The devil captain

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Movie
German title The devil captain
Original title She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1949
length 103 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director John Ford
script Frank S. Nugent ,
Laurence Stallings
production Merian C. Cooper ,
John Ford,
Lowell J. Farrell
music Richard Hageman
camera Winton C. High
cut Jack Murray
occupation
synchronization
chronology

←  Predecessor
To the last man

Successor  →
Rio Grande

Der Teufelshauptmann (original title: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon ; in German, for example: "She wore a yellow ribbon") is an American western by John Ford from 1949 . After the previous film Up to the Last Man , The Devil's Captain was the second part of his later so-called Cavalry Trilogy (the third part followed by Rio Grande the following year). The script was based on the stories War Party and The Big Hunt by James Warner Bellah . The two stories appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in the summer of 1948 and can only be viewed as a rough guide for the later film. As rather bloody war stories, they lack all that romanticism that characterizes Ford's film. Bellah's story begins with the words: "One week in the life of Captain Nathan Brittles."

action

Captain Nathan Brittles is an officer in the small and rather insignificant Fort Starke in the west. He is about to retire and faces an uncertain future outside of an army that has become his home. Brittles lost his wife and daughters - but the film leaves the viewer in the dark about the circumstances and background of this loss. Brittles has placed pictures of the deceased wife and daughters in his office, wrapped in a yellow ribbon. The closest to Brittles is Sergeant Qinncannon, who is roughly the same age, an Iro-American whose clout and thirst are equally feared.

The film's plot is located in the period shortly after the Battle of Little Big Horn , in the summer of 1876, whereby a tear-off calendar in which the captain cuts off the remaining days of service in the army does not contain any specific month names. (In 1876 there were only 2 months that started on a Wednesday. March and November. The Battle of Little Big Horn was on June 25, 1876. However, November only has 30 days. Ergo, the calendar used in the film is incorrect.)

Brittle's superior, Major Allshard, the commanding officer of the fort, fears in the face of impending conflicts with Indians for the physical well-being of his wife and their niece, the attractive Olivia Dandridge. This is heavily courted by two feuding junior officers, First Lieutenant Cohill and Lieutenant Penell. She wears a yellow ribbon in her hair to show that her heart has been taken (tradition with the cavalry), but leaves the two applicants in the dark as to which of them she likes. When Brittles, whom Miss Dandridge regards as a fatherly friend, asks her about this, she replies that, of course, she is wearing the ribbon because of him. Brittles acknowledges this with a smile.

Brittles, who is setting out on his last patrol , receives an order from Allshard to take both women to the next stagecoach station . From there they should travel east to safer regions. The patrol found the station completely destroyed, the residents were killed except for two children, a boy and a girl. So Brittles has to accompany the ladies back to the fort. The resolute, hard-drinking and lively Mrs. Allshard proves to be an active help in the operation of a seriously wounded soldier in a moving covered wagon . Lieutenant Cohill has to stay behind with a small unit to cover the way back.

After the ladies and wounded have been safely returned to the fort, Brittles is relieved of the task of relieving the Cohill command because of his imminent retirement against his will. In a ceremonial scene, the troop gives the outgoing commander a pocket watch as a farewell present, which Brittles looks at with his glasses rather shamefully due to the deteriorating eyesight. This farewell is also the only occasion in the film when Brittles wears a regular uniform with a tunic and the cap, which was introduced in 1872, in which the regimental badge is worn at the front, at forehead level. Since the film is actually located shortly after 1876, the soldiers would still have to wear the black Campain Hat introduced in 1872 . In the film, however, the sand-colored model that was introduced in 1883 is shown throughout, while the other uniforms are still more in line with the regulations of the early 1860s.

Instead of him, of all people, Cohill's competitor Lieutenant Penell was given command of the relief unit . Brittles, who sees Penell as overwhelmed with the task, even describes him as a baby in uniform , rides after the commando in robber's uniform . Since he still has a few hours until retirement, he takes over his position as captain again without informing his superior, but secures his troops with a written order against any subsequent court martial. His return is greeted with jubilation by his men. Brittles calls on the troops to stand still and rides himself into the Indian camp to negotiate with his old adversary, Chief Pony That Walks . This is in a similar situation to Brittles. Although he still has some authority, he has lost practical authority over the young savages led by Red Shirt .

Returning to the troops, Brittles develops a plan how the threatening armed conflict can be thwarted without bloodshed. Implementing this plan, the Indian horses are driven out of the camp at night and then back to the reservation . The next day the Indians can be seen walking and returning peacefully to their reservation.

Brittles also clarifies his successor during this last assignment. Originally from the east, Pennell is financially independent and not dependent on a career as a soldier. He thinks about his departure and would like to take Miss Dandridge, who also comes from the east, back home as his wife. In contrast, Cohill, who comes from the West, has already had more years of service as designated commander than Pennell and is therefore more closely integrated with the army. But in the dispute over Miss Dandridge, Cohill's lack of maturity shows. At the end of the day, both officers are introduced to their future roles under Brittle's leadership. The commander entrusts Cohill, whom he calls by his first name in a key scene and then calls him "son", with a small, important command to monitor a ford. Pennell, on the other hand, is tied to the army by Brittles by handing him chewing tobacco during the operation and asking him whether he still wants to quit his service, which Pennell denies under the impression of the events. The young lieutenant finally takes over command of Brittle's troops and replaces Cohill's men at the ford.

Brittles now sees his task in the army as fulfilled and resigns himself to riding west as a civilian . However, at the last (film) minute, as it were, the fort's best rider, Sergeant Tyree, is forwarded in a telegram signed by President Grant . The letter announced Brittle's appointment as inspector of the cavalry with the rank of lieutenant colonel, thereby skipping the rank of major. The film ends with a big party organized by the garrison in honor of the returned Brittles. Brittles is addressed several times as a colonel, contrary to the promotion to lieutenant colonel associated with the new post. Pennell accepted Miss Dandridge's commitment to Cohill with the words "I understand". The two will have a soldier marriage. Brittle's path, on the other hand, leads past the dancers to the grave of his family, while Pennell also turns away from the party and lonely looks after his previous commander.

backgrounds

  • John Ford described the devil captain as a beautiful and sad film .
  • Despite the use of the Technicolor color process, the production costs were lower than for “Fort Apache”, the first film in the trilogy shot in black and white, since this time only one star was engaged with John Wayne. In addition, the shooting time was limited to just 31 days - from the end of October to the beginning of December 1948 - which resulted in cost savings of around half a million dollars for the film distributor, RKO Pictures , which was also responsible for securing the financing.
  • In the end, the production was shot for $ 1,851,291, with the actors hitting a total of $ 218,942. In addition to Wayne, who received a lump sum of $ 100,000, Victor McLaglen got the second highest salary. He played for $ 7,000 a week for five weeks. In the six weeks Mildred Natwick was employed, she made a weekly pay of $ 2,250 and Joanne Dru received $ 1,250 a week for the eight and a half weeks of her playing time. George O'Brien, on the other hand, received $ 1,875 a week for his eight weeks of activity.
  • Sadness and melancholy permeate the most sentimental of all Ford westerns, the leitmotif of which is saying goodbye. The perspective of the film is looking back, although the sadly mourned past is not presented in an explanatory way at any point in the film. Place describes this as a staging element with which the idealized past is given greater emotional weight than it could be given a realistic depiction of events.
  • At Ford, the two motifs of community and family typical of many of his films are based on the word “victim”. In addition to the sacrifice of one's own life, the devil's captain emphasizes a person's voluntary renunciation of a family and the personal happiness associated with it. After the death of his family, Captain Brittles only lives and works platonically for the community of his troops, a kind of surrogate family for him. His young successor, Lieutenant Pennell, who came from the East, decided to sacrifice personal happiness to military duty even before founding his own family. He only took this step through personal disputes with his rival, the West coming Lieutenant Cohill, being ready. In this context, the German filmmaker Hartmut Bitomsky spoke of the fact that at Ford "taking on a social task ... is always in conjunction with renouncing a woman". Celibacy, which is shaped by Catholicism, is a trait that many Ford figures bear. Although the hero of the Western, Captain Brittles, has become an American social outsider due to his leadership style and the lack of further offspring, which is evident in him and the troops he leads in the mostly irregular dress without a uniform skirt, he does his part in the construction of American civilization, to which he is linked in particular through the flag and the values ​​associated with it. His successor, Lieutenant Pennell, on the other hand, does not deviate from the prescribed uniform, but, as mentioned, is also willing to make the highest social sacrifices in order to perform his service as an officer.
  • According to the intentions of director John Ford, the representations and landscape shots of the film, which were received extremely positively by the film critics, should deliberately lean on the images of the American West that were handed down by the painter Frederic Remington . The historian Tag Gallagher quotes Ford as follows: "I think first as a cameraman" (I think first as a cameraman).
  • The exterior shots of the film were shot in Monument Valley , which was finally established as John Ford Country .
  • The scene with the sleeping dog, who has settled in front of the company, was improvised. It was an Indian dog that accidentally got lost there during filming. The recordings had to be repeated several times because McLaglen repeatedly referred to the dog as a cocker spaniel .
  • Frank McGrath, who was featured prominently as a trumpeter, belonged to the stunt team of the film , as did Michael Dugan (Sgt. Hochbauer) and the actors in several minor supporting roles . In addition to the role as a trumpeter, McGrath took on another role as an Indian.
  • The film character of former Southern Brigadier General Brome Clay , who served as Corporal John Smith and was identified by his former subordinate Tyree , can also be seen as a reference to the previous film Up to the Last Man , which addressed the downgrading of former Civil War officers.
  • Ford's idealized image of the army, here the cavalry, as an integrating, homeland-giving community is conspicuously expressed in this film by the names of some of the film characters. In addition to southerners such as Tyree or the Irish-born Quinncannon and O'Laughlin (regimental doctor), the names of German descent are particularly striking, one non-commissioned officer is called Hochbauer , the blacksmith is called Wagner , his assistant Fritz . Since Ford's parents were immigrants from Ireland themselves, the Irish origin aspect can be explained. This fact is taken into account by the often heard Irish accent in the original films, but sometimes only by the protagonist names of Irish origin. Particularly the view of family cohesion and Catholic religiosity are expressions of Ford's appreciation of Irish traditions. In addition, there are also drinking figures, coarse humor and sentimentality that are part of the image of Ireland.
  • Ben Johnson not only had the image of the regiment's best rider as the film character Sergeant Tyree , but outside of the film he was also considered the best rider in Hollywood. When he received an Oscar for his performance in The Last Performance , he proudly stated that he was the first real cowboy to ever win an Oscar.
  • A considerable part of the script was co-written by Ford himself. This is evidenced by, among other things, some handwritten notes made in the shooting schedule by Ford, which can be found in the words reproduced by an explanatory speaker about certain film scenes.
  • Recent studies have highlighted the ethnic conflict in the devil 's chief. So Captain Brittles is confronted with an insoluble conflict of conscience, which gives him the two options of complying with the army's clear demands or following his personal intuition in order to avoid an Indian war.
  • It remains a mystery why RKO only put the film on distribution almost a year after the shooting ended. It has been speculated that internal problems with the company were the cause, although John Ford's records provide no clues. In the USA alone, the devil's captain made $ 2.5 million. Worldwide there was another 2.7 million dollars. The early film reviews particularly highlighted the visual qualities of this work.

synchronization

The German version was created in 1954 in the studio of Simoton Film GmbH in Berlin . Richard Busch was responsible for the dialogue script and dubbing . As with so many westerns, the name given by the German film distributor was absolutely nonsensical and, at best, testifies to a lack of understanding on the part of those responsible for the plot and statements of the film. The main character Captain Brittles is anything but a devil captain .

role actor Voice actor
Captain Nathan Brittles John Wayne Wilhelm Borchert
Olivia Dandridge Joanne Dru Marianne Prenzel
Top Sergeant Quinncannon Victor McLaglen Eduard Wandrey
Sergeant Tyree Ben Johnson Heinz Engelmann
Lieutenant Cohill John Agar Horst Niendorf
Lieutenant Penell Harry Carey Klaus Schwarzkopf
Mrs. Abby Allshard Mildred Natwick Ursula War
Major Allshard George O'Brien Hans-Albert Martens
Dr. O'Laughlin Arthur Shields Hans Hessling
Corporal Quayne Tom Tyler Friedrich Joloff
Jumping fox John Big Tree Walter Werner

reception

  • The Devil Captain was the declared favorite film of the American General Douglas MacArthur . He wanted to have recognized his image in the main character Captain Brittles. He regularly wove quotes from this film into his public speeches.
  • Michael Hanisch in particular points out that the sad, wistful farewell mood of the film and the staging of the Indians anticipate the late Westerns of the 1960s and 1970s.

Reviews

source rating
Rotten tomatoes to
critic
audience
IMDb
  • “She wore a yellow ribbon is more of a symphony for the ears and a painting for the eyes than a story for the head. Feelings of longing and loss, of a better past, of the dignity of the men marching by, are conveyed through the sounds and images of the film, not through the themes of the story. "(JA Place)
  • “Contrary to the German title, it is by no means about brisk heroism without scruples and respect for people, contrary to the American title, it is also not about a romance. Rather, it is about the content and purpose of life of a soldier of heart and conscience. For him it is not about fame and triumph, but about maintaining peace even where there is no longer any hope. ”(The evangelical film observer )
  • Thomas Jeier described the devil's captain as “probably the best film” in John Ford's “Trilogy about the American cavalry”.
  • After the completion of the film, director John Ford certified his leading actor John Wayne: “You're an actor, now! (Now you're an actor!) ”. Judging by Ford's usual way of dealing with his actors, this can be seen as an expression of the highest praise. The portrayal of at least 20 years older, at the end of his career man by the then 41/42 year old John Wayne was and is widely regarded as his (at least until then) best acting, not least by Wayne himself. Film colleague John Agar , who had many scenes with Wayne, described Wayne's performance as just brilliant and said it deserved at least an Oscar nomination.
  • "Above-average color Wild West film (...) Beautiful lyrical images in the midst of a somewhat monotonous plot that celebrates masculinity and military virtue." - 6000 films. Handbook V of the Catholic Film Critics, 1963
  • “(...) Warhorse Wayne in what is probably his most unobtrusive, most sympathetic role; McLaglen instigates one of the most humorous saloon brawls (...). ”(Rating: 3½ out of 4 possible stars - exceptional) - Adolf Heinzlmeier and Berndt Schulz , Lexicon“ Films on TV ”, 1990
  • "John Wayne has never been better than in this beautifully crafted film with its masterful Ford imprint and a landscape worthy of a fine Remington painting." (John Wayne was never better equipped than in this wonderful, artfully staged film, shaped by Ford's master hand with landscape shots that are equal to the most beautiful pictures of Remington) (Fagen)
  • "It is no coincidence that this film is visually the most beautiful, and on an emotional level certainly the most sentimental Western John Ford."

Awards

  • 1950: Oscar for best color photography to Winton C. Hoch

Director Ford put the Oscar award for his cameraman in perspective by reporting "a lot of trouble" with him. The cameraman had repeatedly given him in writing that he believed Ford's instructions were completely wrong. “When we were shooting the storm scenes, during a real storm, he said several times that there could be nothing on the film at all. He then received the Oscar for the photography of this film. "

literature

  • Herb Fagen: The Encyclopedia of Westerns / Foreword: Tom Selleck, Introduction: Dale Robertson. Facts on File, New York 2003 (The Facts on File film reference library), ISBN 0-8160-4456-2
  • Hanisch, Michael: Western: The Development of a Film Genre . Henschelverlag / Art and Society, Berlin 1984
  • Hembus, Joe : Western Lexicon . Heyne, Munich 1976 (Heyne book 7048), ISBN 3-453-00767-0
  • Thomas Jeier : The western film . Original edition. Heyne, Munich 1987 (Heyne-Filmbibliothek; 32/102), ISBN 3-453-86104-3
  • Janey Ann Place: The Westerns by John Ford (edited by Christa Bandmann, edited and translated by Rolf Thissen ). Goldmann, Munich 1984 ( Citadel-Filmbuch ) (Goldmann Magnum; 10221), ISBN 3-442-10221-9
  • Dirk Christian Loew: The cavalry westerns of John Ford . University Library Johann Christian Senckenberg, Frankfurt 2003 (dissertation)
  • Dirk Christian Loew: Attempt on John Ford. The western films 1939-1964 . BoD, Norderstedt 2005, ISBN 3-8334-2124-X , pp. 126–128 and pp. 149–163
  • Claudius Seidl in Film Genres - Westerns (edited by Thomas Koebner ). Reclam junior, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-018402-9 , pp. 126-130

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Occasionally also referred to as the 1st Cavalry Trilogy , with the later films The Last Command , The Black Sergeant and Cheyenne being referred to as the 2nd Cavalry Trilogy .
  2. ↑ a b c d e Dirk Christian Loew: The cavalry westerns of John Ford . University Library Johann Christian Senckenberg, Frankfurt 2003, p. 139. (Dissertation)
  3. ^ Dirk Christian Loew: The cavalry westerns of John Ford . University Library Johann Christian Senckenberg, Frankfurt 2003, p. 138. (Dissertation)
  4. ↑ Fagen uses the superlative, p. 388
  5. ↑ cf. Place, p. 112
  6. ↑ a b Dirk Christian Loew: The cavalry westerns of John Ford . Johann Christian Senckenberg University Library, Frankfurt 2003, pp. 67–68. (Dissertation)
  7. ↑ a b Dirk Christian Loew: The cavalry westerns of John Ford . University Library Johann Christian Senckenberg, Frankfurt 2003, p. 141. (Dissertation)
  8. ↑ Hartmut Bitomsky : Yellow stripes, strict blue. Passage through films by John Ford . In: Filmkritik 267, 1979, p. 106.
  9. ^ Dirk Christian Loew: The cavalry westerns of John Ford . University Library Johann Christian Senckenberg, Frankfurt 2003, p. 73. (Dissertation)
  10. ^ Dirk Christian Loew: The cavalry westerns of John Ford . University Library Johann Christian Senckenberg, Frankfurt 2003, p. 68. (Dissertation)
  11. ^ Tag Gallagher: John Ford. The Man and his Films. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London 1986. ISBN 9780520063341 , p. 462.
  12. ^ Dirk Christian Loew: The cavalry westerns of John Ford . Johann Christian Senckenberg University Library, Frankfurt 2003, pp. 64–65. (Dissertation)
  13. ^ Dirk Christian Loew: The cavalry westerns of John Ford . Johann Christian Senckenberg University Library, Frankfurt 2003, pp. 51–52. (Dissertation)
  14. ^ Dirk Christian Loew: The cavalry westerns of John Ford . University Library Johann Christian Senckenberg, Frankfurt 2003, p. 74. (Dissertation)
  15. ↑ Thomas Bräutigam : Stars and their German voices. Lexicon of voice actors . Schüren, Marburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-89472-627-0 , CD-ROM
  16. ↑ Hanisch emphasizes this, see p. 223 there. See also the criticism of the Evangelical Film Observer (quoted under "Reviews")
  17. ↑ on this, especially Hembus, p. 604
  18. ↑ Hanisch, p. 221f
  19. ↑ a b wore a at Rotten Tomatoes , accessed April 6, 2015
  20. ↑ The Devil's Captain in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  21. ^ Place, p. 112
  22. ↑ here quoted from Place, p. 123
  23. ↑ on this: Fagen, p. 388
  24. ↑ 6000 films. Critical notes from the cinema years 1945 to 1958 . Handbook V of the Catholic film criticism, 3rd edition, Verlag Haus Altenberg, Düsseldorf 1963, p. 428
  25. ^ Adolf Heinzlmeier, Berndt Schulz in Lexicon "Films on TV" (expanded new edition). Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , p. 812
  26. ↑ Fagen, p. 388
  27. ↑ quoted from Loew, p. 329
  28. ↑ quoted from Hembus, p. 604