Karl May films

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Karl May films are films based on the works of the German writer Karl May (1842–1912).

history

The first film adaptations appeared as black and white silent films as early as the 1920s . The first sound film was the 1936 black and white film Through the Desert , and the first color film was 1958 The Slave Caravan .

In 1962, the German film producer Horst Wendlandt from Rialto Film , under the direction of Harald Reinl , began filming the production of the most popular novel in the green Karl May volumes: The Treasure in Silver Lake . The music for this film by the German composer Martin Böttcher was formative for the other Karl May films. He composed the music for a total of 10 Karl May films.

After the overwhelming success of the movie, the series was inevitable, which culminated in a veritable wave of Karl May films in German cinema, in which the producer Artur Brauner then also took part with his Berlin CCC film . Most of the films of the 1960s were co-produced with the then Yugoslav film company Jadran-Film in Zagreb , and most of the filming locations were found in Croatia (then part of Yugoslavia ). Not only the mountain landscapes there with the white limestone cliffs and the strong green meadows were characteristic of the series, the impressive lake landscapes also offered ideal terrain for film implementation. Among other things, the film was shot in the now famous Plitvice Lakes National Park , which is home to wolves and wild brown bears. Many viewers are still primarily familiar with the oldest national park in Croatia and the former Yugoslavia through these films.

Almost all of the novels were only heavily adapted in the film, and in some cases only the names of characters were used for a film, without a specific novel. In the book The Treasure in Silbersee, Old Firehand was actually the main character, in the film it was Old Shatterhand . The films Old Shatterhand (1964) and Winnetou and his friend Old Firehand (1966) are not based on novels or short stories by Karl May, the plot is entirely invented by the screenwriter. The two-part film Winnetou's return with Pierre Brice in the lead role, produced for television, is not based on works by Karl May, apart from the person of the chief.

After the cinema series ended, some film adaptations were also made for television. The television series / films Das Buschgespenst and Kara Ben Nemsi Effendi have been implemented much more faithfully.

After the great success of the West German Karl May films, the equally successful DEFA Indian films were made in the GDR in the 1960s and were produced until the 1980s.

On behalf of RTL, Christian Becker produced Winnetou - The Mythos Lives in 2015 , a film adaptation of the romantic trilogy directed by Philipp Stölzl, which was broadcast at Christmas 2016 as a three-part television film from 25 December 2016.

Filming locations in the former Yugoslavia

Croatia

More locations

Publications

cinemamovies

TV series / films

Biographical films

Others

Discography

  • Wilder West - Hot Orient - Karl May Film Music 1936–1968 (Bear Family Records BCD 16413 HL - 8 CDs with 192-page book with film posters for domestic and foreign film releases)
  • Karl May - Film hits : Original recordings with the Martin Böttcher orchestra (carousel 554-404-2 - Polygram): Melodies from the various Winnetou films.

See also

literature

  • Reinhard Weber: "The Karl May Films." Specialized publisher for film literature Landshut 3rd edition Oct. 2018 ISBN 978-3943127089
  • Michael Petzel: Karl May film book. Karl-May-Verlag, Bamberg 1998, ISBN 3-7802-0153-4 .
  • Michael Petzel: The way to the Silbersee. Filming and locations of the Karl May films , ISBN 978-3-89602-358-2
  • Reinhard Weber, Solveig Wrage: "The Treasure in Silbersee - A Success Story of German Film"; Specialized publisher for film literature May 2012 ISBN 978-3943127010
  • K. Pöschl, M. Trescher, R. Weber: "Harald Reinl, the director who brought Winnetou, Edgar Wallace and the Nibelungen to the cinema - a bio and filmography"; Specialized publisher for film literature 2011 ISBN 978-39809390-9-6
  • Reinhard Weber: The Karl May Films , Reinhard Weber Verlag Landshut, 2002, 2nd edition, ISBN 978-3-9802987-8-0
  • Michael Petzel: The big album of the Karl May films - Volume 1 , Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf Berlin, 2003, ISBN 978-3-8960246-9-5
  • Michael Petzel: The Big Album of the Karl May Films - Volume 2 , Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf Berlin, 2004, ISBN 978-3-89602479-4
  • K. Pöschl, M. Trescher, R. Weber: Harald Reinl, the director who brought Winnetou, Edgar Wallace and the Nibelungen to the cinema - a bio and filmography; Specialized publisher for film literature 2011 ISBN 978-39809390-9-6

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Malte Ristau, Wolfgang Willmann: Figure Worlds after Karl May: Toy and collectible figures made of pewter, mass and plastic, Karl-May-Verlag, 2015
  2. ↑ [1]
  3. ↑ [2]
  4. ↑ [3]