The Road to the Open (1941)

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Movie
Original title The way out
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1941
length 113 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Rolf Hansen
script Rolf Hansen
Jacob Geis
Harald Braun
production Carl Froelich
music Theo Mackeben
camera Franz Weihmayr
cut Anna Höllering
occupation

The way into the open is a German film melodrama from 1941, directed by Rolf Hansen . Zarah Leander is in her eighth UFA production for the first time under Hansen's direction. She had met Rolf Hansen as Carl Froelich's assistant director and expressly asked UFA for Hansen to direct this film.

action

The squire Detlev von Blossin and the opera singer Antonia Corvelli have been married for more than a year. The baron has agreed with his wife that they will finally return to his estate in Pomerania as soon as their current engagement is over . Baroness von Blossin is eagerly awaiting her son and daughter-in-law, but is skeptical whether the famous singer will feel comfortable in the seclusion of the family estate. The elderly lady told her distant relative Luise that different worlds would collide.

Antonia Corvelli, who has always been able to get her husband to give in to her will, has renewed her contract without his knowledge. When the baron finds out about this, he leaves the theater without a word and angry. On the other day von Blossin lets his wife know that after more than a year now, he has to go back to his estate. She promised him to come with him and now she has broken her promise again. This time Antonia does not manage to change her husband's mind. The baron is greeted happily by his mother on the family estate, but you can see the disappointment and concern that he has come without his wife. Detlev tells the baroness that she still has work to do in Vienna and will follow.

In Vienna, meanwhile, the population takes to the streets and shows their displeasure with the corrupt economic methods of Prince von Metternich . The seedy Count Stefan Oginski, who is also responsible as Metternich's financial advisor, is dismayed to learn that Metternich has fled and that the troublemakers in his house are chopping up everything. Antonia, who was once with the soldier of fortune, feels obliged to stand by her former friend in such a situation and gives him refuge in her house in Vienna.

The unrest did not go unnoticed in the Pomeranian seclusion of the Blossin estate and some men want to use this as an opportunity to stir up the workers of Blossin. The baron, however, clears up the situation in his own unpretentious way. Luise, who ran the property together with his mother during Blossin's absence, is still at his side. Achim, the son of the district administrator, who had hoped for the charming young woman, must also recognize that she feels more for von Blossin than just friendship.

With the help she gave Oginski, Antonia got into trouble herself in Vienna. The count doesn't even shrink from calling her his accomplice and extorting money for money. He also wants her to flee with him. The singer's confidante, Barbaccia, who is loyal to her, advises Antonia to fake her death when she desperately thinks that Oginski will always cling to her, that he will not let her and will find her everywhere. That's how it happens.

Just as Luise decided to leave the estate, the baron's living conditions change dramatically. After von Blossin had not received any news from Antonia for several weeks, he told his mother that his wife would have to come by herself if everything is to be fine between them. Shortly afterwards the baron is informed by the district administrator of Antonia's suicide, who is said to have drowned herself in the Danube Canal . He tells his mother that he learned things about Antonia that he wanted to tell her, but that should never be discussed again. Antonia, who traveled to Switzerland with Barbaccia after her fictitious suicide and has been living there for some time, is wooed by the Swiss Müetli who tells her about his wife and that a man can forgive a woman he loves. The opera diva then takes courage and postpones the planned journey to Italy for the time being in order to visit her husband on his estate. Maybe everything will be okay after all, she tells Barbaccia. Luise welcomes her to the estate and tells her how much the baron had suffered in the past because he had to find out from the police that his wife had been in contact with another man and he had only just got back together composed that she should therefore please spare him an encounter with his past. Antonia did not reveal herself, but introduced herself as an old friend from Vienna. While she was waiting, she learned from an employee that everyone on the estate hoped that Miss Luise would become more than just a distant relative when the year of mourning was over. So the singer decides with a heavy heart to leave the estate without further contact. As the car drives away, she weeps bitterly on Barbaccia's shoulder.

Six years have passed and Antonia sings on a small stage in Italy under the name Giulietta. They were rehearsing for “ Rigoletto ” when the news came that the role of the Duke of Mantua would be sung by the famous Tamaso Rezzi that evening. Antonia is startled, because of course she knows the singer. However, Barbaccia assures her that she will dress her up so that he will not recognize her. “ Oh, how deceitful are women's hearts ” , it sounds in the evening to huge applause from the stage. Then comes Antonia's duet with Rezzi. Her fear of meeting colleagues from the opera again in the future is so great that she decides to flee again. As luck would have it, Oginski found out from Rezzi that he had been on stage in Bergamo with a woman whose appearance and voice were amazingly similar to the great Corvelli, and that he had the feeling of being on stage with her again. Antonia is now appearing in a tavern because she fears the opera stage. Oginski will find her there. He tells the singer that her husband is remarried and even has a child. It quickly becomes clear that he is planning blackmail and wants to take advantage of the fact of bigamy . Antonia can't change his mind. When she was told the other day that the count had left, she suspected that he was on his way to Blossin to blackmail him. She decides to travel to Mecklenburg as well. Oginski is already with the baron and tells him that Antonia is still alive. He tries to blackmail von Blossin and even pretends to act on behalf of the singer. Von Blossin rejects him. In the meantime Antonia has also arrived at the estate. There she meets the Blossins' little son and shortly afterwards Luise. Antonia tells Luise everything and gives her the promise that Oginski will not destroy her happiness, she will make sure that everything will be different tomorrow. Then she drives away. In the small pension where she stayed, she tears up the baron's love letters, which are so precious to her. From Luise von Blossin learns about Antonia's visit and her words and suspects something bad. He rushes to retirement as quickly as he can. The doctor present lets him into the room with the dying woman. She has ingested poison and makes the baron promise that no one should know who she really is, because then everything would have been in vain. It is infinitely difficult for Blossin to deny Antonia, but he fulfills this last heart's desire. When he leaves the room, Antonia's arm falls limp. She is dead.

background

Since all of Zarah Leander's last films were not a great success, she insisted that Rolf Hansen take over the direction of this film . She knew Hansen from her work with the director Carl Froelich , with whom she had already made three films. Hansen worked as an assistant director at Froelich. She expected new impulses from Hansen and he was also considered less conventional . She got her way, although Hansen had had a bad position at Goebbels since 1938. With Life can be so beautiful (working title Ultimo ), he had violated the prevailing ideology . The fact that Zarah was not refused this request was due to her enormous pulling power as a box office star at home and abroad. The way outdoors was a great success with the public, so that the UFA had to put their concerns about Hansen aside. The next film, Zarahs ( The Great Love ) , was again directed by Hansen.

Hans Stüwe was Zarah Leander's partner in four films, the last time in 1953 in Ave_Maria_ (1953) .

Songs in the movie:

This film is not identical to Arthur Schnitzler's first novel The Way to the Free . Schnitzler's work was filmed in 1983 under the direction of Karin Brandauer with Klaus Maria Brandauer in the leading role.

Historical background: Klemens Wenzel Lothar von Metternich (since 1813 Prince * 1773 - † 1859) was a statesman in the Austrian Empire and rose to one of the leading statesmen in Europe since 1813, leading role in the Congress of Vienna . As a leading politician during the Restoration period , he stood for the monarchical principle and fought against national and liberal movements.

production

The film premiered on May 7, 1941 in the Gloria Palast in Berlin . The film drama was also released in cinemas in 1941 in the Netherlands and Finland . The film started in France and Sweden in 1942. The (federal) German TV premiere was on May 26, 1988. In Italy the film was shown under the title Per la sua felicitá and in Sweden under the title Två världar .

Responsible production company was Tonfilm-Studio Carl Froelich & Co. (Berlin) on behalf of Universum-Film AG ( UFA ) Berlin. Friedrich Pflughaupt was in charge of production, Kurt-Fritz Quassowski, Kurt Moos and Paul Kalinowsky were the production managers. The buildings came from Walter Haag , the sound from Werner Pohl and the costumes from Max von Formacher. Milo Harbich and Ernst Mölter acted as assistant directors .

The shooting took place from September 15, 1940 to February 1941 in Mecklenburg-Strelitz , on Gut Dannenwalde in the area of Neustrelitz , in Innsbruck and near Hall in Tirol . The first distribution took place through UFA-Filmverleih GmbH (Berlin). The film was banned from young people in 1941 (censorship: April 25, 1941, B.55399).

The largely unknown actress Eva Immermann, who was given the supporting supporting role of Luise, is Paul Wegener's daughter-in-law .

The production costs were around 1,758,000 RM, and the gross profit by January 1942 was around 3.5 million RM.

Despite its entertainment character, the film also clearly had propagandistic traits: the villain in the film is a Pole (Oginski) who "does illegal business with Jewish 'pests', portrayed by Viktor Janson and Walter Süßenguth".

The film was released on DVD in 2009:

criticism

“Middle of the 19th century: A famous opera singer, involved in a scandal, fakes suicide. Her husband is getting married again. For the sake of his family happiness, she later believes it is right to actually take her own life. A typical melodrama for Zarah Leander in a solid production. "

- Lexicon of international film

Dr. Erich Ronneburger wrote the following review on May 9, 1941 in the Steglitzer Anzeiger, Berlin:

“ 'The way to the outdoors' is an interesting film in terms of plot and presentation ... The film is supported by Zarah Leander's creative art. She is so convincingly believable and honest that the viewers are deeply shaken by the end of the heroine, all of the spiritual conflicts that arise from her love for art and her very powerful husband. In addition to Zarah Leander, the director Rolf Hansen has chosen other great actors who do no less important. Siegfried Breuer embodies the noble rascal Count Oginski so typically real that Antonia's desperate step, which in all its effects has not been properly considered, can appear psychologically halfway understandable ... "

- Dr. Erich Ronneburger, Steglitzer Anzeiger, Berlin

In the Hünstelder Volkszeitung of February 22, 1952 it was read that “there are not too many films of German origin that would leave such a direct, strong impression on their audience”, “like the one about the best performances by the old Germans A Zarah Leander film that counts productions and has contributed significantly to making the name of the Swede popular. ”The story of the woman“ who is faced with the decision [see] between her family obligations and her professional one is true Career as a singer [to have to choose], not in itself new and often enough to visualize the content of more or less dramatic novels and films. ”The review also states:

“But this time the main emphasis is not too much on the otherwise nicely structured plot. Rather, the main characters are Zarah Leander as the celebrated singer Antonia Corvelli, Hans Stüwe in his portrayal of the aristocratic landowner, who is so completely different from his wife, and the demonic, cosmopolitan appearance of Oginski, to whom the film owes its appeal even today ... The atmosphere of a bygone era from which everything needs to be understood and assessed ... "

- ORH, Huenfeld People's Newspaper

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Cornelia Zumkeller: Zarah Leander. Your films - your life . Heyne Film Library No. 32/120. Heyne, Munich 1988, pp. 118, 119.
  2. ↑ Zarah Leander archive at zarahleander.de
  3. ^ Ulrich J. Klaus: Deutsche Tonfilme, 11th year 1940/41 . Berlin 2000, p. 286.
  4. ^ Bogusław Drewniak: The German Film 1938–1945. A complete overview . Düsseldorf 1987, p. 316.
  5. ↑ The way into the open. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  6. ↑ a b . Bonus material (press excerpts) DVD German film classics: The road to the outdoors by Black Hill Pictures GmbH.