The Neverending Story (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The NeverEnding Story , The NeverEnding Story |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1984 |
| length | 97 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Wolfgang Petersen |
| script | Wolfgang Petersen Herman Weigel |
| production |
Bernd Eichinger Dieter Geissler Bernd Schaefers |
| music |
Klaus Doldinger Giorgio Moroder (US version) |
| camera | Jost Vacano |
| cut | Jane Seitz |
| occupation | |
| |
| chronology | |
|
Successor → |
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The Neverending Story is a German fantasy film from 1984. Directed by Wolfgang Petersen , who is also one of the screenwriters. The model is based on the novel of the same name by Michael Ende . The film only covers the first half of the novel. Ende was not satisfied with the film and had his name removed from the opening credits; However, it is still performed in the credits. The premiere of the film took place on April 6, 1984 in Germany.
The title song The Neverending Story by Limahl was used first American US only in the film version. After Limahl's version also made it into the charts in Europe, the film was re-released in Germany with the US soundtrack.
action
Ten-year-old Bastian Balthasar Bux is regularly bullied by his classmates. One day, on the run from them, he escapes into an antiquarian bookshop , where he meets the old bookseller Karl Konrad Koreander . He reads a mysterious book, but he urgently warns Bastian against it. Bastian can't resist and steals the book to read in the attic of his school (where he is hiding). The book is called “The Neverending Story” and is about a mysterious world called Fantasia . A young warrior named Atreyu has gone on a journey to help the ruler of Fantasia, the Childlike Empress , who lives in the ivory tower , because she is seriously ill and an uncanny power called "The Nothing", large parts of the Country devours. The origin of nothing is puzzling, but seems to be somehow related to the discomfort of the Childlike Empress.
To the great astonishment and confusion of the high councilor of the child empress, Atreyu was commissioned to research the circumstances surrounding the ruler's illness and to find a cure for her. In order to guarantee him the ultimate authority and magical protection, Atréju is entrusted with Aurýn , the supporter of the Childlike Empress. The amulet consists of two snakes (one silver and one gold) that entwine around each other and bite their tails. Atreyu sets off straight away, his first travel destination is the “swamps of sadness”. This is where Aurýn shows its first effect: Atreyu withstands the swamps that normally drive every hiker to suicide. Unfortunately Aurýn only protects Atreyu, while his faithful horse Artax sinks into the moor. When Atreyu asks the ruler of the swamps, a gigantic and senile turtle called "The Ancient Morla", about Nothingness and the Childlike Empress, Morla only utters useless babbling, only the reference to a "Southern Oracle " offers Atreyu a new target .
But Atreyu is extremely exhausted from the trip and soon threatens to sink into the moor himself. Suddenly the luck dragon Fuchur seizes him and carries him to the southern oracle. There they are both nursed back to health by the goblins Engywuk and his wife Urgl . Engywuk has been researching the Southern Oracle for decades. He knows to report that the oracle consists of a total of three closely guarded gates. Cheating is impossible: only if you were able to successfully pass the first gate, the next gate appears. The first gate is guarded by two huge, winged sphinxes . Usually the sphinxes closed their eyes peacefully. But if an unworthy person comes into their field of vision without self-confidence, the sphinxes kill the adventurer with their eyes emitting rays. Even after Atreyu had to watch the killing of a flashy rider in shining armor, he decided to dare to do it himself. He can barely run past the sphinxes. When he finds the second oracle gate, he is amazed: a giant mirror shows Bastian how he is following the story of Atreyu in the attic.
Bastian is shocked that the book describes him perfectly. He realizes that, in the truest sense of the word, he himself has become part of history - so this was what the bookseller wanted to warn him about. Bastian can still bring himself to read on. Meanwhile, Atreyu is no less amazed, because he had expected his own reflection. Finally he realizes that he has to go through the mirror. On the other hand, the actual oracle awaits him. They are winged sphinxes again, but this time they are friendly. They tell Atreyu that nothing is indeed the cause of the Childhood Empress' illness and that she needs a new name in order to get well again. However, the new name has to be given to her by a "human child from the real world". When Atreyu wants to know how to get hold of a human child from the real world, nothing rushes in and destroys the oracle. Atreyu has to be rescued by Fuchur again, but is blown off Fuchur's back during the flight. Atreyu finally wakes up near the ruins of an ancient city and meets Rockbiter , who laments the loss of his family and friends. In the ruins, Atréju discovered murals depicting his adventurous journey. Suddenly he is surprised by a werewolf named Gmork . Gmork is a creature that was born out of nowhere and was commissioned to catch up with Atreyu and kill him in the name of nothing. Because Fuchur had unexpectedly rescued the hero from the swamps of sadness, Gmork had to look for a new lead to follow.
Gmork finally tells Atreyu what nothing really is: the whole of fantasy is a pure fantasy world. Everything a child imagines in the real world takes shape instantly in phantasy and has "always existed" there. Nothing, on the other hand, is born from the lies and doctrines that adults in the real world, above all, dish out to children. And as the children's imaginations fade more and more, fantasies are equally destroyed more and more. While Gmork is chatting, nothing approaches again. But Gmork doesn't want to wait any longer and attacks Atreyu, the boy can fight back and finally kill Gmork. Meanwhile, Fuchur searches for Atreyu and initially only finds Aurýn, who leads him to Atreyu. Both fly back to the Childlike Empress, but she is already close to death. Everything seems lost and the downfall of Fantasy sealed when Bastian finally realizes that he is the "child from the other world" and thus the real savior of Fantasy and not Atreyu, on whom Bastian had put all his hopes. In order to save the Childlike Empress and thus also Fantasia, he finally gives her the desperately demanded name: "Moon Child". Immediately he stands face to face with her, smiling, she hands him a shining grain of sand - the last remnant that was left of Fantasia. When Bastian expresses his own wish for a new world of ideas to the Childlike Empress, the fantasy blossoms anew.
Production history
Michael Ende and his publisher Hansjörg Weitbrecht had already released the filming rights on May 5, 1980. The people involved were the film producer Dieter Geissler , the publisher Christian Schneider and the lawyer Klaus Kähler. Christian Schneider's attempts to write a script for a European, artistic-experimental film failed. Dieter Geissler discovered after a visit to a trick studio in Los Angeles that the electronic special effects he favored were too immature to be convincing. It was thus foreseeable that the film would be significantly more expensive than the 8-10 million DM initially estimated . In the fall of 1981, producer Bernd Eichinger finally got on board with Helmut Dietl as director and Herman Weigel as scriptwriter. When filming in the Bavaria Filmstudios began in July 1982 under the direction of special effects specialist Brian Johnson , it was already foreseeable that the costs would at least reach, if not exceed, those of the most expensive German cinema productions to date. Dietl soon got out and was replaced by Wolfgang Petersen , who had experience with such large-scale projects. After reading the script in October 1982, Michael Ende described it as the "Mickey Mouse version" and a stupid fantasy spectacle. Petersen managed to convince Ende and to write a new script with him. However, this was met with reservations by Bernd Eichinger, who intended to make an international film that was to prove itself especially on the American market. After a press release in March 1983, in which Ende clearly distanced himself from the film, he was threatened with a ruinous lawsuit for damages and forced to sign a declaration in which he undertook not to take any more action against the film.
financing
From Eichinger New Constantin about 15 million came DM what their entire reserves aufbrauchte 11 million dollars said Warner Communications to in February 1983rd Since this dollar amount was only available for the finished film, a completion bond guaranteed the lending banks that the film would be completed. In return, the completion bond received 5% of the production costs and extensive rights of intervention. Bernd Eichinger said: ... They can even swap the director or send me off the site if the going gets tough. An American insurance company later also became an investor. The costs totaled 60 million DM.
Filming
For the scenes in the “Swamps of Sadness”, a southern English moor landscape was reproduced in Hall 4/5 with peatland, peat and earth. The sky is painted. The film was shot at up to 40 degrees Celsius for 200 hours; the scene with the sinking horse Artax took four days.
Locations
The film was shot at the following locations:
Trick technique
The special effects were particularly elaborate at the time, because at the time of shooting, computer-generated effects were still in the early stages of development and were hardly ever used. So all of the fantasy creatures in the film really had to be built. After small clay models of beings like the rock-biter had been designed, they had to be modeled in plaster of paris in their final size. Using these shapes, foam figures were then made, which were given a mechanical inner workings. It took up to 15 puppeteers to move a single figure. Some of these constructions can still be seen today in Bavaria Filmstadt in Geiselgasteig near Munich: One of the most famous visitor attractions there is the ride on the Fuchur lucky dragon in front of a blue-screen wall , which is especially popular with children . Smaller special effects have been moved to the Babelsberg Film Park in Potsdam.
The fantastic sky with its towering clouds is a special effect that was created under the direction of Brian Johnson in Hall 10: The camera filmed through a 7000 liter Plexiglas water tank onto a transparent screen behind it. Slides or films with the desired backgrounds could be projected onto these. The moving clouds were created by spraying colored ink into the water, which had already been mixed with chemical additives.
The blue screen recordings made with a Vistavision camera were completed in George Lucas' copier in San Francisco.
Sequels and remakes
Six years later followed The Neverending Story II - In Search of Fantasias , in which the second half of the book was presented in a heavily modified version - with different actors and a new director. The third part of the series, which is completely independent of the original book, is called The Neverending Story 3 - Salvation from Fantasies and is considered the worst film in the series - also due to its renewed change of the production team and not least because of the almost complete revision of the original puppet design. In 2001 a four-part Canadian remake was released under the title The Neverending Story - The Adventures Go On, first as a television series and in 2003 on DVD, which is only very loosely based on motifs from the book. Furthermore, from 1995 to 1996 a 26-part cartoon series was published under the same title The Neverending Story , which is only partially based on Ende's book.
Awards
The film received the following awards and nominations:
- 1984: golden canvas
- 1984: Young Artist Awards
- Nominated in the category "Best Family Feature Film - Drama"
- Nominated in the “Best Young Actor in a Feature Film - Musical, Comedy, Adventure or Drama” category for Noah Hathaway
- Nominated in the category “Best Young Actor in a Feature Film - Musical, Comedy, Adventure or Drama” for Barret Oliver
- Nominated in the category “Best Young Supporting Actress in a Feature Film - Musical, Comedy, Adventure or Drama” for Tami Stronach
- 1985: Saturn Award
- Saturn Award in the “ Best Young Actor ” category to Noah Hathaway
- Nomination in the category " Best Fantasy Film "
- Nomination in the “ Best Music ” category for Giorgio Moroder and Klaus Doldinger
- 1985: Federal Film Prize
- Gold film tape in the category “Outstanding Individual Achievement: Equipment” to Rolf Zehetbauer
- 1985: Bavarian Film Prize
- Producer award to Bernd Eichinger , Dieter Geissler and Günter Rohrbach
Voice actor
The voice actors for the German version:
| role | Actor / engl. Dubbing voice | German Dubbing voice |
|---|---|---|
| Bastian Balthasar Bux | Barret Oliver | Christian Wolf |
| Atreyu | Noah Hathaway | Timmo Niesner |
| The childlike empress | Tami Stronach | Irina Wanka |
| Night alb | Tilo Prückner | Tilo Prückner |
| Tiny | Deep Roy | Michael Habeck |
| Centaur Cairon | Moses Gunn | Thomas Holtzmann |
| Enguywook | Sydney Bromley | Hans Ulrich |
| Urgl | Patricia Hayes | Gisela Trowe |
| Mr. Coreander, bookseller | Thomas Hill | Hans Dieter Zeidler |
| Bastian's father | Gerald McRaney | Volkert Kraft |
| First street kid | Drum Garrett | Marc Oliver Schulze |
| Second street kid | Darryl Cooksey | Philipp Brammer |
| School caretaker | Donald Arthur | Donald Arthur |
| Fuchs (speaking role) | Alan Oppenheimer | Heinz Reincke |
| Wolf Gmork (speaking role) | Alan Oppenheimer | Osman Ragheb |
| Rock biter (speaking role) | Alan Oppenheimer | Holger Hagen |
| Morla | Robert Jadah | Karin Kernke |
| Southern Oracle | Heidi Brühl | Heidi Brühl |
| teller | Alan Oppenheimer | Claus Biederstaedt |
Reviews
The film received mostly positive reviews, earning an 81% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 37 reviews. At Metacritic , a Metascore of 46, based on 10 reviews, could be achieved.
"Elaborate film adaptation of the first half of the novel by Michael Ende in the style of a perfect modern fairy tale, which does not live up to the claim of the original, but deserves sympathy as an exciting and touching entertainment except for the unsuccessful ending."
"It includes some of the most inventive special effects at a time when combat in space has become routine."
"A pleasant departure from Das Boot and Kajagoogoo ."
"Classic fantasy film, full of wonderful creatures and characters."
"A decent fantasy film, but anyone who's read the book will be disappointed [...]."
"One of the few true fantasy masterpieces."
US version
The style of the opening credits was changed in the US version of the film (cloud images instead of black background). In addition, the film was shortened by a total of 6:42 minutes through numerous short cuts in order to tighten the plot. The film music by Klaus Doldinger has been partially replaced by film music by Giorgio Moroder and Limahl . Both versions are included on the German DVD.
restoration
In 2012 the German long version was extensively restored by CinePostproduction GmbH on behalf of Constantin Film . Two different material versions of the film were scanned - the international version with a length of 90 minutes and the German version with almost 97 minutes. The German long version was only available as a dup-positive . The original negative of the international version was available. In order to achieve the best possible result, the original negative was used as a basis for the restoration and the dup-positive was only used for those sequences that are missing in the international version. The scan and the processing were done in 3K resolution .
Secondary literature
- Remy Eyssen : The Film - The Neverending Story - Story, Shooting, Background Report. Photos by Karin Rocholl and Karl Heinz Vogelmann. Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1984, ISBN 3453020014 .
- Michael Görden, Ul de Rico: The world of the neverending story - pictures for the film. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1984, ISBN 3-7857-0385-6 .
- Andreas Thomas Necknig: How Harry Potter, Peter Pan and The Neverending Story were conjured up on the screen - literary and didactic aspects of film adaptations of fantastic children's and youth literature. Lang, Frankfurt am Main / Berlin et al. 2007, ISBN 978-3-631-55486-9 , pp. 127-150.
- Ulli Pfau: Fantasia in Hall 4/5 - Michael Ende's “Neverending Story” and its film adaptation. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-423-10260-8 .
Web links
- The Neverending Story in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The neverending story in the online film database
- The Neverending Story at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- The neverending story at filmportal.de
- The endless fairy tale . In: Der Spiegel 14/1984
Individual evidence
- ↑ Comparison: US Version - German Version movie-censorship.com
- ^ Certificate of Release for The Neverending Story . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , August 2011 (PDF; test number: 54 513-a V).
- ↑ World premiere. Internet Movie Database , accessed August 30, 2018 .
- ↑ Ulli Pfau: Fantasia in Hall 4/5. Dtv, Munich 1984, Chapter: Fantasies - but how? Pp. 42-52
- ↑ a b Ulli Pfau: Fantasias in Hall 4/5. Dtv, Munich 1984, chapter: Fuchur becomes Falkor pp. 104–112
- ↑ Birgit Dankert: Michael Ende: Captured in Fantasy. Lambert Schneider, Heidelberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-650-40122-9 , pp. 218-221
- ↑ Ulli Pfau: Fantasia in Hall 4/5. Dtv, Munich 1984, pp. 129-137
- ↑ locations. Internet Movie Database , accessed May 22, 2015 .
- ↑ studiobabelsberg.com
- ↑ Ulli Pfau: Fantasia in Hall 4/5. Dtv, Munich 1984, pp. 67-68
- ↑ Ulli Pfau: Fantasia in Hall 4/5. Dtv, Munich 1984, pp. 66-67
- ↑ Ulli Pfau: Fantasia in Hall 4/5. Dtv, Munich 1984, chapter: The state of things p. 151–157
- ↑ The Neverending Story - The adventures continue in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Jump up ↑ The Neverending Story - The Struggle for Fantasies (Episode IV)
- ↑ The Neverending Story in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ synchronkartei.de: The neverending story. Retrieved August 12, 2015 .
- ↑ The Neverending Story at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- ↑ The Neverending Story at Metacritic (English)
- ↑ The Neverending Story. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ^ Film review by Roger Ebert