The Immortal Scoundrel (1930)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The immortal scoundrel |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1930 |
| length | 96 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Gustav Ucicky |
| script | Robert Liebmann , Karl Hartl |
| production | Joe May |
| music |
Edmund Eysler Ralph Benatzky |
| camera | Carl Hoffmann |
| occupation | |
and Ernst Behmer , Julius Falkenstein , Jaro Fürth , Carl Goetz , Fritz Greiner , Paul Henckels , Karl Platen , Georg H. Schnell , Oskar Sima , Eugen Thiele , Hermann Thimig , Rudolf Täubler | |
The Immortal Lump is an early German sound film version of the operetta of the same name by Edmund Eysler (music) and Felix Dörmann (libretto) from 1929. Directed by Gustav Ucicky , Liane Haid and Gustav Fröhlich play the main roles of two unhappy lovers.
action
Hans Ritter, a young teacher in a Styrian village, is madly in love with Annerl, the daughter of the postman Reisleitner. Since Ritter also has a talent as a composer, he has submitted his own opera work to the management of the Vienna State Opera in the hope that it will be well received there. He also hopes that one day he will be able to lay the artistic and financial foundation stone for a marriage with the pretty postman's daughter. Ritter therefore leaves for Vienna. The old Reisleitner has “bigger things” in mind for his Anna. He believes that Hans will be a have-nothing forever and is looking for a better match for his only daughter. That's why he quickly intercepts all of Ritter's letters that are addressed to Annerl. Since the young woman doesn't hear from her lover anymore, she believes that her Hans has forgotten her and now turns to the wealthy farmer Franz Lechner, who has shown an interest in Anna for a long time. In Vienna, Ritter's opera has meanwhile been accepted, and the up-and-coming composer believes he has reached the goal of his dreams. Hans then returns to his little Styrian home. He bursts into the middle of the wedding celebration. Hans is shocked to discover that his Anna has not been waiting for him any longer and has become Lechner-Franz's wife. Devastated, Ritter leaves his old home again.
He is no longer interested in the huge success that his opera work is celebrating in Vienna, from now on Hans only wants to turn his back on the world. He moves out and is then robbed by a tramp. All of his papers were in his jacket. When the vagabond was later found dead, the have-nots are believed to be the celebrated composer Hans Ritter. This does not clear up the error, but continues to roam the country as an “immortal rascal”. Ritter's life becomes very laborious and exhausting, he lives from hand to mouth. In Italy he is temporarily employed as a shipyard worker. Since he has no offspring, the royalties from his successful opera flow into the city purse of his home community. There they want to erect a monument in his honor. The immortal scoundrel secretly sneaks back to the village after five years of absence. Nobody identifies him there. Only the Annerl immediately recognizes her Hans, whom she had never forgotten, despite his torn clothes. She is widowed at a young age, and after a moment of discussion, the two of them decide to travel the world together.
Production notes
The immortal rag was created between October 28 and December 19, 1929 in the UFA studios in Neubabelsberg as well as with outdoor shots in Virgen, Amrach and Lienz (Tyrol). In Vienna the scenes were created in the Great Music Hall of the State Opera. The film premiered on February 21, 1930 in the UFA-Palast am Zoo . The Vienna premiere was on March 5, 1930.
Günther Stapenhorst was in charge of production, Robert Herlth and Walter Röhrig designed the film structures, and Alexander Amstam the costumes. Ralph Benatzky was the musical director. It was played by the Lewis Ruth Band. Max Wogritsch not only took on a supporting role (his last ever), he also served as a unit manager. Uwe Jens Krafft , Hermann Fritzsching and Fritz Thiery took care of the good tone .
Sound engineer Uwe Jens Krafft died late in the shooting; this film and his short film production Lyre and Sword were his last two films.
Arthur Cavara from the Berlin State Opera sang it .
On February 24, 1930, The Immortal Scoundrel received the title "artistic".
useful information
This was the first German sound film in which enormous effort was made in terms of the use of technical equipment and in which the crew had to discover that extensive outdoor recordings could only pose enormous challenges for filmmakers who are used to studio conditions. Oskar Kalbus recalled in 1935: “The film caravan with 50 men moved into the 'field'. Under the battle cry: outdoor shots at all costs for the most immortal of all rags! Direction: Tyrol. The aim was to find a place that, according to the manuscript, is quiet and dreamy, that, talented in sound film and surrounded by mountains, has been waiting to be filmed for centuries. You end up in Virgen (…) The cattle turned out to be particularly hostile to films, the sheep bleated as long as they had to remain silent, the goats complained as soon as the director asked for silence, and finally the rooster crowed and the cat meowed. But the film people soon became psychologists, learned the art of being patient and shut up animals with sugar or marsh marigolds when they needed rest. "
Reviews
This early sound film operetta was consistently received very well by film critics. Here are four contemporary examples:
In Der Kinematograph it was said: “Robert Liebmann and Karl Hartl… did not care much for one scene to merge with the other. Immediately decided, as it is on the stage at the Volksstück, the images next to each other with almost no transition. This achieved contrasts that are effective and impressive. In which the cinematographic in many cases compensates for the purely dramaturgical errors. (...) Another highlight: the scene in the Vienna Opera during the performance of 'Alpenglow'. Images on a scale that we have rarely seen in the largest products in recent years. The image editing is original. Fine, cleverly lit up to the last corner, Karl Hofmann's photograph. The vocal interludes by A. Cavara from the Berlin State Opera were also successful. Amiable, graceful, visually effective Liane Haid as Annerl. Tried and tested, personable, with superior creative power Gustav Fröhlich as Hans Ritter. Almost excellent in game and language Karl Gerhardt as the mailman Reisleitner. Full of juice and strength, winning language and playing skills Hans Adalbert Schlettow. "
The Reichsfilmblatt found: “This manuscript is a single concession to the so-called taste of the masses, it presents itself as a story that we will probably believe in a long life, but which we cannot believe to be believable in two hours of cinema. - This action seems random, constructed and its constructedness is worn out. But that can - we have many examples - do the film for the better - folk plays are very often, almost always, and especially the most successful! Despite the fact that the manuscript can be challenged, this is ... one of the best, despite its length, most entertaining sound films that we have seen so far! The dialogue - here the authors are far happier than in the story building! - is natural, believable, undistorted, without hair. (...) Under Joe May's production management, Gustav Ucicky worked in such a way that we gladly and willingly forget many of the pitfalls of the manuscript. How lifelike are its actors! Gustav Fröhlich plays the title role, plain, of course serious and without any pretension (...) Next to him, Liane Haid is pretty and definitely in place, but a bit pale next to Fröhlich. Schlettow's art of shaping people compels us to be grateful to this completely uncomedy actor. Excellent, especially vocally, Karl Gerhardt as an intriguing father who 'only wants the best'. "
Hans-Walther Betz wrote in Der Film : “This is a series of impressions, images and sounds, that is a great liberation from the rigidity of some boards that have been blown up to an ancient shine with many spotlights. Today, in the age of the sound film, they no longer mean the world. You say an astonished hello to the spirit of Anzengruber and Rosegger when you encounter the sound film operetta world of the authors Robert Liebmann and Karl Hartl. There is the healthy and ostentatious, defiant peasant atmosphere, there are the mountains, the villages, the forests. (...) But now a new spirit has moved into this society of people and into this village, Styrian environment ... It reveals itself in a gentle sense of humor with which this small, beautiful and limited world is shown - this time there is no juicy irony enough. (...) The Annerl Liane Haid, she was kind and good and played excellently, next to her stood Gustav Fröhlich, the outcast, the composer, the man who abandons royalties from the State Opera and wanders around, a hopeless idealist, like one sees. Pleasant and personable in the game. The large farmer Lechner from Adalbert Schlettow a complete achievement, the Reisleitner from Carl Gerhardt honored. Let's not forget the famous mayor Weiß-Ferdls, along with the countless other actors, a feast for the eyes and ears. "
The Österreichische Film-Zeitung wrote: “Ufa ... has released a new, large speech and sound film that is in every respect one of the best and most effective performances of its kind that have appeared in Vienna so far. (...) The film contains an extremely attractive subject and presents itself as a folk piece in the best sense of the word (...) The main roles of the film, which is equipped with a lot of effective details, are brilliantly cast by Liane Haid and Gustav Fröhlich (...) The highly creditable one deserves a mention , direction by the young Austrian Gustav Ucicky, always focused on the visual impact ... "
Web links
- The immortal Lump in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The immortal rascal at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ^ Oskar Kalbus: On the becoming of German film art. Part 2: The sound film. Berlin 1935. p. 14
- ↑ The Kinematograph No. 45, of February 22, 1930
- ↑ Reichsfilmblatt No. 8, of February 22, 1930
- ↑ Film No. 8, February 22, 1930
- ↑ "The Immortal Scoundrel". In: Österreichische Film-Zeitung , March 8, 1930, p. 9 (online at ANNO ).