The Buddenbrooks (1979)

Television series
German title	The Buddenbrooks
Country of production	Germany
original language	German
year	1979
length	617 minutes
Episodes	11 in 1 season
genre	Film adaptation
Director	Franz Peter Wirth
script	Franz Peter Wirth, Bernt Rhotert
music	Eugene Thomass
First broadcast	October 15, 1979 on ARD
occupation
Carl Raddatz : Buddenbrook sen. Katharina Brauren : Antoinette Buddenbrook Martin Benrath : Consul Buddenbrook Ruth Leuwerik : Consul Buddenbrook Armin Pianka : Thomas Buddenbrook Michael Kebschull : Thomas Buddenbrook Volkert Kraeft : Thomas Buddenbrook Claudius Kracht : Christian Buddenbrook Gerd Böckmann : Christian Buddenbrook Melanie Pianka : Tony Buddenbrook Reinhild Solf : Tony Buddenbrook Marion Kracht : Tony Buddenbrook Michael Degen : Bendix Grünlich Noëlle Châtelet : Gerda Buddenbrook Adem Rimpapa : Hanno Buddenbrook Rolf Boysen : Commander Schwarzkopf Rainer Goernemann : Morten Schwarzkopf Friedrich Grondahl : an authorized signatory Ursula Dirichs : Ida Jungmann Klaus Schwarzkopf : Banker Kesselmeyer Sigfrit Steiner : Edmund Pfühl Elisabeth Endriss : Miss Popinet

Buddenbrooks is a television series based on the novel Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann , which Franz Peter Wirth filmed based on a script he wrote together with Bernt Rhotert .

The Wirth version is the third film adaptation of the novel and an elaborate series filmed mainly in Gdansk by the cameraman Gernot Roll , in which numerous well-known theater and television actors appeared. Roll also worked as a cameraman on the 2008 remake.

structure

The series was divided into the following eleven parts (first broadcast date):

1. The New House (October 15, 1979)
2. Happy time in Travemünde (October 22, 1979)
3. Engagement (October 29, 1979)
4. A Broken Marriage (November 5, 1979)
5. Business trip to Amsterdam (November 12, 1979)
6. An Unusual Visitor (November 19, 1979)
7. Thomas Becomes Senator (November 26, 1979)
8. Centenary (December 3, 1979)
9. Bad News from Lübeck (December 10, 1979)
10. Selling the House (December 17, 1979)
11. The Testament (December 23, 1979)

criticism

“TV adaptation of the great novel by Thomas Mann, which describes in epic breadth the decline of a Hanseatic patrician family in Lübeck in the second half of the 19th century. An elaborate and detailed production that comes up with opulent images, but which ultimately cannot bring the story to life in a believable way. What remains is an excessively long film that hopes to meet the tastes of the educated middle class. "

- film service

reception

In both the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR , the series, which was broadcast weekly in autumn 1979, was seen by a comparatively large percentage of the audience when it was first broadcast as well as when it was repeated. Wirth achieved a high reputation with her, which was attributed to both the dignified staging and the recognized actors.

Secondary literature

• Timo Rouget: The reception in talkies and other media. In: Nicole Mattern u. Stefan Neuhaus (ed.): Buddenbrooks manual. Stuttgart: Metzler 2018, pp. 63–70. ISBN 978-3-476-04649-9

Web links

• Buddenbrooks in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• The Buddenbrooks
• The Buddenbrooks at Arthaus