The 2 (crime series)

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Television series
German title The 2
Original title The Persuaders!
The two tv 1971.svg
Country of production United Kingdom
original language English
Year (s) 1970-1971
Production
company		 ITC entertainment
length 50 minutes
Episodes 24 in 1 season ( list )
genre Detective comedy
Theme music John Barry
idea Robert S. Baker
production Lew grade
music Ken Thorne ,
David Lindup
First broadcast 17th September 1971 (UK) on ITV
German-language
first broadcast		 July 11, 1972 on ZDF
occupation

The 2 (original title: The Persuaders! ) Is a British crime series , which was created from May 1970 to July 1971 with Roger Moore and Tony Curtis in the leading roles. The series aired in the UK in 1971 and 1972 and was shown in more than 80 countries. Series creator Robert S. Baker had previously produced the Simon Templar series, in which Moore was also the main actor.

Actions

The two main characters of the series with opposite characters are the laid-back American businessman Danny Wilde (Tony Curtis) from the New York Bronx and the somewhat stiff Brit Lord Brett Sinclair (Roger Moore) from an old Scottish noble family. As rich playboys, both are a bit bored until they start solving criminal cases on behalf of retired Judge Fulton ( Laurence Naismith ) whose files have not yet been closed.

They came to this hobby rather involuntarily: After a fight instigated by the two in the bar of the luxury hotel Hôtel de Paris in Monte Carlo , they were threatened with a 90-day prison term. Fulton promised to keep them out of jail if they worked for him. Although neither felt any inclination to work with the other or for Fulton, they consented. However, the two of them are by no means professionally involved in criminology, but rather see themselves as amateurs who pursue interesting criminal cases more to pass the time, especially since these occur mainly in places like London , St. Tropez or Paris . Many jobs also result from coincidences, such as encounters with attractive women in difficulty. In eleven of the 24 episodes, one or the other "coincidence" is cleverly brought about by Judge Fulton, for example in order to be able to investigate more discreetly than by the authorities.

main characters

Lord Brett Sinclair

Sinclair's full name is Brett Rupert John George Robert Andrew Sinclair, 15th Earl of Marnock . He was born in Scotland on November 10, 1930 ; so his age in the series is 41 and 42 years respectively. The opening credits of the series provide some information about his life : Here Sinclair can be seen as a young boy. Harrow , an exclusive public school , is shown as his school, after which he is believed to be seen as a student on the rowing team at Oxford University . Later he was a member of the British armed forces. As a privileged nobleman, he enjoyed an excellent education. In the first episode, Sinclair said in a conversation with Judge Fulton that he spoke seven languages. His wealth is shown in some episodes, including magnificent country houses and castles. As a peer on his own right (nobleman with an inherited title), he is a Lord member of the British House of Lords . He lives in an apartment in a posh London area at 54 Queen Anne's Gate . Sinclair is the rightful heir to the family fortune and all titles inherited from the Duke of Caith , his aging uncle. However, because of his own title, he did not use the corresponding unknown courtesy title.

The lord is very attached to his fatherland and a staunch member of the aristocracy , which is often pointed out ironically by his friend Danny Wilde in the German dubbed version. Sinclair is not only a thinking person, but also a very sporty person. He mostly overcomes hurdles and obstacles with ease and also takes part in sporting competitions such as horse and car races. The opening credits show pictures of him as a racing driver and gallop racing rider . His fashion consciousness gives him an exclusive appearance. This is expressed in the garish clothing style typical of the 1970s, but also in his British sports car Aston Martin DBS . Despite his consistently positive qualities and his success with women, Sinclair never appears arrogant or even arrogant. His relationship with Danny Wilde is - except for the first episode, in which the competition between the two predominates - humorous and respectful.

"Danny" Wilde

The opening credits of the series are also instructive for Daniel “Danny” Wilde's résumé. He comes from a New York slum and has worked his way up to an oil millionaire over the years. Wilde has no problems with his origins and now has a comfortable life, mainly occupied with enjoying the comforts of his wealth. One of his main characteristics in the German dubbed version is his cheeky humor, to which nobody in his environment reacts seriously. This is due to the very different representation of the character compared to the English original. Like Sinclair, he is never in a bad mood and rarely appears serious unless it is about his life or that of the Lord. Furthermore, Wilde is sporty and extremely charming and at the same time almost intrusive towards women. He is just as popular with women as his boyfriend. Less educated than Sinclair, he is more wealthy. Wilde mostly dresses more fashionably and drives an exclusive Dino 246 GT . He is in his mid forties at the time of the act.

Cast and locations

The producer Robert S. Baker had the idea for the series during the filming of the television series Simon Templar from 1962 to 1968. He tried the idea in the episode The Ex-King of Diamonds of the series and hired the lead actor Roger Moore Stuart for this episode Damon as the Texan adventurer Rod Huston aside - initially as a rival, but in the course of the plot, friendly character. Roger Moore was thus confirmed as the main actor for the planned television series. His portrayal of the lord was flawless and looked downright experienced. In the German dubbing, Moore was voiced by Lothar Blumhagen .

Since the series had to be shot at great expense, it was clear even before production started that it would have to be sold worldwide if possible, but at least to the USA in order to make it profitable despite the high production costs. An American actor who was particularly popular in the USA had to be found. Baker initially offered the series to Rock Hudson , which, however, could not accept due to other commitments. Then Glenn Ford got into conversation, but Moore had already worked poorly with Ford in the USA and rejected Ford as a co-star. Baker then asked the American network partners to give him a list of the actors they prefer. At number 1 on this list was Tony Curtis. Although Curtis had previously not been in front of the camera for television, but only for big movies, Lew Grade was able to persuade him to accept. The fact that Curtis took on the role also clarified the “ranking”: Curtis was a far bigger star than Moore, led the cast list (“Curtis + Moore”) and received a much higher fee than Moore. Curtis then played his role very enthusiastically and enthusiastically from the start. In the episode The Count's Past, he self-deprecatedly referred to his real name, Bernard Schwartz , by answering the phone with “No, this is not Mr Schwartz!”. Rainer Brandt , Curtis' German dubbing voice, picked up this inside joke by letting Wilde say: "No, this is not Mr. Schwartz, this is Karlheinz Weiss !"

The high budget of the series made it possible for the exterior shots of the individual episodes to be filmed at the original locations. The scenes in the south of France were made mainly in Cannes , Nice and Monte Carlo. The scene in The Dead Dancer in which Brett stops in a village in search of Julie Blake was filmed in Èze . The waterskiing scene in this episode and in the series opening credits was created in the port of Mandelieu-la-Napoule . Most of the English scenes were shot in Buckinghamshire . Much of the field shooting took place in Burnham Beeches and Black Park woods. The exterior shots for the Lindley mansion in Erben brings Die and the Duke's country house destroyed in Adel were filmed at the country house Heatherden Hall, near Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire. Sinclair's London city apartment can now be viewed from the outside. The address is 15 Queen Anne's Gate, London SW1. The townhouse is located near St. James's Park ( St. James's Park underground station ). The Meadow Cottage in "Das Alptraum-Schlösschen" was demolished in the 1980s and replaced by a new building called Meadow Grange. The address is Chalfont Park, Amersham Road, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, SL9 0PX. In the same part of the series, Brett Sinclair and the alleged ornithologist spend the night in what is now The White Horse on Village Lane in Hedgerley, not far from Pinewood Studios.

Episode list

The German version

Dubbing and broadcasting in Germany

At the beginning of the 1970s, only 15 of the 24 episodes were initially acquired by ZDF , edited by Deutsche Synchron and broadcast in 1972. The books were written by Rainer Brandt , who together with Karlheinz Brunnemann also directed.

The same episodes were broadcast again by ZDF in 1976/1977. When it was broadcast for the third time on ZDF in 1984, two more episodes (12 and 15 of the above list) were also synchronized and broadcast; the episode Death Comes Live was no longer shown. When it was repeated in 1984, the episodes originally 50 minutes long were shortened to 45 minutes each in order to do justice to the ZDF's changed program schedule. The last repetition by ZDF took place in the summer of 1989 on the slot for the Denver-Clan series , which was in the summer break.

The missing seven episodes were only acquired in 1994 by the private broadcaster Kabelkanal and synchronized with the original speakers. This was the first time in 1994 that all episodes were broadcast on German television on Kabelkanal. The previously missing episodes were synchronized this time by the Rainer Brandt Film Production Company . Rainer Brandt was now solely responsible for the script and direction. This is partly recognizable from temporal references, for example in episode 20; when Felix takes off his toupee and Danny mumbles: "Oh, baldness!"; Nobody could have done anything with the word glasnost in the early seventies - long before Gorbachev .

Tony Curtis was spoken by Rainer Brandt himself, Roger Moore by Lothar Blumhagen and Laurence Naismith by Friedrich Wilhelm Bauschulte .

There are different dubbed versions for two episodes that were released on VHS cassette . Another was created by Rainer Brandt with the speakers known from the TV version. The second, however, was edited in another dubbing studio. In this version you can hear Hannes Gromball and Thomas Danneberg as Lord Sinclair and Danny Wilde and Herbert Weicker as Judge Fulton. This dubbed version is part of the Blu-ray release as bonus material.

Reception and German synchronization

While the series flopped in the USA (and therefore no further episodes were filmed), the show was a success in Great Britain, Australia and several countries in Europe. In Germany, the series even achieved cult status . This was probably also due to the dubbing based on Rainer Brandt's dialogue books , some of which differ considerably from the original: While the English original is also a crime series with humor, the German version uses flippant and funny sayings ("Hands up - I'm an armpit fetishist! "or" Sleep well in your bed frame! "...), which at the time also found their way into everyday language. There were also allusions to the German broadcaster or television as such. Danny Wilde commented on stopping in the no-parking area with the comment: “I always do that in front of ZDF.” In another episode, the following comment was made: “Leave the sayings, they'll put off the next episode!” Even the free translation Brandt satirized the dubbing as such in the series: On the remark of Judge Fulton “You have already let loose a lot of sayings that were not to everyone's taste”, he lets Danny Wilde answer: “People who prefer to hear original texts are not interested ! “With this series, Brandt finally established his so-called Schnodderdeutsch .

Rainer Brandt said in several interviews that Tony Curtis, who understood German, had three episodes of the German version sent to him after the first season was shot and was so enthusiastic about it that he suggested continuing the series on the condition that Brandt now also should write the original scripts. According to Brandt, however, this project failed because Curtis and Moore fell out.

music

The theme music for the series was written by the film composer John Barry, known from the James Bond films . The score is by Ken Thorne , who repeatedly borrowed from well-known theme songs (e.g. Cobra, take over ), which emphasizes the satirical character of the series. Thorne also used parts of the original music from the Beatles film Help! In 1995 the theme song was used for a Peugeot commercial . In 2007, the French broadcaster France 2 broadcast a satirical report on the relationship between President Nicolas Sarkozy and his first Prime Minister François Fillon , using the theme song.

Equipment

vehicles

The two title heroes each had their own typical sports car that accompanied them through the entire series: Sinclair drove an Aston Martin DBS with the registration number BS 1 , painted in "Bahamian yellow". In real life, the plate was used by the well-known British circus artist Billy Smart Jr. This allowed the use of the number plate in the series. George Lazenby had already driven such an Aston Martin in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service . Wilde drove a red Ferrari Dino 246 that was provided by the manufacturer. The car has the original Italian registration number 221400 MO from the province of Modena .

weapons

It is noticeable that a Beretta M1934 is seen in the hands of the main actors and opponents in the series. In addition, the Walther P38 , Walther PPK and the Colt M1911 or, even more rarely, a revolver, are more rare. These weapons were already in series like The Saint , The Avengers and melon or Department S to see.

Remake

Since 2004 the media have been reporting on a planned remake of the Persuaders with Ben Stiller (or Nicolas Cage ) as Danny Wilde and Steve Coogan as Lord Brett Sinclair. Stiller worked on the remake of Starsky & Hutch in 2004. According to reports in May 2007, George Clooney as Danny Wilde and Hugh Grant as Lord Brett Sinclair are set to star.

Aston Martin DBS with Brett Sinclair figure by Corgi Toys

Trivia

For the 30th anniversary of the series, the British toy company Corgi Toys brought out a 1:36 model of the Aston Martin DBS with a Brett Sinclair figure.

Remarks

  1. ↑ In the German dubbing he was introduced as " Rex Rupert ..." .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Plot of the first episode "Sister's Birthmark".
  2. ↑ Episode "The Ozerov Jewels".
  3. ↑ In one episode of the series, the viewer is given a look at Sinclair's ID card .
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h Booklet for the DVD or Blu-ray box Die 2 , Koch Media .
  5. ↑ Audio commentary by producers Robert S. Baker and Johnny Goodman on the corresponding episode by Simon Templar . Bonus DVD in Die 2 - Special Collector's Edition , Koch Media.
  6. ↑ Audio commentary by producers Robert S. Baker and Johnny Goodman on the first episode. Bonus DVD in Die 2 - Special Collector's Edition , Koch Media.
  7. ↑ Episode “The Man with the Toupee”, VHS title “The Deadly Document”.
  8. ^ The 2nd In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on March 2, 2017 .
  9. ↑ Episode “The Hunt for the Formula”, VHS title “The Formula of the Dead”.
  10. ↑ Episode "inheritance brings death".
  11. ↑ Episode "The Dead Dancer".
  12. ↑ Episode "Business with Napoleon".
  13. ↑ Rainer Brandt about "die 2" (uploaded on December 11, 2010) on YouTube .
  14. ↑ Stiller and Coogan are "The Persuaders" on kino.de, June 7, 2005.
  15. ↑ Clooney and Grant star in The Persuaders film on telegraph.co.uk, May 19, 2007.