Beyond the dawn

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Movie
Original title Beyond the dawn
Country of production Germany
original language English
Publishing year 1985
length approx. 354 (six parts of 59 minutes each) minutes
Rod
Director Sigi Rothemund
script Klaus Groeper
production Dirk R. Düwel for Polyphon Film und Fernseh GmbH on behalf of NDR (editor: Dieter Meichsner ) and ORF
music Roland Baumgartner
camera Rolf Liccini
cut Karin Baumhöfner
Birgit Levin
Kirsten Sievers
occupation

Beyond the Dawn is an elaborately designed, six-part TV adventure television film produced for ARD starring Julian Glover and Thomas Ohrner . The 1984 large-scale production was directed by Sigi Rothemund .

action

1648, the Thirty Years War is finally over, but has left a devastated Central Europe. Hunger and hardship prevail everywhere, British and Dutch irregulars often hijack German merchant ships. Even the immensely wealthy Roggenburg family from Augsburg is on the verge of bankruptcy. In order not to have to continue using the dangerous trade routes by sea, new connections to the Far East must be opened up; nothing less than a land-based trade route to the vast, far-off China is to be opened up. The family patriarch Kilian von Roggenburg leads an expedition to the Russian-Chinese border river Amur, at his side his young and still inexperienced son Wolff accompanied by Father Pereira. Only a few men accompany the group when they set off on horseback into the Terra incognita in the "Wild East".

A little later, the trip seems doomed to failure when Wolff meets the young, attractive Polish girl Nadja, who turns his head. She is in the power of Crimean Tatars, from which Wolff freed her. With this arbitrariness, the young Roggenburg endangers the entire expedition at an early stage. From then on, the Germans get caught up in a plethora of dangerous incidents and adventures that usually lead them to the verge of failure. To protect themselves from wild Central Asian rebels and robbers, the German troops have to hide with some Cossacks. But when their benevolent clan leader is surprisingly deposed by his own people, new danger looms. After thousands of kilometers the men and women reach the border river Amur. Kilian and his son Wolff are separated from Nadja. At a fort near the border with China, where Wolff, Nadja and Kilian meet again, there is a big showdown. The beautiful Polish woman is killed in a big explosion.

Production notes

The shooting of Beyond the Dawn took place in Yugoslavia ( Plitvice Lakes National Park ) in the summer of 1984 ; the winter shots were previously shot in Eastern Finland (near Lieksa ). The six parts were broadcast on Mondays at 8:15 p.m., beginning on January 7, 1985 and ending on February 11, 1985. The episodes were named “Eagle of the Steppe” (Part 1), “Trail of Suffering” (Part 2 ), “Deadly Taiga” (Part 3), “Nadja” (Part 4), “Gold and Death” (Part 5) and “The Dragon Spits Fire” (Part 6).

This large-scale television production made a name for itself primarily because of its elaborate costume designs. In the biography of Irms Pauli, the film's large personal lexicon named around 1000 Tatar, Strelitzen and Cossack costumes that the well-known designer had to tailor together with Maja Galaso.

Leading actor Julian Glover had gained international fame a few years earlier for his role as the head villain in the James Bond film In A Deadly Mission .

The NDR symphony orchestra plays under the direction of the composer Roland Baumgartner .

reception

In the FAZ magazine it was said: "Not a Western but an Eastern: Instead of campfire romance, hillbilly songs and banjo sounds, the adventurers in Siberia are awaited by forced baptisms, Cossack dances, shaman magic."

The Westfälische Volksblatt wrote: “Well, we have five more episodes about the men on the way to the east into the house. The first episode was a little disappointment, a forced entry for the "Eastern". "

Kay Less called “Beyond the Dawn” an “expensive, albeit unsuccessful, internationally financed large-scale production”, but praised the variety of costumes.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In collaboration with Jadran Film (Zagreb), MTV 3 (Helsinki), TROS TV (Hilversum) and Orion Entertainment (Los Angeles)
  2. ^ Westfälisches Blatt dated August 10, 1984
  3. ↑ FAZ Magazin December 28, 1984
  4. ↑ Westfälisches Volksblatt of January 9, 1985
  5. ↑ The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 6: N - R. Mary Nolan - Meg Ryan. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , biography Irms Pauli, p. 164.Berlin 2001

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