The King of Bernina (1957)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The King of Bernina |
| Country of production | Austria , Switzerland |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1957 |
| length | 93 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alfred Lehner |
| script | Karl Heinz Busse |
| production |
Erwin C. Dietrich for Urania Filmproduktion, Zurich, Zenith-Filmproduktion Lehner & Co., Vienna, Sonor-Film, Vienna |
| music | Frank Filip |
| camera | Sepp Ketterer |
| cut | Margarete Egle |
| occupation | |
| |
The King of Bernina is an Austrian-Swiss homeland film by Alfred Lehner from 1957 .
action
At the time of Napoléon at the beginning of the 19th century: After three years in the distant monastery, Cilgia and Monika return to the Engadin , which was occupied by the French . Cilgia is the niece of the village pastor. On their way to the village they meet Markus Paltram, who once lived in the village. His father was the village blacksmith, but left the village when he was thought to be a murderer after an accident on the mountain. In the distance he has died of grief. His son is now returning to the village as an adult. He wants to work as a gunsmith or blacksmith. In the village, however, he is met with suspicion and rejection. Especially the talkative Seni makes life difficult for him. Seni is also targeting the beautiful gypsy daughter Pia. Their family leaves the village. Halfway there they find the badly injured Siegesmund Gruber, the son of a wealthy landowner. He was chased and almost shot by the French. Pia and Markus bring Siegesmund across the border to Austria. Seni wants to put Markus on trial for this because he fears acts of revenge by the French. Only when it becomes clear that Siegesmund is the one saved do the men in the village calm down.
A little later it is announced that the Engadine is free and Napoléon has withdrawn. A rifle festival is organized to celebrate, which Markus wins. He does his victory dance with Cilgia, whom he loves, and is mocked for it by Seni and his men. When he returned to his seat, his rifle was gone. It turns out that the gypsies stole it. However, Pia secretly steals the box from her father and brings it back to Markus, whom she wants to seduce. Since Markus is not in the house, she looks for him on the mountain. When trying to draw his attention to herself, Pia crashes. Markus takes her into his house and takes care of her well. Siegesmund is now healthy and visits Cilgia. He has fallen in love with her and wants to marry her, but Cilgia rejects him. She loves Markus. But he is jealous and believes that Cilgia prefers the rich mouth of victory, especially since Markus does not want to marry her until he has cleared his name in the village. Among other things, he advocates that there is no longer any hunting in the Bernina - another reason why Seni wants to drive Markus out of the area is that hunting has always been free.
Siegesmund organizes a celebration of thanks for his rescuers Cilgia and Markus, at which he gives Cilgia a necklace. Markus, however, has jealously stayed away from the party, finally appears drunk and harasses Siegesmund. He is sent away from Cilgia and returns to his hut in frustration. Pia uses her opportunity and seduces the drunk Markus. Some time later, Markus asked the village priest to call because Pia was pregnant. She dies giving birth to her daughter, who is also called Pia in memory of her mother. Pia's death drove Markus out of the village. He now lives in the mountains, rescues people who have had an accident on the mountain and takes care of the wild animals. At the stand day he once again submitted an inspiration that the Bernina should be closed for hunting; a first was refused. Markus' services to the people are known beyond the Bernina and the son of the district administrator, Konrad, writes the song King of the Bernina about Markus , which is soon on everyone's lips.
Two years have passed since Pia's death. Your daughter grows up with the pastor. Siegesmund, on the other hand, advertised in vain for Cilgia, who now works as a housekeeper on his farm. However, Cilgia cannot forget Markus; a box he made for Father Gruber reminds her of him every day. After Siegesmund wanted to take Cilgia by force and his father prevented this, Siegesmund took the rifle and went into the village. Seni tells him the way to the hunting-free area guarded by Markus. Once there, he shoots in the air and awaits Markus. He wants to kill him, but Markus manages to put Siegesmund to flight. Siegesmund falls from the mountain on the descent. He is carried back to the village by Markus and the residents believe that Siegesmund is dead. The district administrator arrests Markus for murder, but Siegesmund survived and takes the blame on himself. He realizes with dismay that Markus has now saved his life for the second time. A little later, Konrad was elected as the new district administrator and announced as the first official act that the Ständetag had declared the Bernina a nature reserve, which forbade hunting for the future. It comes to a happy end and the reconciled Markus will now start a family with Pia and Cilgia.
production
The King of Bernina is based on the novel of the same name by the Swiss writer Jakob Christoph Heer from 1900. The main character Markus Paltram shows features of Gian Marchet Colani . Producer Erwin C. Dietrich, who founded Urania-Film in Zurich in 1956, secured not only the option to this material but also the rights to Heers An Heiligen Wassern (1898), because both novels had remained bestsellers since their first publication. In contrast to the novel, the film was given a happy ending to increase public acceptance.
The film was shot in Guarda and Pontresina as well as on Piz Morteratsch in the Engadine. For this, the predominantly Austro-German crew and two hundred extras had to be brought here. Bad weather and a hotel fire made filming difficult.
The interior shots were made in the Rosenhügel film studios of Wien-Film . The buildings are by Nino Borghi , the costumes by Leo Bei . The Mozart Choir Boys sing. The students in a school class perform the songs The Mountains Are Free and The King of Bernina .
The King of the Bernina had its premiere on August 9, 1957 in Stuttgart. Swiss premiere was on October 26, 1957 in Zurich; the Austrian premiere took place on November 8, 1957 in Vienna. The film brought only meager income, which is attributed to the honest design and the oversaturation of the market with home movies at the time.
The same material was made into a later silent film The King of Bernina in Hollywood by Ernst Lubitsch in 1929 .
criticism
For the film service , The King of the Bernina was an "extremely moderately staged, non-acting homeland film that tries in vain to tie in with the mountain film tradition of German-language cinema."
Gertraud Steiner called the nature shots of the film better than the plot, which serves typical Heimat film clichés of the time: While the blond, innocent Cilgia as a good type of woman gets the man in the end, the black-haired gypsy Pia is a “symbol for the unsettling, extraordinary, sexually active Woman [...] 'punished' with death, at least dramatically. "
Web links
- The King of the Bernina in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The King of Bernina at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ School class from the film “BERNINA”, Guarda and Samaden, 1957 ( Memento of the original from November 26, 2014 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. migrosmagazin.ch. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
- ↑ Benedikt Eppenberger, Daniel Stapfer: Girls, Machos and Moneten. The incredible story of the Swiss cinema entrepreneur Erwin C. Dietrich , Verlag Scharfe Stiefel, 2006, p. 24
- ↑ The King of Bernina. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Gertraud Steiner: Die Heimat-Macher. Cinema in Austria 1946–1966 . Publishing house for social criticism, Vienna 1987, p. 187.
