The hero of the prairie
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The hero of the prairie |
| Original title | The Plainsman |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1936 |
| length | 113 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Cecil B. DeMille |
| script |
Harold Lamb , Lynn Riggs , Waldemar Young |
| production |
Cecil B. DeMille , William LeBaron , William H. Pine |
| music | George Antheil |
| camera |
Victor Milner , George Robinson |
| cut | Anne Bauchens |
| occupation | |
| |
The hero of the prairie (original title: The Plainsman ) is an American western directed by Cecil B. DeMille from 1936 with Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur in the lead roles.
action
When the American Civil War ends, there is an oversupply of firearms. Some of the arms dealers see the Indians as potential buyers. Wild Bill Hickok returns to the West after retiring from the US Army . He meets his old army colleague Buffalo Bill on one of the paddle steamers . Together they later take the carriage to Hays, Kansas , which is driven by Calamity Jane . The commercial agent Lattimer supplied the Cheyenne with repeating rifles. In a fight, they could kill half a cavalry unit. Hickok finds out and informs General Custer. Buffalo Bill is assigned to lead a replacement train for the fort while Hickok tries to find out where Yellow Hand, the Cheyenne chief, is.
Calamity Jane is captured by the Indians. Hickok wants to negotiate for her release, but is also caught. Yellow Hand explains to Hickok why the Indians go to battle. The white man settles on their land and kills the buffalo, the food source of the Indians, in large numbers. He promises to release his hostages if they reveal the location of the supply train. Calamity tells Jane where the train is so that Hickok, who has since confessed his love to her, is not burned alive. Yellow Hand keeps his promise and lets them go.
The Indians attack the supply train. Hickok helps the troubled soldiers and sends Jane out to fetch reinforcements. After six days of hard fighting, the survivors are rescued by the arriving cavalry unit under Custer. Back in town, Hickok challenges the commercial agent Lattimer to a revolver duel. Lattimer is cowardly and instead sends three army deserters who are killed by Hickok in a fight. Hickok is wanted and has to flee to Dakota. Citizens of the city find out that Calamity Jane was at least partially responsible for rescuing the supply train.
Buffalo Bill is sent after by Custer Hickok. When Buffalo finally finds Bill Hickok, they catch an Indian and hear that the general was killed in the Battle of Little Bighorn and that the Cheyenne want to unite with the Sioux at the Black Hills. In addition, Lattimer wants to deliver more rifles to the Indians to pick up in Deadwood. Buffalo Bill doesn't arrest his friend but rides off to alert the cavalry. Meanwhile, Hickok rides to Deadwood to prevent Lattimer from doing business with the Indians. Hickok kills Lattimer. To keep his henchmen at bay until Buffalo arrives with the army, he plays poker with them. One of the accomplices, McCall, who has to act as a bartender on Hickok's instructions, finds a handgun behind the counter and kills him with a shot in the back. His last hand contains two black eights and two aces (see Dead Man's hand ). Calamity Jane's heart breaks when she sees her lover's body.
background
The script, which was written with the help of Grover Jones , is based on the novel Wild Bill Hickok by Frank J. Wilstach, the story The Prince of Pistoleros by Courtney Ryley Cooper and research by Jeanie Macpherson .
John Wayne tried to get the lead role, but director Cecil B. DeMille chose Gary Cooper , an excellent rider who mastered most of the riding scenes without doubles. Parts of the Wyoming National Guard and no fewer than two thousand Indians were called in for the lavish crowd scenes . The production company wanted a happy ending, but the director refused. Anthony Quinn was given a small supporting role as an Indian.
Reviews
For the lexicon of international film , Der Held der Prärie was "[e] in a very entertaining western with grandiose filmed action and crowd scenes, a tight plot and pointedly worked out roles, which brings together events between 1865 and 1876". According to Cinema , the "monumental film genius Cecil B. De Mille" filmed the stories about Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, Buffalo Bill and the Battle of the Little Big Horn "new and very amusing".
German versions
Paramount brought the film to German cinemas in 1950 as The Hero of the Prairie . The dubbed version used was created by Elite Film Franz Schroeder GmbH Berlin under the dubbing direction of Konrad Wagner based on the dialogue book by Fritz A. Koeniger . Another version was commissioned by ARD in 1973 for television. However, as early as 1940 the German audience had the opportunity to see the film under the title Treason - The Adventures of Buffalo Bill in cinemas.
| role | actor | Voice actor 1950 | Voice actor 1973 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wild Bill Hickok | Gary Cooper | Ernst Wilhelm Borchert | Hartmut Reck |
| Calamity Jane | Jean Arthur | Erika Görner | Uta Hallant |
| Buffalo Bill | James Ellison | Sebastian Fischer | Randolf Kronberg |
| John Lattimer | Charles Bickford | Axel Monjé | Edgar Ott |
| Jack McCall | Porter Hall | - | Gerd Martienzen |
| Yellow hand | Paul Harvey | - | Joachim Kemmer |
| General George A. Custer | John Miljan | - | Martin Hirthe |
| Abraham Lincoln | Frank McGlynn Sr. | - | Eric Vaessen |
| Cheyenne warriors | Anthony Quinn | - | Manfred Lehmann |
literature
- Jean-Marc Bouineau, Alain Charlot and Jean-Pierre Frimbois: The 100 Best Western Movies . Heyne Film and Television Library No. 32/159, Wilhelm Heyne Verlag Munich, German first edition 1991, ISBN 3-453-04935-7 .
- Joe Hembus : The Western Lexicon - Extended new edition by Benjamin Hembus - 1567 films from 1894 to today . Heyne Film Library No. 32/207, Wilhelm Heyne Verlag Munich, original edition 1995, ISBN 3-453-08121-8 .
- Georg Seeßlen: Film Genres - Westerns . Edited by Thomas Koebner , Reclam junior, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-018402-9 , pp. 72-81.
Web links
- The Plainsman in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Hero of the Prairie. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ See cinema.de
- ↑ The Hero of the Prairie. In: synchronkartei.de. German synchronous index , accessed on May 24, 2017 .
- ↑ See synchronized version 1950 on synchrondatenbank.de ( Memento of the original from April 10, 2016 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 Hero of the Prairie. In: synchronkartei.de. German synchronous index , accessed on May 24, 2017 .
- ↑ See dubbed version 1973 on synchrondatenbank.de ( Memento of the original from April 10, 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.
