in a European film and hired her for the role of Gretchen. For Gaal, The Buccaneers made her debut in the US. Much of the advertising was aimed at building the singer and dancer Gaal, who had been promoted by Joe Pasternak in her home country . DeMille compared her to Mary Pickford , Helen Hayes , Clara Bow and Elisabeth Bergner . However, his enthusiastic assessment was not shared by everyone who saw themselves confirmed when Gaal returned to her Hungarian homeland for personal reasons after two more films in the USA.

Anthony Quinn got from DeMille a small role as a pirate, as he to the producers Cheyenne in the Western The Plainsman ( The Plainsman had made) impression. He must have made even more of an impression on DeMille's daughter Katherine , as both married shortly after the filming was finished.

In 1958, DeMille remake his film with Yul Brynner (as Jean Lafitte), Claire Bloom , Charlton Heston and Charles Boyer . Since his health deteriorated noticeably during the filming, he handed the direction to his then son-in-law Anthony Quinn, whose only directorial work the film should remain. As Anne Edwards pointed out in her book The DeMills: An American Family , DeMille disapproved of the changes Quinn made to the 1937 script. When Quinn replied that the script was old-fashioned when he asked why he did it, he countered, "It was a hit!" DeMille passed away a few weeks after the premiere of King of the Buccaneers .

The film premiered on January 7, 1938 in New Orleans at the Saenger Theater, and 15,000 people are said to have attended. On February 4, 1938, The Buccaneer was generally in US cinemas. In the Federal Republic of Germany it ran for the first time on August 5, 1984 on ARD .

Historical background

The British-American War between the United States of America and the United Kingdom , also known as the War of 1812 , Second War of Independence, or " Mr. Madison's War, " began with the United States' declaration of war on June 18, 1812 and was followed by the Peace of Ghent ended on December 24th, 1814, but was followed by further fighting that lasted until 1815. In essence, it has been restored to what it was before the war.

The Battle of New Orleans took place on January 8, 1815, a few kilometers outside New Orleans in the US state of Louisiana . The British defeat against US troops under Andrew Jackson , who later became the 7th President of the United States of America , was the last great battle of the British-American War and occurred two weeks after the Ghent Peace Treaty was signed.

criticism

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops commented on the "historical staging" by Cecil B. DeMille that the "stylized violence" goes hand in hand with the "colorful Louisiana attitudes and an interesting sketch of the era at that time and that it is easy to switch between rousing action- Scenes and romantic complications to keep the audience's attention. "

For Cinefacts , the film presented itself as "an elaborate battle and pirate spectacle by the successful producer Cecil B. DeMille".

The film magazine Cinema held its thumbs up and said that the film was “designed with great attention to detail”.

The lexicon of international films spoke of a “romantic adventure film about pirates, love and ardent patriotism,” which was “well played and lively staged”. "DeMille's film [was] far more entertaining than the remake with ' King of the Buccaneers ' made 20 years later ."

Awards

The cameraman Victor Milner was on the Academy Awards in 1939 for " Best Cinematography nomination", but had against Joseph Ruttenberg a disadvantage, of the award for the Great Waltz ( The Great Waltz was able to receive).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. The Buccaneer (1938) Script information at TCM - Turner Classic Movies (English)
  2. Kay Less : "In life, more is taken from you than given ...". Lexicon of filmmakers who emigrated from Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1945. A general overview. ACABUS Verlag, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86282-049-8 .
  3. ↑ In life, more is taken from you than is given ... : Franziska Gaal
  4. a b c d The Buccaneer (1938) at TCM - Turner Classic Movies (English)
  5. a b The Buccaneer (1938) Original Print Information at TCM - Turner Classic Movies (English)
  6. a b c The Buccaneer (1938) Articles at TCM - Turner Classic Movies (English)
  7. a b The privateer of Louisiana at zweiausendeins.de. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
  8. The Buccaneer ( Memento of January 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) at old.usccb.org. Retrieved February 12, 2016.
  9. ^ The privateer of Louisiana at cinefacts.de. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
  10. The Buccaneer of Louisiana at cinema.de. Retrieved January 1, 2014.