The Venus from Tivoli
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Conflict of heart |
| Original title | The Venus from Tivoli |
| Country of production | Switzerland |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1953 |
| length | 95 (Switzerland), 90 (Germany) minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Leonard Steckel |
| script |
Friedrich Torberg Leonard Steckel |
| production | Oscar Düby |
| music | Walter Baumgartner |
| camera | Eugen Schüfftan |
| cut |
René Martinet Hermann Haller (Editing Supervisor) |
| occupation | |
and Walburga Gmür , Marianne Kober , Walter Roderer , Anja Steckel , René Magron | |
The Venus vom Tivoli (world premiere) or Zwiespalt des Herzens (German distribution title) is a Swiss feature film by Leonard Steckel . The main roles are played by Hilde Krahl , Paul Hubschmid and Heinrich Gretler . The story is based on the play of the same name (1931) by Peter Haggenmacher .
action
One day, in a consulate in a South American country in Zurich , the brawny impresario of a colorful and not very successful acting troupe, Osvaldo Curtis, and the famous and once celebrated actress Anina Wiedt, currently in exile in Switzerland, get to know each other. With little hope of success, Anina applied to the consulate for a visa to visit her lover. Curtis has also applied for a visa for himself and his little group, but they only want to give him this when he can prove that he has a first-class performance to offer. Both artists therefore have a lot to give to each other, and so Curtis and Wiedt team up in the hope of a win-win situation. Two performances are initially planned, in which Anina is to take on the leading role alongside several artists who have become homeless since 1945 after the upheavals of the first post-war years. The first performance will take place in Chur , the second is planned for Schaffhausen . But the premiere is a disaster, and Impresario Curtis uses the proceeds without paying the bills first.
In order not to let the project fail in the early stages and not to deprive her colleagues of their last hope, Anina quickly takes over the management of the small cast herself. Since the Swiss state does not want to forego the outstanding money under any circumstances, a stubborn Swiss bailiff , known in this country as a debt enforcement officer, named Knüsli, insists on personally monitoring all of the following presentations until the sum is paid. The gnarled old man gradually blossoms around the charming Anna, and working together is more pleasant than everyone involved expected. Knüsli's assistant Bölsterli, on the other hand, an attractive young man with a heartbreaker charm, soon casts an eye on Anina, and a romance begins between the two of them. In view of these generally positive vibrations, the Schaffhausen performance was a complete success, and Anina's artist troupe received the long-awaited visas. Bölsterli accompanies his new flame on the trip to Latin America.
Production notes
The filming of The Venus from Tivoli took place from November 17, 1952 to January 23, 1953 in Chur, Zurich and Schaffhausen (exterior shots). The studio recordings were u. a. in Bellerive Film Studio produced. The world premiere took place on April 4, 1953 in Zurich, Bern and Basel. The German premiere took place on November 10, 1953 under the title Zwiespalt des Herzens .
For the 76-year-old Viennese exile Ilka Grüning , who had traveled from Hollywood, this was her last film appearance. At the beginning of June 1953 she finally traveled home to her adopted home USA.
Jakob Rudolf Welti , the literary editor of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, hid behind the original author Peter Haggenmacher . The Venus vom Tivoli, a “stunning piece”, has been a hit with the public since its appearance in 1931 and was shown as a recapitulation in 1945/46 with great success at the Rudolf Bernhard Theater in Zurich.
Composer Walter Baumgartner used melodies by Jacques Offenbach in his composition .
Werner Schlichting designed the film structures, Robert Gamma the costumes. Ettore Cella served Steckel as assistant director.
useful information
As with Palace Hotel, Gloriafilm producer Oscar Düby hoped for international participation (Hilde Krahl, Inge Konradi and Rudolf Rhomberg from Austria, Gustav Knuth and Peer Schmidt from Germany, Hollywood returnees Paul Hubschmid, Ilka Grüning and Friedrich Torberg as well as the German-born cameraman Eugen Schüfftan from France) with Die Venus vom Tivoli a commercial success in German-speaking countries. However, in view of the sedate production by the theater director Leonard Steckel, who exiled to Switzerland in May 1933, that did not materialize.
Reviews
In Hervé Dumont's Die Geschichte des Schweizer Film (The History of Swiss Film) it says: “But Düby's biggest mistake was handing this theater story over to a (great) theater man: Steckel's staging lacks visual flow, his sparse cinematic 'ideas' are heavily exaggerated, and he places the comic punchlines in the old Schwank tradition 'at the end of the scene'. The funny moments and the finer drawings are due to the actors, whose playing Steckel is unable to harmonize, so caught up in his clumsy attempts to 'make cinema'. The film is saved by the incredibly dazzling photography by Schüfftan… ”.
In the lexicon of international films , it says: "A sedate film adaptation of a Swiss play."
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kay Less : "In life, more is taken from you than given ...". Lexicon of filmmakers who emigrated from Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1945. A general overview. Acabus-Verlag, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86282-049-8 , p. 221 f.
- ^ Hervé Dumont: The history of Swiss film. Feature films 1896–1965. Lausanne 1987, p. 449
- ↑ The History of Swiss Film, p. 450
- ↑ The Venus of Tivoli. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 24, 2019 .
Web links
- Venus from Tivoli Gardens in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Venus from Tivoli at filmportal.de