The fight (1931)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The fight |
| Original title | The Struggle |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1931 |
| length | 74 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | David Wark Griffith |
| script |
Anita Loos John Emerson |
| production | DW Griffith |
| music | DW Griffith Philip A. Scheib |
| camera | Joseph Ruttenberg |
| cut | Barney Rogan |
| occupation | |
| |
The Fight is a 1931 American drama directed by DW Griffith about a man and his lifelong struggle with alcohol addiction.
action
At the center of the events spanning a period of two decades (1911 to 1931) is the simple and unstable worker Jimmie Wilson, who simply cannot get his life under control and cannot achieve social advancement, no matter how hard he tries. The global economic crisis and the prohibition that went with it let him fall further and further and become a drinker of black alcohol. But then he often becomes aggressive, abusive and hardly controllable. Small and short success stories are followed by crashes again and again. Jimmie threatens to lose the eponymous fight.
When he meets young Florrie, they both fall in love and finally get married. Her daughter will soon be born. But this does not change Jimmie's rhythm of life. Furthermore he reaches for the bottle and threatens to become more and more an alcoholic. His self-sacrificing and suffering Florrie rubs herself up to get Jimmie off the schnapps - to no avail. Jimmie's sister Nan, who even breaks her engagement to her boyfriend Johnnie because of him, in order to take care of him, can't help Jimmie either. Only when Jimmie's alcoholism threatens to break up his marriage does he finally pull himself together, and he takes the first steps to get rid of the addiction and find work again. Now nothing seems to stand in the way of Nan's happiness with Johnnie.
Production notes
The fight was Griffith's second sound film and at the same time his last film direction at all. The film celebrated its world premiere on December 10, 1931. In Germany, the film did not open in cinemas, but received a television premiere on January 6, 1975 on ZDF .
The 27-year-old Austrian theater actress Zita Johann made her debut here in front of the camera. Main actor Hal Skelly was also primarily a theater actor and played in only ten films. He died in a car accident in 1934 at the age of 43.
The film has strong autobiographical traits, as Griffith also had serious drinking problems all his life.
Reviews
Despite its merits, the film was a major commercial and critical failure and made Griffith decide to withdraw from the industry.
“After his last work, the widely underestimated and sarcastic critic comments accompanied the drinker melodrama“ Der Kampf ”, which was a socially committed problem piece of great staging density and supported by a convincing cast crew, Griffith's directing career was over . "
In the lexicon of international films it says: "Historically informative last film by American cinema pioneer Griffith."
"A boring and soaked retelling with the rant from old times and a little drama ..."
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hal Skelly (IMDb). Retrieved January 1, 2019 .
- ↑ The fight. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed January 1, 2019 .
Web links
- The battle in the Internet Movie Database (English)