The red crescent
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The red crescent |
| Original title | Az aranyember |
| Country of production | Hungary |
| original language | Hungarian |
| Publishing year | 1919 |
| length | 80 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alexander Korda |
| script | Ladislaus Vajda |
| production | Corvin movie |
| camera | Gusztáv Mihály Kovács |
| occupation | |
| |
The red crescent is the German title of the silent Hungarian adventure film Az aranyember (German: "The Gold Man"), which Alexander Korda ( Hungarian Korda Sándor ) shot in 1918 for the production company Corvin. The manuscript was written by Ladislaus Vajda ( Hungarian Vajda Lázló ) based on the novel of the same name by Moritz Jókai from 1872.
action
Mihály Timár, who works as an assistant at a Greek wine merchant, desires his daughter Timea. Apparently he wants to marry her, but actually he just wants to run away with her and her father's money. But he is also not completely honest with Timea, because he leads a double life with the beautiful Noémi, which is why he is blackmailed by Tódor Krystian. Now events are pushing him to make a decision. (stummfilm.at)
The film depicts the adventurous life of the captain Michael Timar, who helps a Turkish pasha and his daughter Kondja to escape across the Danube. You are being pursued by two professional criminals who are after the pasha's property. The father is killed in a shipwreck, and his daughter and Timar reach the border town between Hungary and Slovakia, Komorn. From the wreckage of the ship, Timar secretly lifts the pasha's treasure, which makes him a successful businessman, and marries Kondja. But the marriage was unhappy, and Timar began a secret relationship with the young Noémi, who lives on a secluded Danube island. His secrets are constantly threatening to be revealed, especially since the two pursuers now have him in their sights. He can't shake it off and has to make a decision. (archive.org)
background
Alexander "Sándor" Korda was one of the pioneers of the Hungarian-Austrian film industry alongside Alexander "Sascha" Graf Kolowrat-Krakowski . He made it to one of the most important directors and producers in British film . For his services, he was knighted by the British royal family in 1942 as the first personality in the film world. One of the most famous productions by Sir Alexander Korda in Great Britain is the classic film The Third Man after Graham Greene from 1949.
Korda attached great importance to film adaptations throughout her life . Three novels by the popular Hungarian writer Mór Jókai were to be made into a film, but only two were executed, of which Az aranyember was the first. A total of 25 Korda productions were made between 1914 and 1919; only one, Az aranyember , has survived. As is typical for Korda, the film contains numerous spectacular scenes and features some of the best-known Hungarian actors, above all Oszkár Beregi and Gyula Szöreghy .
The photography was in the hands of Gustáv Mihály Kovács . László Márkus created the film structures . Gyula Szöreghy was an assistant director and played the Turkish pasha Ali Csorbadzsi. The production of the Corvin film was also shown in Austria (here under the title "Der Goldmensch"), Bulgaria (here as Златният човек) and France.
Az aranyember , "a veritable sensational film with chases and dangerous criminals", originally consisted of three parts with a total length of 6,000 meters that ran for around four hours. The first part was premiered on January 20, the second on January 27 and the third on February 3, 1919 in the two movie theaters "Mozgókép Otthon" and "Uránia" in Budapest.
However, only the shortened German version with the title The Red Crescent and around 80 minutes playing time has survived. It is viraged, reveals Gusztav Mihaly Kovacs' "excellent camera work, an atmospheric light and strong character drawing" by the actors. Created on the Danube, it is a cultural and historical document of the river 100 years ago with its picturesque landscape photographs.
The cultural channel Arte broadcast the German version on Monday, December 5th, 2016 from 11:45 p.m. to 1:10 a.m. with a new musical accompaniment by the Ulm composer Michael Riessler on German television.
reception
Christoph A. Schmidberger wrote in 2016 about the world premiere of Riessler's music: The Red Crescent is “a Schmonzette at the geographical intersection of the Ottoman Empire and the Dual Monarchy, which friends of Karl May should enjoy. Historical views of the Danube are exciting for Ulmer . "
The Catholic film service found: “This viraged version has been carefully restored, given a new composition and shows the visionary power of the director, who in his melodrama, which comes across as an adventure and crook, pursues an excessive light and shadow painting and the picturesque Danube landscape a grandiose Assigns leading role. "
Thomas Schmidinger (2013) drew attention to a special location: “The Hungarian writer Mór Jókai was inspired by Ada Kaleh in his novel The Gold Man . In it he describes a 'no man's island' that has received a license issued by two empires, 'which allows this area to exist outside of all borders'. For him, the island becomes a utopian paradise beyond time and space, but especially beyond war and nationalism. ”In addition, Claudio Magris (2009):“ In Der Goldmensch , Mór Jókai tells a Danube robinsonade: Mihály Timár, got rich and 'Disappointed in his dubious social rise' finds his happiness on an unknown Danube island. "
literature
- Charles Drazin: Korda: Britain's Movie Mogul. Verlag IB Tauris, 2011, ISBN 978-0-85771-993-5 .
- Alan Goble: The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Verlag Walter de Gruyter, 1999, ISBN 3-11-095194-0 , pp. 247, 525, 856.
- Maurus Jokai: A gold man! Roman, from the Hungarian. Pressure and Verlag v. Otto Janke, Berlin 1873.
- Karol Kulik: Alexander Korda: the man who could work miracles. WH Allen Publishing, 1975.
- Claudio Magris: Danube. (Part 2, Austria / Slovakia / Hungary). , August 28, 2009. (online at wordpress.com )
- Stephen Sisa: The Spirit of Hungary: A Panorama of Hungarian History and Culture. Rákóczi Foundation Publishing House, 1983, ISBN 0-919545-02-5 .
- Thomas Schmidinger: Ada Kaleh. The forgotten "island of Islam". In: Wiener Zeitung. 11./12. May 2013. (online at austria-forum.org )
- Paul Tabori: Alexander Korda. Living Books, 1966, p. 312.
Web links
- The Red Crescent in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The red crescent on stummfilm.at
- The red crescent moon on hangosfilm.hu (Hungarian)
- Movie poster from 1919 for part 1 on hangosfilm.hu
- The red crescent in the video archive - Internet Archive
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sisa p. 332 and A. Goble.
- ↑ Erik Eybl at plakatmuseum.at (PDF): “[...] he was awarded in 1942 for his services to the British film of King George VI. as the first filmmaker ever to be ennobled to "Sir". "
- ↑ The second was Féher rózsa (White Rose), also in 1919, cf. Kulik S. 385 Projects anounced by Korda, No. 1 ; Drazin p. 394.
- ↑ In 1933 he played the psychiatrist Dr. Mabuse in the Fritz Lang sound film The Testament of Doctor Mabuse. Tree.
- ↑ As "Julius von Szöreghy" he was also involved in numerous German productions after 1925, cf. filmportal.de
- ↑ Release info in the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ So cinema arte / tv.
- ↑ See mozilexikon Mozgókép Otthon
- ↑ See mozilexikon Uránia
- ↑ So cinema arte / tv.
- ↑ ewerk-freiburg.de ( Memento of the original from March 24, 2017 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. , State Jazz Festival: The Red Crescent , March 24, 2016.
- ↑ Dorothee L. Schaefer on schwaebische.de from November 6, 2016 and Christoph A. Schmidberger's article World premiere: Riessler's music for the film “The Red Crescent” from November 7, 2016 on swp.de : “On behalf of the Verein für moderne Musik Ulm / Neu-Ulm in cooperation with ZDF / Arte and the Hungarian State Film Archive composed a film music for the Arte silent film series, which was not only presented to the public for the first time, but also recorded. ”Cast: Michael Riessler (bcl, sax, comp .), Monika Leskovar (cello), Beáta Mori (cimbalom), Jean-Louis Matinier (acc.)
- ↑ ard.de
- ↑ swp.de
- ↑ filmdienst.de
