Hoffmann's Tales (1951)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Hoffmann's stories |
| Original title | The Tales of Hoffmann |
| Country of production | United Kingdom |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1951 |
| length | 133 (original), 122 (German version) minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director |
Michael Powell Emeric Pressburger |
| script | Michael Powell Emeric Pressburger |
| production | Michael Powell Emeric Pressburger |
| music | Jacques Offenbach |
| camera | Christopher Challis |
| cut | Reginald Mills |
| occupation | |
| |
Hoffmann's Tales is a British music , costume and ballet film directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger with Robert Helpmann , Ludmilla Tchérina and Moira Shearer in the leading roles. The film is based on Jacques Offenbach 's opera of the same name , which in turn is based on some of ETA Hoffmann's novels . Hoffmann's Tales was the second production after Powell's and Pressburger's three years earlier filmed successful film The Red Shoes , with which the duo relied entirely on the magic of music and dance.
action
prolog
ETA Hoffmann sits in the opera and watches the prima ballerina Stella as she dances "The Ballet of the Enchanted Dragonfly". He adores the young artist. Stella wants to send the German poet a note asking him to rendezvous after the performance. But this note is intercepted by Hoffmann's rival Count Lindorf. And so Hoffmann, not knowing that Stella is waiting for him, goes to a tavern during the break, where he tells the story of a clown and his three loved ones - Olympia, Giulietta and Antonia. As he speaks, Hoffmann has a good cup of cups and gets more and more drunk.
The first story :
A certain Spalanzani created the mechanical jointed doll Olympia, a life-size, pretty creature. The illusionist Coppelius, like Spalanzani a questionable and difficult to penetrate existence, made her the star of his performances. Even when Hoffmann sees Olympia through magical glasses, he does not realize that she is a doll. He quickly falls in love with her. When he finally gets to the secret of Olympia, Hoffmann is mocked and the doll is destroyed.
The second story :
The setting is a Venetian palace. The seductive Giulietta celebrates a bacchanal with her guests . Hoffmann is also there, surrendering himself to enjoying the wine and only has eyes for Giulietta. Suddenly the jealous Schlemihl appears, who, like everyone else present, seeks Giulietta's closeness. There will soon be an argument. Giulietta tries, however, to calm the heated spirits. When Count Dapertutto appears, things get worse. This has dark influence and power over Giulietta, whereupon she takes away his own reflection from the poet, just as the darkling Dapertutto planned.
The third story :
This scene takes place in the house of the Crespel Council . His daughter Antonia suffers, like her mother once, from a strange disease. If she sings, she will soon die. Crespel fears that the soprano Antonia could also suffer the same fate. When Hoffmann gets to know Antonia better, he falls in love with her. Thereupon she agrees to forego a career as a singer for the sake of this love. But when the diabolical Dr. Miracle, who through his ominous work has already had the life of Antonia's mother on his conscience, appears and also wants to seduce Antonia to sing, it happens as it has to: the talented young woman begins to sing and dies.
Epilogue :
After these bitter experiences with love, ETA Hoffmann draws his own personal summary: All of his three encounters with women stand for the various aspects of love for his beloved, Stella. When she appears in the tavern after her introduction and sees Hoffmann in his mentally depressed as well as drunk state, it is of all people the devious, devious Count Lindorf who takes the beautiful woman away from here.
Production notes and awards
Hoffmann's Tales was shot in just over two weeks, from July 1st to 16th, 1950 in Shepperton Studios and is considered the last production in the heyday of the Powell & Pressburger team. The first public screening took place on April 1, 1951 in New York's Metropolitan Opera , on April 18, 1951, the film was presented to a British audience for the first time. The British mass start was on November 26, 1951. In Germany, the film premiered in June 1951 during the International Film Festival and then ran in regular German cinemas on August 31, 1951.
Oscar winner Hein Heckroth ( The Red Shoes ) designed the imaginative film structures and extensive costumes that were implemented by Arthur Lawson . Heckroth's work was rewarded with an Oscar nomination. He was supported by the very young Peter Mullins as an unnamed draftsman.
Dennis Arundell wrote the English libretti, Frederick Ashton was the choreographer. Freddie Francis served his colleague Christopher Challis as a simple cameraman . Ivy Baker, who was responsible for the cloakroom, also helped Hein Heckroth with the costumes. John Cox and Ted Drake were responsible for the sound.
According to Der Spiegel of September 12, 1951, Hoffmann's stories were said to have been the most expensive British film up until then, at a cost of 2.5 million DM.
music
The music recordings were made under the direction of Thomas Beecham between May and September 1950. It sang:
- Bruce Dargavel (Coppelius, Dappertutto and Dr. Miracle)
- Owen Brannigan (Hermann, Schlemihl and Crespel)
- Graham Clifford (Spalanzani and Franz)
- Murray Dickie (Cochenille and Nathaniel)
- Margherita Grandi (Giulietta)
- Dorothy Bond (Olympia)
- Fisher Morgan (Luther)
- Monica Sinclair (Nicklaus)
- Rene Soames (Pitichinnacio)
- Joan Alexander (Antonia's mother)
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra plays , the Sadler's Wells Choir sings. Kenneth V. Jones practiced the music scenes unnamed.
Awards
Powell and Pressburger received the Silver Bear in the category “Best Music Film” at the 1951 Berlinale and were awarded the special prize of the jury at the Cannes International Film Festival in the same year.
Hein Heckroth was nominated for an Oscar in 1952 in the categories of Best Costume Design and Best Production Design .
Reviews
The contemporary reviews (1951/52) were mixed: The Sunday Telegraph found the film “enchanting ... an effort of love”, Time magazine found that Hoffmann's tales echoed the “peak of the Victorian spirit”, and Richard Mallett from the cultural sector and satirical magazine Punch summed up: “A film architect's picnic: I was amazed without being charmed”.
“Despite its opulence combined with a brilliant rendition of the music by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Thomas Beecham's whizzing baton and some masterful chants of the libretto thanks to numerous vocal cords, this film version of the opera is, in toto , enormously tiring affair. It over-saturates the senses without really igniting a dramatic fire. (…) The inevitable question about this film is how close it comes to the beauty and enthusiasm of The Red Shoes by the same producers. Although the two films are fundamentally different, a comparison is fair to a certain extent: The red shoes had warmth and vitality, Hoffmann's tales are magnificent and cold. "
In its September 12, 1951 edition, Der Spiegel wrote: “Ballerina Moira Shearer ('The Red Shoes'), conductor Sir Thomas Beecham, his soloists and amazing color experiments justify the effort until the third act of the film slips into dusty operatic style. "
In the lexicon of international film it says: “A highly impressive film fantasy based on Offenbach's dream opera (which in turn is based on ETA Hoffmann's stories), in which lavish equipment, musical opulence and exquisite choreography - atmospherically photographed in Technicolor - become a visual and acoustic treat connect. The romantic and fantastic magic of the stage work was replaced by a perfectly elegant cinematic-choreographic resolution of the operatic events. "
"Striking and unusual film, not to everyone's taste."
"An overwhelming combination of opera, ballet and rich production equipment, an indigestible mishmash in which outstanding talent flashes."
Later filmmakers also saw this film as a revelation: George A. Romero, for example, stated in the opening credits of the restored version "This film made me want to make films myself", and Martin Scorsese , who was responsible for the restoration of Hoffmann's stories with his The Film Foundation co-initiated and promoted, said in 2015 that this film was "unlike anything I've ever seen."
Individual evidence
- ↑ The original title is almost always misspelled in film literature: The Tales of Hoffman , with just an "n", as is usually the case in English.
- ↑ It is originally based on Hoffmann's Der Sandmann
- ↑ It is originally based on Hoffmann's The Story of the Lost Mirror Image from The Adventures of New Year's Eve
- ↑ It is originally based on Hoffmann's advice Krespel
- ^ All reprinted in Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 989
- ↑ Der Spiegel , Issue No. 7/1951
- ↑ Hoffmann's stories. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed January 1, 2019 .
Web links
- The Tales of Hoffmann at the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Full review in the New York Times