Jonathan (1970)

Movie
Original title	Jonathan
Country of production	Germany
original language	German
Publishing year	1970
length	97 minutes
Age rating	FSK 18
Rod
Director	Hans W. Geißendörfer
script	Hans W. Geißendörfer
music	Roland Kovac
camera	Robby Muller
occupation
Jürgen Jung : Jonathan Hans-Dieter Jendreyko : Joseph Paul Albert Krumm : Count Thomas Astan : Thomas Hertha von Walther : mother of Thomas Oskar von Schab : Professor Ilona Grübel : Eleonore Sofie Strehlow : Old woman Henry Liposca : Gnome Christine Ratej : Elisabeth Arthur Brauss : Adolf Dietrich Kerky : Eberhard Wilfried Klaus : Pastor Eleonore Schminke : Lena Walter Feuchtenberg : Lena's father Ilse Künkele : Lena's mother Jochen Busse : henchman Alexander May : Porter

Jonathan (alternative title: Vampires do not die ) is a German feature film from 1970 by the director Hans W. Geißendörfer with Jürgen Jung and Paul Albert Krumm in the leading roles. The screenplay comes from the director himself, very loosely based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker . In the Federal Republic of Germany, the film first hit cinemas on May 15, 1970.

action

In an imaginary country, in an imaginary time, vampires rule a castle . The constant intrusion of these "undead" into an orderly world calls the population on the scene. It is decided to send a young man named Jonathan to scout. Frightening, terrible experiences await him: attack on his car, attack by a vagabond, destroyed villages with horrific corpses, succumbing to all intimate, private and communal life for fear of the interventions of the bloodsuckers, at the head of which the particularly rigorous lord of the castle stands, finally Detention and Torture.

But then the tide turns. The remaining peasants and citizens get together to act. The castle is stormed in a major attack, the vampires are mercilessly hunted, in turn tortured and finally the remaining vampires are driven into the sea. The ghost is shaken off.

criticism

“In his first feature film, HW Geissendörfer enriched the Dracula genre not only with a decidedly art-obsessed photography, but also with political undertones: The fight against the fine society of the“ undead ”often seems like a macabre allusion to the student protests of 1968. Unfortunately Against the will of the director, this interesting attempt was only available for distribution in a reworked version. "

- Lexicon of international film

“The interesting color film by a young German debutante who advocates the controversial thesis of denouncing violence through blatant depictions of violence. Despite the shocking conclusion that turned the filmmaker's idea on its head: very much worth discussing for adult film fans. "

- Protestant film observer

"Predicate" Valuable ""

- Filmbewertungsstelle Wiesbaden

Web links

• Jonathan in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Description of the film with comments and criticism at vampire-world
• Review at ikonenmagazin

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Long review in the Evangelisches Film-Beobachter , Evangelischer Presseverband München, Review No. 119/1970, p. 124
2. ↑ rororo-Taschenbuch No. 6322 (1988), p. 1894