The five damned gentlemen
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The five damned gentlemen |
| Country of production | German Empire , France |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1932 |
| length | 79 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Julien Duvivier |
| script | Julien Duvivier |
| production | Sociétée Générale de Cinématographie SA, Paris |
| music | Jacques Ibert |
| camera |
Armand Thirard René Moreau |
| cut | Mark Sorkin |
| occupation | |
| |
The five cursed gentlemen is a German-French crime drama from 1932 by Julien Duvivier with Adolf Wohlbrück and Camilla Horn in the leading roles. The story was based on a novella by André Reuze.
action
Hamburg millionaire Alexander Petersen travels on a ship to Morocco to relax. On board are the two wealthy Britons Strawber and Midlock as well as the elegant Camilla, who is traveling with her uncle Marouvelle. Everyone gets along well, so Marouvelle invites everyone to his Moroccan farm. From Tangier the group travels to the Muslim sanctuary of Moulay Idris, where they meet the aviator Lawson and the racing driver Woodland, two friends and compatriots of the two Britons. Soon there is a momentous incident with a local in the streets of the city: a ragged beggar is observed incessantly following a veiled woman. A fight ensues between the local and Midlock when the Englishman tries to tear the veil off the Arab girl. The beggar then angrily utters a curse against the "infidels" from the West and even determines the order in which the five European men will die in the near future.
Midlock is the first to be hit: he falls from the balustrade of a bar and plunges into the sea. Next up is Lawson, who smears his flying machine. He comes before with his life, but is found a little later stabbed at the ruins of Volubilis. The third member of the five cursed gentlemen is Strawber. He doesn't lose his life, but the escape hits his wallet when he wagers a huge amount in gambling. Petersen then prevents him from committing suicide by writing a generous check to Strawber as a friendship service. He should be able to settle his debts with 200,000 Reichsmarks. This does not happen completely unselfishly, because as long as Strawber stays alive, nothing can happen to him, the fifth cursed Petersen. Alexander, however, does not want to wait any longer until the beggar's curse hits him too, and so he goes in search of the demolished Moroccan. In fact, he can make it out in the maze of streets and follows him into a house. There Petersen doesn't believe his eyes: all those who were believed to be dead, with the exception of Lawson, are still alive and well. Strawber, Midlock and Woodland are nothing more than three British crooks set out to take Petersen out. The hamburger storms out and snatches his check from the insidious gangsters. Then he settles accounts with the men, especially with the brazen liar Strawber.
Production notes
The Five Cursed Gentlemen was created at the end of 1931 in the Tobis studios in Épinay-sur-Seine near Paris as well as in Tangier, Morocco, and in Moulay Idris (also Morocco). The film premiered on March 23, 1932 in Berlin's Ufa-Theater Universum.
Assistant director Wolfgang Loë-Bagier served director Duvivier as a German dialogue director. Sound engineer Charles Métain also took over the camera work when Thirard was ill. Lazare Meerson designed the film structures .
The French-language version was called Les cinq gentlemen maudits and opened in Paris on June 7, 1932. Here Harry Baur played the main role.
criticism
The Österreichische Film-Zeitung wrote: "The film ... shows a lot of excellent shots from Africa and the audience really likes it because of its exciting plot and beautiful pictures."
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ulrich J. Klaus: Deutsche Tonfilme 3rd year 1932. P. 68 (036.32), Berlin 1990
- ↑ "The Five Cursed Gentlemen". In: Österreichische Film-Zeitung , June 4, 1932, p. 2 (online at ANNO ).
Web links
- The five accursed gentlemen in the Internet Movie Database (English)