The adventures of Till Ulenspiegel
The adventures of Till Ulenspiegel (original title: Les Aventures de Till L'Espiègle) is a German - French adventure film from 1956, which was a co-production of DEFA and Ariane-Film. The literary model was the novel The Legend and the heroic, happy and glorious adventures of Ulenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak (1867) by Charles De Coster . The title role of the folk fool Till Eulenspiegel was played by Gérard Philipe , who was also used as a director for this film for the only time in his career.
action
In the 16th century, the population of the Dutch province of Flanders suffered from the Spanish occupation. The soldiers of Philip II roam around, pillaging and murdering . When the father of the previously carefree folk fool Till Eulenspiegel is burned at the stake by the Spanish Inquisition after an uprising against the occupying power in Damme , Till decides to fight for the freedom of the Flemish people. At his call, the Flemings begin to defend themselves against the Spanish soldiers.
Meanwhile, with wit and cunning, Till succeeds in becoming the court jester of the Spanish Duke of Alba and thus discovering the plans of his enemies. Should the Prince of Orange and the Flemish nobles not swear the oath on the Spanish king, von Alba wants to accuse them of blasphemy and condemn them to death. When, with a few exceptions, von Orange and his followers refuse to swear the oath, and von Alba sends his soldiers after them, court jester Till causes a nobleman on the Spanish side to shoot a powder keg, so that a drawbridge is destroyed and the soldiers cannot pursue them.
Von Orange finally calls for the Geusen to fight the Spaniards. However, the Flame Stahlarm and his men refuse to cross a river for this purpose. To get Stahlarm to get wet, Till starts an argument with him. Angry Steel Arm pursues him on the wing of a windmill. Till makes the wings spin, throwing steel arm into the river. He finally gives in and calls on his men to follow him through the river. Till then introduces himself from Orange and is then supposed to proclaim the hour of freedom across the country on his behalf.
In winter Till secretly returns to Damme, where after a long time he finally sees his fiancée Nèle again. A jealous businessman recognizes him and immediately calls the Spanish soldiers over. Till flees and meets the merchant who, fearing for his life, wants to give him all his gold. When the merchant runs away, the Spanish soldiers mistake him for Till and shoot him. Meanwhile, the Duke of Alba consults with his followers on how to bring down the rebels. A young captain named Juan agrees to assassinate the Prince of Orange. When Captain Juan is already on the move on a horse-drawn sleigh, a Flemish spy tells Till and his people about the planned attack. Till then rides after Juan and his men follow them with ice skates on a river. Till manages to catch up with Juan and jump on his sled, but when he falls off the sled, he too has to continue the chase on skates. Till and his men escape a Spanish troop. Juan finally manages to sneak into the audience at a meeting while Orange declares Flanders' independence. When Juan aims a pistol at the prince, Till also arrives and prevents the attack. The prince's troops join forces and emerge victorious in the end, whereupon the Spaniards are forced to withdraw from Flanders. So Till and his fiancée Nèle can finally look forward to a peaceful and happy future.
background
Leading actor Gérard Philipe first came up with the idea of filming Charles De Coster's novel about Till Eulenspiegel in 1949 . However, it took seven years before he was able to find producers to support his project, as the book about Flanders ' struggle for freedom against the Spanish occupiers was considered too political and also criticized the Catholic Church with its inquisition .
The DEFA turn had been working on an adaptation of the substance since the end of 1947, so were the screenwriters, among other things Bertolt Brecht and Guenther Weisenborn been talking. In addition, the DEFA tried since the beginning of the 1950s to have international artists appear in feature films. Between 1956 and 1959 there were four co-productions between the GDR and France: "The presence of world-famous actors like Gérard Philipe [...] strengthens the self-confidence of DEFA and promotes the international reputation of GDR film art".
The shooting of the film took place in 1956 in Sweden , the Netherlands and Nice , but also in Raguhn in Saxony-Anhalt , where the local house of culture still bears the name "Gérard Philipe". Actually, the Dutch documentary filmmaker Joris Ivens was supposed to take over the direction, through whose contacts the co-production with DEFA finally came about. Due to scheduling reasons, however, he had to cancel at the beginning of the shoot, so that Gérard Philipe directed a film as a director for the only time in his career. Ivens was at his side as a consultant from time to time.
The film premiere of The Adventures of Till Ulenspiegel took place in Paris on November 7, 1956 , shortly after the Hungarian popular uprising against the communist ruling party was put down by the Soviet army , which led to a great wave of indignation against the Eastern bloc in France. The French audience responded accordingly by failing the film as a co-production with an East German film company. The first performance in the GDR took place on January 4, 1957 in the Babylon cinema in Berlin . On April 5, 1957, the film came under the title Till Eulenspiegel, the laughing rebel in the German cinemas. On July 27, 1957, the adventure film was broadcast for the first time on GDR television on DFF 1 .
Reviews
According to Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler , Gérard Philipe, as a screenwriter, “designed the breaks between the ingenious pranks of his film more badly than right”. As a director, on the other hand, he neglected “the leadership of the other participants” and in the lead role, “even without controlling leadership, […] his fan fan, the hussar ” repeated. He is "at times almost embarrassing in the foreground".
The lexicon of international films described The Adventures of Till Ulenspiegel as “a large-scale production that suffers from poor director's”. The film is "[l] slow of breath, but photographed excellently". Ralf Schenk wrote in the Berliner Zeitung that the film "ended up being a turbulent, but also stylistically unbalanced, eclectic puzzle". As a “cheerful antics with a socially critical impetus”, however, he could “still find his friends” even today, which was mainly due to “the brilliant cast in supporting roles”.
literature
- F.-B. Habel : The great lexicon of DEFA feature films . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-349-7 , pp. 10-11 .
Web links
- The Adventures of Till Ulenspiegel in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The adventures of Till Ulenspiegel at filmportal.de
- The adventures of Till Ulenspiegel at the DEFA Foundation
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Ralf Schenk : Ralf Schenk about Gérard Philipe as folk hero Till Ulenspiegel: Deeper meaning . In: Berliner Zeitung , March 24, 2011, accessed on April 3, 2017.
- ↑ Ralf Schenk: In the middle of the Cold War 1950 to 1960. In: Ralf Schenk (Red.), Filmmuseum Potsdam (Hrsg.): The second life of the film city Babelsberg. DEFA feature films 1946–1992. Henschel, Berlin 1994, p. 93.
- ↑ a b The Adventures of Till Ulenspiegel in the Lexicon of International Films
- ^ Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler in: Filmspiegel , No. 2, 1957, p. 3.