Johann Strauss - The King without a Crown
Johann Strauss - The King without a Crown is a 1986 film biography of the "Waltz King" Johann Strauss by Franz Antel with Oliver Tobias in the title role , created in the DEFA studios in Potsdam-Babelsberg and produced jointly with Austria .
action
The story begins with a classic Viennese opera ball event of the present time, i.e. 1986. From there, the Danube Waltz fades back to the turn of the century around 1900.
Review: The waltz king Johann Strauss son has just died, and you look back on his overcrowded life, his loves and sufferings, his successes and triumphs but also his fears and the problems with women, the state and the church. The focus of the plot is above all on his relationships with his three wives: There is his encounter with Henriette Treffz, called Jetty , who is to become his first wife and who takes care of the aspiring composer. She even takes over his management and shows a high level of professionalism. Jetty died in 1878. His second wife, Lily Strauss, whom the Waltz King married 50 days after the death of his beloved Jetty, is an extremely ambitious soubrette who hopes to make a career through her already well-known husband. The marriage failed, and Strauss divorced the coquettish German in 1882, which was a powerful affront in Catholic Austria and also made a new marriage impossible under Catholic law.
Since 1883 the waltz king has lived with Adele Deutsch, who is 31 years younger than her, who is fleeing from faith-stuck Vienna to her aunt, the Baroness Amelie, in Saxony. Strauss follows her, becomes a Saxon citizen and converts to the Protestant faith. Only now can he marry Adele Strauss in 1887 and make him his third and last wife. Eventually the court in Vienna gives in, and Emperor Franz Joseph I one day calls the convert back to Vienna. The return of the “prodigal son” is an unparalleled triumphal procession, Strauss celebrates his greatest successes, which culminate in the re-performance of his operetta “ Die Fledermaus ” at the imperial court opera. One year after Strauss's death at the age of 73, his widow Adele, a meticulous manager and estate administrator of his works, tried at the last minute to prevent the printing of a biography of Strauss written by his brother Eduard , who was always in the shadow of Johann .
Production notes
Through his film Der Bockerer , which was unexpectedly successful in the GDR , Franz Antel made contact with Horst Pehnert, Vice Minister for Culture . He was invited by Pehnert to co-production talks in Berlin in order to agree on a joint production with DEFA. Antel, inspired by the book Johann Strauss. World history in waltz time by Marcel Prawy , discarded all the ideas put forward and won his partners for a film about Johann Strauss, pointing out that the waltz king who was married in Coburg was actually a Saxon.
As a screenwriter Antel put the world-famous novelist and ex-Viennese Frederic Morton through, although he had never written a script. An American company offered to co-produce and supply the leading actor with Martin Sheen . Within a short period of time, Antel raised 24 million schillings in private capital, so that, together with promised allowances and loans, as well as contributions in kind from DEFA, he had 46 million at his disposal.
When the script was finally finished, Antel soon received a rejection from Martin Sheen and his US producers. Antel suspected that his approach to Strauss was perceived as too conservative and unspectacular, but after investing a lot of money in the project there was no turning back. After negotiations with Michael York , Jan Niklas and Richard Chamberlain had failed, a suitable Strauss actor was finally found in the Swiss Oliver Tobias, who was successful in England.
Filming began in July 1986. Johann Strauss - The King without a Crown , also Johann Strauss - The uncrowned King , both titles in the incorrect spelling (actually: Johann Strauss), was created with international cast in 1986 in the DEFA studios in Potsdam-Babelsberg and at Schloss Friedenstein in Gotha . The hall of the Paris World Exhibition alone took nine weeks to build. The interior recordings of the Vienna State Opera had to be moved to the newly opened Semper Opera in Dresden , because a performance in Vienna was priceless.
Erwin Halletz arranged and conducted the compositions by Strauss with the Dresden Staatskapelle . An older recording by Robert Stolz was only used for the Blue Danube Waltz . Kurt Kodal was production manager on the Austrian side, Ferry Windberger designed the buildings - for the last time for this film - and the costumes for 80-year-old Gerdago , who hereby ended her glamorous film career of over five decades. The DEFA participants employed in these positions (production manager Werner Langer, production designer Harald Horn, costume designer Günther Heidemann) are largely unknown people. For Antel's long-time cameraman Hanns Matula this was the end of his career, he died in the year of the premiere.
With the exception of Rolf Hoppe (as Duke Ernst II), the GDR only provided several small actors and the majority of the technicians. After seven weeks in Berlin, the film was shot for four weeks in Vienna, where further outdoor shots were taken ( Schönbrunn Palace, etc.). Now the completion of the film began in an English, a French and a German version.
The first performance took place on March 19, 1987 in Vienna, in East Berlin the film started on March 21 of the same year. In the Federal Republic of Germany you could see Johann Strauss - The King without a Crown from April 9, 1987. Federal President Kurt Waldheim also took part in the Vienna premiere, followed by a gala dinner for three hundred guests of honor in the Intercontinental .
reception
Antel was aware that this film would have to make a lot to cover the enormous costs. He could put up with the bad reviews that soon set in, as he had been used to such things for many years. It soon became apparent, however, that the box office results were also poor and that the cinemas at home and abroad were not well attended. The sale in the USA did not work out at all. This meant the ruin for Antel's company.
Reviews
The reviews of Antel's most expensive flick were largely devastating. Here are some examples from East and West:
“In the first reviews in 'GDR' newspapers, the film 'Johann Strauss - the uncrowned King' by Franz Antel, the first joint production between Austria and the 'GDR', received a critical response. The Ost-'Berliner Zeitung 'said under the heading' Viennese charm and whipped cream 'that the equipment and entertainment film communicates itself to the audience' almost exclusively through the surface '. It is a film that 'rolls in cozy splendor on a wide screen' and offers beautiful pictures. The SED organ 'New Germany' misses 'a rousing artistic synthesis' in the film. "
“The title gave rise to ghostly suspicions, but what can now be seen on the screen is hardly believed to be possible. Oliver Tobias mimes a stiff creep who also composes on the side, but is mainly occupied with surrounding himself with longingly looking up women. In between operetta kitsch and choppy waltz bliss for the anachronistic cultural export ... "
“Despite the efforts of six authors… no even reasonably conclusive, interesting or even exciting plot could be achieved. (...) It is downright sensational with what upright comfort and how without any wit or charm Franz Antel presented his old work. He was most unhappily supported by his cameraman Hans Matula, who basically delivers the long shots as rigid postcards and brings down the singers with brutal close-ups. "
“The Austrian veteran Franz Antel, who had become acceptable as a result of his anti-fascist film Der Bockerer, wanted to force a world success from his material, which had already been filmed several times. Everything that was specifically Austrian was lost. DEFA hoped in vain for international renown with this film. "
The lexicon of international films says: “Some historically documented stations in the life of the waltz and operetta composer Johann Strauss Sohn; the main focus is on the marriage and love stories, mixed with freely made-up, mostly banal, sometimes silly accessories. A trivial mix of entertainment. "
"With the colorful picture sheets 'Casanova & Co.' and 'Johann Strauss - the king without a crown', Antel tried to penetrate the international cinema market - despite the international star cast but without the hoped-for response. "
cinema.online found: "A banal, silly colportage (...) Every opera ball broadcast is more gripping."
Web links
- Johann Strauss - The King without a crown in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Johann Strauss - The King without a Crown at filmportal.de
- Johann Strauss - The King without a Crown at the DEFA Foundation
Individual evidence
- ↑ in collaboration with Toro-Film (Berlin) and Vidéo TTR (Paris)
- ↑ with the collaboration of Tom Priman, Georg Kövary, Klaus Eidam, Franz Antel and Antels long-time production manager Carl Szokoll , whose last film contribution was this
- ^ Franz Antel: Twisted, in love, my life , Munich, Vienna 2001, p. 237 ff.
- ↑ Johann Strauss - The King without a Crown. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed December 10, 2015 .
- ↑ Johann Strauss - The King without a Crown on cinema.de