The blue moth
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The blue moth |
| Country of production | Federal Republic of Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1959 |
| length | 91 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Wolfgang Schleif |
| script | Erich Ebermayer |
| production |
Hans Raspotnik Kurt Schulz |
| music | Lotar Olias |
| camera | Willi Winterstein |
| cut | Hermann Ludwig |
| occupation | |
| |
The Blue Moth is a German drama from 1959 directed by Wolfgang Schleif . Zarah Leander plays an unjustly convicted murderer who appears as a chanson singer in the "Blauer Nachtfalter" after serving her sentence. Her now grown son ( Christian Wolff ), who has been told that his mother is dead, has no idea who Julia Martens really is. When he comes under suspicion of murder, Julia intervenes. Other leading roles include Paul Hartmann , Werner Hinz , Marina Petrowa and Loni Heuser .
The script is based on the Kolportage novel of the same name by Karl von Barany and Siegfried Gauercke, which was published in Quick magazine. Von Barany also assisted Schleif as assistant director.
action
Julia Martens is released early from prison after 13½ years because of her good conduct. It has been 15 years since she was found guilty of the murder of Stefan Owenski and convicted. The hard times left their mark on Julia. Not only was her husband, Consul Martens, unable to come to terms with what had happened and died a year after Juliet's conviction, she was also no longer able to explain the circumstances of her deed to him. Consul Martens worked in the resistance during the Nazi regime and helped the persecuted to escape. Owenski, who knew about it, wanted to blackmail Julia with this knowledge and threatened to betray her husband to the rulers. When the two of them met, there was a scramble and a shot that resulted in Owenski falling into the water and never reappearing.
Julia only stayed with her now grown up son Thomas. During a visit to her mother-in-law, who raised Thomas, Julia learns that he has been told that his mother has long since died. The old Mrs. Martens makes it clear to Julia that this is better for Thomas, who will one day take over the father's factory. With a former convict as a mother, his path is much more difficult. When Dr. Frahm, the family lawyer, at least offers financial help, Julias Stolz does not allow it to accept. Bitter, she leaves the house where she was once so happy forever.
The following time will not be easy because Julia, once a celebrated opera singer, has to earn money for her living. When she visits various artist agencies, she experiences how quickly people forget. Nobody remembers the once celebrated star. Finally she finds an engagement in the "Blauer Nachtfalter", where she can appear as a chansonette. As luck would have it, Julia's son Thomas met the attractive young dancer Irina when a car broke down. She appeared in the “Blauer Nachtfalter” and is therefore a colleague of Julia's. The young man falls in love with Irina and visits the young woman more often in her cloakroom at her workplace. These brief moments when she can see her son mean a lot to Julia. In conversations between the two of them, Thomas also learns to appreciate the impressive woman. Of course, he doesn't know that Julia, who goes by the stage name Moralto, is his mother.
Irina has a manager named Steve Owens who ruthlessly harasses her. Again and again he demands money from the young woman and does not hesitate to enforce his demands with physical violence. One day chance played into his hands Thomas's briefcase, which he left in her cloakroom while visiting Irina. The bag contains sensitive business documents that Thomas wanted to bring to Zurich the next day. Owens, always on the lookout for money, recognizes the value of the documents he wants to sell to competition from the Martens factories. Because the bag is no longer there, the young couple has a dispute that Julia overhears from her neighboring cloakroom. Suddenly she realizes who this Steve Owens is - Stefan Owenski - the man she is said to have shot is alive.
Thomas has meanwhile gone to Owens and asks him to return the stolen papers to him. A heated argument between the two men ends with Thomas being knocked down by Owens and losing consciousness. Owens is about to hit the helpless person lying on the ground with a bronze chandelier when Julia appears in the patio door. She learned from Irina where Thomas was going and was afraid for her son, since she knows best how unscrupulous this man is. When she sees a revolver lying at her feet, she reacts without thinking; she picks up the gun and shoots the man who is about to kill her son. Since Thomas is unconscious and Julia does not know about him, she stumbles out to organize an ambulance, but is so overwhelmed by the situation that she's senseless. A long time has passed by the time she comes to in the hospital. She drove her car into a canal.
Julia does not know that her son has since been arrested and charged with the murder of Owens. More by chance, a newspaper that falls into her hands, she finds out about it. She immediately knows what to do. She must testify in court and save her son from suffering a fate similar to her. Her testimony not only impresses the judge, but also opens Thomas' eyes, who is only now finding out that Julia is his mother. He is deeply touched by this extraordinary woman and happy to still have a mother. Of course, the charges against him are dropped, and mother and son leave the courtroom as free people.
Production and film launch
The film was produced by Berolina-Film GmbH Kurt Schulz (Berlin). Mathias Matthies and Ellen Schmidt were responsible for the film construction. The film was shot in the Bendestorf studio. After the film was approved on July 28, 1959 (No. 20197) in an FSK test from the age of 12 with the addition "not holiday-free", it was premiered on August 27, 1959 in the Theater am Aegi in Hanover . The poster for the film advertised with the words: “Unforgettable melodies and an incomparable voice: Zarah Leander” or also: “Defeated by life, but undefeated: the story of a wonderful woman.” At the premiere in Hanover there were over 50 curtains for the main actors, "who were extremely happy about the success of the premiere".
more publishments
- December 31, 1959 in France under the title Le phalène bleu
- September 22, 1960 in Mexico under the title No condenes a tu madre
- September 26, 1960 in Sweden under the title I brottets skugga
- August 11, 1961 in Finland under the title Kahdesti murhattu
- March 5, 1989 Premiere on West German television
The film also ran
- in the USA under the titles The Blue Nightreveler and The Blue Moth
- in Belgium under the Flemish title De blauwe nachtvlinder
- in Brazil under the title Meu Filho é Inocente
- in Spain under the Castilian title La falena azul
- in Greece under the title Mazurka
- in Italy under the title L'uomo ucciso due volte
Songs in the movie
Music: Lotar Olias , texts: Kurt Schwabach , Max Colpet
- Cha-Cha-Americano
- Pardon, ladies, pardon, gentlemen
- A life without love
- Since i saw you
DVD
The film was released on September 6, 2013 by Pidax film media Ltd. (Alive AG) published on DVD as part of the “Film Klassiker” series.
criticism
At the time, Der Spiegel did not give the film a good word and wrote: “From a screenplay whose brazenly crumpled penny-pound world is well provided with commercially available emotional surrogates despite total intellectual poverty, director Wolfgang Schleif ('Made in Germany') has made a makeshift film , who allows the Ufa old tragedian Zarah Leander to raise her tearful voice again. In addition to Christian Wolff, notable actors like Werner Hinz have also allowed themselves to be tempted to take part in this speculation with motherly sorrow and sons' joy. "
In the Frankfurter Allgemeine of September 24, 1959, the response to the film was also not very friendly and ended with the words: “A 'come back' without a win is a defeat. Let's note the 'culprits': on the film 'Der Blaue Nachtfalter' : Wolfgang Schleif is the director, Erich Ebermayer the scriptwriter and Lothar Olias the music maker. There is one person who is not guilty: Christian Wolff with his nice, clumsy freshness and talented boyhood. ” Wa wrote about Zarah Leander that nobody can do the“ dark and magnificent ”more than Zarah Leander. "Script, direction, set - everything [is] a bare kiosk novel, common and stupid."
Critics of other newspapers, however, saw it differently and were overwhelmingly positive. For example, one could read: “The audience was enthusiastic about Zarah, the film and the songs” or “The screenings in the cinemas were sold out down to the last seat for months.”
In the Hannoversche Allgemeine on August 28, 1959, Wolfgang Chechne wrote under the title “Zarah Leander is back”: “But when she sings! When her dark blue voice can be heard, when she weeps tearlessly about her life without love - when she sings, the parquet sobs with you. Yes: Zarah Leander is back. The great Swede is celebrating her comeback in Hanover. ”It was an“ honest comeback ”, wrote the critic and further:“ Zarah Leander can put all the pain and happiness of a mother in her clear face, she can afford gestures full of pathos which the audience would only smile with any other actress, she can enjoy the close-up like no other lady in the film ... [...] Zarah Leander is the great exception in today's film. It has something of the timelessness of a monument about it, without becoming a monument to itself. ”She is still“ unmistakable and unchangeable ”, says Czechne, and concludes with the words that Zarah Leander plays and sings like one : like Zarah Leander. "And that [is] the main thing in a Zarah Leander film."
FP wrote about the performance in the Lichtburg that her latest film was “tailored” to Zarah Leander and gave her “a grateful role, not as a celebrated beauty, but as a self-sacrificing mother”. She plays this part "with her own demeanor, pushing the other actors to the fore - and remaining the focus in this film". It also said: "The film is a little more than just entertainment."
Hanns Meseke, too, could only get positive out of the film and spoke of a brilliant comeback, praising Erich Ebermayer's “elegant and audience-effective” script, which “unwinds a touching human story with suspenseful, criminal effects and how dramatic it is faded in musical interludes leave nothing to be desired ”. To Zarah Leander it was said that of course she had become “more mature”, but her game was “sovereign”. A “magical charisma” emanates from her. [...] But "of course, what fascinates her most is her dark-toned voice, with the typical peculiarity of her consonant effects of singing". Christian Wolff completes the part of her film son "with flying colors", whereby he "apparently new nuances of his acting skills". In short, this is "an entertaining, gripping film that you leave with an honest compliment for Zarah Leander".
Web links
- The blue moth in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The blue moth at filmportal.de
- The blue moth Illustrated film stage No. 4901
Individual evidence
- ↑ The blue moth at dvdheimat.de, accessed November 15, 2015.
- ↑ The blue moth at filmportal.de
- ↑ a b c d e f Zarah Leander is back at zarahleander.de
- ↑ a b The blue moth at pidax-film.de
- ^ The blue moth in: Der Spiegel 37/1959 of September 9, 1959