Favorite of the Gods (1930)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Darling of the gods |
| Country of production | German Empire |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1930 |
| length | 110 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Hanns Schwarz |
| script |
Robert Liebmann Hans Müller based on Müller's play The Tokaier (1924) |
| production | Erich Pommer for UFA , Berlin |
| music |
Willy Schmidt-Gentner Karl M. May |
| camera |
Günther Rittau Konstantin Irmen-Tschet |
| cut | Willy Zeyn junior (sound editor) |
| occupation | |
| |
Liebling der Götter is a German artist melodrama by Hanns Schwarz with Emil Jannings and Renate Müller in the leading roles.
action
The tenor Albert Winkelmann is a celebrated artist, whom everyone admires for his art of singing and to whom women in particular lie en masse - in short: he is a “darling of the gods”. His wife Agathe sees her bohemian husband's preference for the “weaker sex” with some concern. But Winkelmann always knows how to arrange everything with one another: on the one hand, he lives out his love of life, eating and drinking well, and lets himself be celebrated and pissed off by the world of women. On the other hand, he gives his wife the feeling that people eat at home and that only she matters to him. Inspired by the apparently unclouded happiness, the massive singer does not believe that anything could ever ruin his career. But one day his family doctor Dr. Marberg that his health, more precisely: his heart, is in bad shape. As is so often the case, the cheerful artist ignores this warning with mockery and scorn, continues to rely on the fact that nothing will happen to him, the darling of the gods, and embarks on a tour of South America, where he will be even bigger Want to celebrate triumphs.
But on site he doesn't like the hot, humid climate at all, and it is not only palpitations that become noticeable: to make matters worse, his vocal cords are now slacking, so that Winkelmann can no longer sing and has to break off the tour. Frustrated and deeply depressed, he travels home to Austria. Even his wife doesn't know how bad his health is. She is happy to finally have him to herself for once. Winkelmann resists the idea that under these circumstances, willy-nilly, he would have to retire. Outwardly, he plays the only temporarily exhausted singer who voluntarily wants to enjoy the peace and quiet at home on Lake Wolfgang and therefore intends to decline future offers for performances. In truth, however, it continues to push him onto the stage, back into the spotlight. When one day, out of high spirits, he started to sing a song again, his voice suddenly returned. Agathe now realizes that her husband would be deadly unhappy as a retired man. His art belongs to everyone and his world is the stage.
Production notes
Liebling der Götter was made from May 26th to the end of June 1930. Outside locations were St. Wolfgang on Lake Wolfgang (Salzkammergut) and Vienna. The studio recordings were made in the UFA studios in Neubabelsberg . The world premiere took place on October 13, 1930 in Berlin's Gloria-Palast ; in Austria, Liebling der Götter was in Vienna on December 11, 1930.
Max Pfeiffer served producer Erich Pommer, who also took over the production management, as the production manager. The texts for Karl M. Mays and Willy Schmidt-Gentner's compositions are written by Richard Rillo, Schmidt-Gentner also took over the musical direction. The film structures were designed by Erich Kettelhut , the costumes were designed by René Hubert . Fritz Thiery set the tone.
The following music tracks were played:
- I'm so happy (Music: May, Text: Rillo)
- I'll sing you a love song (music: Schmidt-Gentner, text: Rillo).
The recordings were published by Ufaton-Verlag GmbH, Berlin.
In the scenes in which Emil Jannings had to sing, the singing was taken over by the tenor Marcel Wittrisch .
The resulting 30 years later, the same film favorite of the gods of Gottfried Reinhardt is not a remake of this film and has no substantive connection with him. In this production, key life passages of the leading actress in the 1930 film, Renate Müller, are retold.
Reviews
In the Austrian Film-Zeitung it was stated on December 6th, 1930: “Here we are definitely confronted by the most human Jannings that we have met in film so far: most humanly because the artist here has the opportunity to play himself, so to speak, a happy, uncomplicated artistic nature, without a mask, without the need to adjust to a certain, prescribed character. The fact that he plays a singer doesn't change that. (...) This plot is embellished with an abundance of charming little episodes and also framed by wonderful shots from the Salzkammergut. "
Paimann's film lists summed up: “Not a Janning film of the usual format, a sketch. Because if you wanted to see it as a completed, dramatic experience, then everything after returning home would be a weakening epilogue. This is about the subject, which offers the artist, whom Marcell Wittrich represents in the singing parts, a role that is not too difficult but grateful. The dialogue is cleverly built into the plot, enlivening the excellent guys. In terms of direction, the visual-acoustic combination of many transitions is worth mentioning. (...) Overall qualification: Almost a hit. "
The lexicon of international films says: "Dusty, clichéd entertainment film, despite Emil Jannings, who pulls out all the stops in the leading role."
Web links
- Favorite of the gods in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Favorite of the gods at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ "Darling of the Gods". In: Österreichische Film-Zeitung , December 6, 1930, p. 13 (online at ANNO ).
- ↑ Darling of the Gods in Paimann's film lists ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Favorite of the gods. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed August 17, 2015 .
