The 500 million of the Begum
The 500 million of the Begum (also the five hundred million of an Indian princess ) is a novel by the French author Jules Verne , which was first published in 1879 by the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel as volume 18 of the Voyages extraordinaires under the French title Les Cinq Cents Millions de la Bégum has been published. The short story Les Révoltés de la Bounty was attached to the volume . The German-language edition appeared in 1880 under the title Die 500 Mio der Begum . The English title of the novel is The Begum's Fortune (also The Begum's Millions ).
action
500 million, which is the fortune of an Indian princess (the Begum ), are waiting for an heir. The French doctor Dr. Sarrasin investigates, who is stunned with happiness. He has big plans. He wants to use the money to build a modern and flourishing city according to strict hygienic criteria. But the German professor Schultze also lays claim to the inheritance. He also wants to build a city. However, his ideas are completely different from those of Sarrasin. Schultze builds a steel empire, an armory for artillery and cannons based on Krupp's example .
Both plans are being implemented. Soon the clean and idealized city of France-Ville stands opposite the dark steel city . After a short time a conflict looms. Schultze aims a huge cannon with a mysterious projectile at his competitor.
The young engineer Marcel Bruckmann from Alsace sneaked into Stahlstadt under a false name and won the professor's trust. The builder of the giant cannon and the secret weapon does not allow anyone to know. However, the young engineer managed to escape and warn the residents of France Ville. At the last moment Marcel discovers an error in Schultze's ballistic calculations. As Marcel suspected, the shot missed the target.
After that it will be quiet about Stahlstadt. There are rumors that Schultze is bankrupt. There are no more signs of life from the city. Marcel goes with Octave, Dr. Sarrasin's son, in town and wants to solve the puzzle. He finds Schultze dead. He had developed a projectile that did no damage to buildings, but was supposed to extinguish life by icing up and poisoning the breath with liquid carbonic acid gas. Due to a defect in the weapon, the inventor was killed by the effects of his own weapon.
filming
The novel was filmed in the ČSSR in 1978 under the film title The Secret of the Steel City (also: The Steel City ). The original title of the 85-minute film was Tajemství ocelového mesta . The director was the Czech director Ludvik Raza. In the film , some people in the novel were renamed. The gun manufacturer Schultze becomes Professor Janus ( actor Josef Vinklář ), the young engineer Bruckmann becomes engineer Marcel Zodiak or Moltke in der Stahlstadt ( Jaromír Hanzlík ). Other main characters are Dr. Sarrasin (M. Ruzek) and Janus Arminius' assistant (V. Besser).
background
Hetzel bought the basic idea of the book as a manuscript from Paschal Grousset . Under the title L'Héritage de Langevol (The Langevol Legacy), he described the conflict between the industrial city, which was strictly run by a German, and a French ideal city called Hygeia . Jules Verne received the revision material from Hetzel, which was quite extensive.
literature
- Heinrich Pleticha (ed.): Jules Verne manual . German Book Association; Bertelsmann, Stuttgart / Munich 1992, ISBN 3-568-79245-1 .
- Volker Dehs , Ralf Junkerjürgen: Jules Verne. Voices and interpretations of his work . Fantastic Library Wetzlar, 75th, Wetzlar 2005.
- Volker Dehs: Jules Verne. A critical biography . Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf 2005, ISBN 3-538-07208-6 .
Web links
- The five hundred million of the Begum . zeno.org
- The 500 million Begum in Andreas Fehrmann's Jules Verne Collection
- The 500 million of the Begum (PDF; 12.2 MB) Arno Schmidt reference library