A restless life

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Movie
German title A restless life
Original title Anthony Adverse
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1936
length 141 minutes
Rod
Director Mervyn LeRoy
script Sheridan Gibney
production Hal B. Wallis ,
Jack L. Warner
music Erich Wolfgang Korngold
camera Tony Gaudio
cut Ralph Dawson
occupation

A restless life (original title: Anthony Adverse ) is an American feature film from 1936. The film was based on the development novel Antonio Adverso by Hervey Allen .

action

The film tells the life story of Anthony Adverse, an adventurer in the early 19th century. His mother is Maria Bonnyfeather, who has a love affair with Denis Moore. She becomes pregnant and her husband, Marquis Don Luis, finds out that the father is not he, but Denis Moore. In a duel he kills Denis Moore. Don Luis fled Italy with his pregnant wife . After the birth of her son, Maria dies in childbed . The father gives the child to a monastery. There he was given the name Anthony and was raised to be a Christian man. Later, his grandfather John Bonnyfeather takes him in, without the boy knowing about this family relationship. John gives him the surname Adverse.

Years later, the young Anthony falls in love with Angela Giuseppe and marries the young woman. A short time later, Anthony has to leave for Cuba . Angela sees this as a breakup and begins a career as an opera singer. Anthony comes to Africa from Cuba , where he becomes involved in the slave trade. When he later returns to Italy, he finds that John Bonnyfeather has died and that his housekeeper Faith Paleologus has usurped his fortune. She is also married to Don Luis. Anthony travels to Paris to fight for his inheritance. In Paris he meets his friend Vincent Nolte again. Nolte is a banker and Anthony once saved him from bankruptcy. He finds Angela again in Paris. She is the mother of his son, now an opera star and the lover of Napoleon Bonaparte . Anthony snatches her son away and flees with him to the United States , where he wants to start a new life. In the then Mexican El Paso , the two finally settle down as farmers.

background

Hervey Allen's epic broad development novel is 1,224 pages. This monumental work was rewritten and minimized by screenwriter Sheridan Gibney on a script for 140 minutes. Director Mervyn LeRoy was Michael Curtiz's assistant director. Curtiz did not appear in the credits, however.

The novel is said to have been inspired by the life of the Hamburg merchant David Parish (1778–1826), a son of John Parish . Vincent Nolte (1779–1856) was also a Hamburg merchant who later settled in America.

The film never came into cinemas in Germany. The German premiere was on November 1, 1992 on ZDF .

criticism

"Extra-long, spectacular historical film based on motifs from a development novel that was popular at the time, which from today's perspective appears pathetic and stilted and at best still captivates with its excellent photography and extraordinary music."

- Lexicon of international film

Awards

The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and received a total of four awards at the 1937 Academy Awards. Gale Sondergaard was awarded in the category Best Supporting Actress, Erich Wolfgang Korngold in the category Best Film Music. A restless life did not receive the Oscar in the category of best film, this went to The Great Ziegfeld , but with four awards it won the most Oscars this year.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Claudia Schnurmann: His Father's Favored Son: David Parish. In Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present , Volume 1, edited by Marianne S. Wokeck. German Historical Institute, 2015. http://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=12
  2. ↑ a b “Lexicon of International Films” (CD-ROM edition), Systhema, Munich 1997

literature

Web links

Commons : A restless life  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files