Three from vaudeville
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Three from vaudeville |
| Country of production | Federal Republic of Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1954 |
| length | 96 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Kurt Neumann |
| script | Kurt E. Walter |
| production | Standard-Film GmbH, Hamburg |
| music | Hans-Martin Majewski |
| camera | Willy Winterstein |
| cut | Martha Dübber |
| occupation | |
| |
Drei vom Varieté (reference title: Playing with life ) is a German artist film from 1954, which Kurt Neumann filmed based on motifs from the novel The Oath of Stephan Huller by Felix Hollaender . Ingrid Andree plays the young artist Jeanine, who is harassed by her colleague Renato, although she tries to make it clear to him that she belongs to her husband Alexis ( Erich Schellow ).
action
Jeanine Wagner, her husband Alexis and Renato Oscar are the stars of the Varieté Royal under the name “The 3 Loopings” . A blindfolded somersault, performed for the first time, catapults the three even higher in the audience's favor. Again and again Jeanine has problems with Renato, who has fallen in love with her and pursues her with his feelings. He ignores her requests not to do so, convinced that he and Jeanine belong together. On the evening of her spectacular somersault, he puts the young woman in a room and locks the door. Again he behaves inappropriately and then even tries to pull Jeanine into his arms and kiss her. He does not comply with her warning to unlock the door immediately and let her go, whereupon Jeanine reaches for a gun and shoots him.
There is a trial. Jeanine's lawyer explains that things are not looking good for her. Jeanine tells the court how she met Renato in a small traveling circus. There she demonstrated dog training with her father's friend and guardian Timm Broders. Her future husband, together with the artists Renato and Vera, formed the train number on the trapeze under the name "The 3 Rinaldos". Vera then left because of pregnancy and recommended Jeanine as a replacement. She dispelled concerns of the men with the remark that Jeanine grew up in the circus and was versatile. At first she didn't want to, but her guardian advised her, and so she started to train. Alexis was very happy with her. Renato tried to hang around with her from the start and followed her with his confessions of love. Again and again she tried to convey to him that she was uncomfortable. Even during the dangerous work on the trapeze, he pressed her and told her that she was his. At some point he then had some understanding and wanted to leave the troupe, but that came to nothing because of her engagement to Alexis. The marriage then took place relatively quickly. Renato's advances did not stop and then escalated that fateful evening in the deed she had committed. When Jeanine asked why she didn't confide in her husband, she doesn't want to answer. When Alexis is asked what he would have done if he had known how much Renato was harassing his wife, the artist replies that he would have acted just like Jeanine. The public prosecutor then says that it is clear that Jeanine is protecting her husband.
Surprisingly, Jeanine's defense attorney calls Valerie Latour, Jeanine's mother, to the stand. She begins to tell: My husband Charles and I and Jeanine, we were once a happy family who had made something after humble beginnings. At the time when I first met the conductor Luigi Borella, we were working in a vaudeville. Among other things, he conducted the “Waltz of Fate” there. We were immediately drawn to each other and started dating. It was on my birthday, of all times, that my husband found out about it through unfortunate circumstances when I did not appear to the meal that he and my daughter had prepared so lovingly. Shortly before, she had sworn to Borella that her husband should never find out about their relationship, otherwise he would kill him. Borella dismissed it with the remark that many would have wanted that, but he was still alive.
She continues: When I came home, my husband didn't say a single word. We changed our clothes for our number, the famous “death balance”, and got through the gig under difficult conditions. When we were back in the cloakroom, my husband Borella heard the “Waltz of Fate” whistling in the hallway. He stormed out of the room and ran after the conductor who was hiding from him. In the end, he caught and strangled Borella. My daughter, whom I sent after both of them, had to see everything. My husband was convicted, but refused a pardon because he wanted to answer for the killing of a person he had committed. My daughter got a guardian who had to promise my husband to see that she never saw me again. Jeanine was promised by her father that she would be a good artist, but above all a good wife. He also told her that she should always remember that I, her mother, had destroyed their lives.
Valerie Latour conjures the court that Jeanine wanted to protect the life of the man she loves. Something she couldn't do. Her husband died of a broken heart after a short while in custody. Jeanine no longer holds it in place, she goes to her mother and hugs her. After her conviction, which is mild with two years in prison, Alexis assures his wife that he will wait for her. Both agree that their relationship has taken on a new quality.
Production and Background
The film was produced by Standard-Film GmbH, with Franz Tapper as the overall director ; The distribution company was Deutsche London Film. The film was shot in the film studio in Göttingen . The exterior shots were taken in the Williams building in Cologne. Paul Markwitz and Ernst H. Albrecht were responsible for the film construction.
The film was subjected to an FSK test on December 6, 1954 under the number 08973 and approved for those aged 16 and over with the addition of “holiday-free”.
In the Federal Republic of Germany Drei vom Varieté was premiered on December 21, 1954 in the Palastkino in Duisburg. The film opened in the German Democratic Republic on October 26, 1956. The German TV radio broadcast it for the first time on November 26, 1960.
In Finland the film ran on January 20, 1956 under the title Varieté , in Greece under the title I diki tis Jeannine Latour and in Italy under La morte nell'ombra .
criticism
For Kino.de , Drei vom Varieté presented itself as a “confused triangular drama under the big top”. It was further stated: “Circus is good, crime is good, so why shouldn't crime work in the circus? That was probably the thought of the experienced director Kurt Neumann […], who staged this ill-conceived psycho-trapeze act based on motifs from Felix Hoflaender's novel 'Der Eid des Stefan Huller'. "
The criticism of the Lexicon of International Films was negative and was summarized in the sentence: "Weird psychological crime film in the circus and Tingeltangel milieu."
Web links
- Three from the variety in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Three from the variety show at filmportal.de
- Drei vom Varieté 3 film programs at virtual-history.com
- Drei vom Varieté + Drei vom Varieté movie posters
- Three from the Varieté 9 pictures for the film at Cinema
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dr. Alfred Bauer: German feature film Almanach. Volume 2: 1946-1955 , p. 405
- ↑ Three from Varieté at kino.de. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
- ↑ Three from the Varieté. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .