Münchhausen (film)
Münchhausen is a German film by the director Josef von Báky from 1943 , which can be assigned to the genre of fantastic film . The main role in this third full-length German color film is occupied by Hans Albers .
action
The film tells the life story of the lying baron Hieronymus von Münchhausen , partly based on the literary model of the well-known lies by Gottfried August Bürger . For the viewer, the plot begins apparently in the past, at a party in Rococo costumes at Schloss Bodenwerder, until suddenly an electric light switch and current car models reveal that the story is being told as a framework from the present. When the baron is clearly harassed by a young woman, he asks her to come to tea with her fiancé the next day and, in the presence of his much older wife, tells both of them the “true story” of his ancestor, the famous baron of lies. The film goes back to the 18th century , when the baron, accompanied by his servant Christian, went to the Russian court of Catherine the Great on behalf of the Prince of Braunschweig and was caught up in intrigues and a love affair with the tsarina.
The baron warns the magician Cagliostro of an imminent arrest and receives from him eternal youth. Munchausen is sent by the Tsarina as regimental commander in the war against the Turks for the siege of Ochakov . He takes a whimsical fast runner into his service. Munchhausen involuntarily flies into the fortress on a cannonball and is captured. In Constantinople , Münchhausen, now the sultan's personal servant, meets his two servants Christian and the runner again. With their help, he wins the bet against the Sultan to have a bottle of Tokajer fetched from Maria Theresa's court in Vienna within an hour .
Münchhausen regains his freedom, but, as promised by the Sultan, is not allowed to take the beautiful Italian princess Isabella d'Este with him, who he then frees from the harem with the help of a magical invisibility ring received from Cagliostro. He arrives with her and his servant by ship to Venice , where he meets the aging Casanova . He comes into conflict with the d'Este family, which Isabelle wants to marry off to an older man. During a duel with the princess' brother, he humiliates the princess by tearing his clothes to shreds with his sword . Münchhausen and Christian flee with a hot air balloon that takes them to the moon. In a surrealistic landscape they encounter the moon man and his wife as well as other plant people who can detach their heads from their bodies. A day on the moon is, however, the length of a year on earth, which means that his servant Christian ages quickly and dies immediately. However, the eternally youthful baron returns to earth.
The plot jumps back 200 years into the present. Münchhausen shows the young couple that he is by no means just a descendant of the famous baron of lies, but rather the protagonist of the life story told. The young people are shocked and say goodbye on the spot. But the baron, fed up with eternal youth, gives it back voluntarily and ages suddenly. According to his wishes, he can now enjoy his old age together with his wife.
Background and special features
The color film, which was produced with great effort, star cast and the still new Agfacolor technology, was commissioned by the Reich Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels himself on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Ufa film studios. Filming began on April 13, 1942 with studio and site recordings in the Babelsberg studios in Potsdam . After an interruption for the outdoor shoots in Venice from the beginning to mid-September 1942, further scenes were filmed in the studio. The last day of shooting was on December 16, 1942. The production costs were around 6.6 million Reichsmarks (originally the budget was 4.57 million Reichsmarks (RM)). The film was thus one of the most expensive films of the Third Reich . After a month, however, he had only brought in 119,000 RM.
“To mark the anniversary and in the middle of the World War, a glamorous, adventurous […] film was to be presented to foreign countries and Germans that gave no inkling of the political conditions in the Reich or of the horrors of war, and all the more convincing of the technical and artistic performance Nazi Germany should prove. "
Writer Erich Kästner wrote the script for the film produced by Eberhard Schmidt . Kästner - although actually banned from professions - wrote the screenplay on behalf of Reichsfilmintendante Fritz Hippler and with a special permit from Joseph Goebbels . Both were of the opinion that Kästner was the most suitable writer, regardless of his ostracism by the regime. He wrote the script under the pseudonym "Berthold Bürger". This name was not mentioned in the opening credits. Even before the premiere of the film, the journalists were given an express instruction: "The writer Erich Kästner or his pseudonym Berthold Bürger are not to be mentioned in the press." Due to its function as an entertainment film, there are no propagandistic references. On the contrary, there are even liberal and tolerant statements to be found in the dialogues, although these were initially cut out. Even potentially subversive remarks can be heard when e.g. B. Münchhausen says to his servant regarding a defective clock “The time is broken” or Casanova to the princess “Be careful anyway. The State Inquisition has ten thousand eyes and arms; and she has the power to do right and wrong - just as she likes ... ”.
There is no negative portrayal of Russia , with which the Third Reich was at war at the time. However, it is historically correct that the country is ruled by a native German, namely Catherine the Great .
However, subliminal anti-Semitic stereotypes are recognizable in the person of Count Cagliostro, who, in contrast to the idealistic and adventurous-pristine Münchhausen, embodies the principles of power and cunning and uses all sorts of tricks to implement his plans , all the more so when the role of the Count is also recognizable Ferdinand Marian was cast, whose embodiment of Jud Suss in Veit Harlan 's inflammatory film of the same name was still freshly remembered by the German audience and corresponding associations were also apt to arouse in the film Münchhausen .
Unusual for the time and circumstances of its creation (at least in comparison with Hollywood, where the rigid Hays Code prevailed at the time) are numerous sexual innuendos and several scenes showing women with bare chests. However, this was not uncommon in German films of the time; z. B. In the film The Postmaster (1940) there is also a shot with a bare-breasted woman.
Also worth mentioning are the numerous spectacular special effects for which Konstantin Irmen-Tschet was responsible for the technical possibilities at the time . The film is considered to be one of the highlights of the work of Hans Albers, who played the leading role. Münchhausen is occasionally compared with the American / British fantasy films The Wizard of Oz (1939) and The Thief of Baghdad (1940) , with which it was apparently intended to rival. The lavish film structures are by Emil Hasler and Otto Gülstorff , the extensive and varied costumes by Manon Hahn .
In addition to Hans Albers, who received a fee of 360,000 Reichsmarks, a selection of star actors was called up, although certain "peculiarities" had to be tolerated. Leo Slezak had a Jewish wife, Hubert von Meyerinck and Wilhelm Bendow were known for their homosexuality , and Brigitte Horney was close friends with the actor Joachim Gottschalk, who had recently been driven to suicide .
The film premiered on March 3, 1943 on the occasion of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of Ufa, which took place as a "company roll call" in Berlin's Ufa-Palast am Zoo . By the end of 1944, it had 18.7 million viewers, making it one of the most successful films of the National Socialist era .
After an initial attempt at reconstruction in 1978, a part of the film believed to be lost could only be found after the fall of the Wall with the help of Eastern European archives. This longer version was broadcast on ZDF on April 1, 1991 (editor Jürgen Labenski ). Ilse Werner, who also starred in the film, took over the announcement. Thus, the film was brought closer to its original version, but around 15 minutes were still missing, which must have been lost with the first cut in June 1943 (original length of the film: 3662 meters, longest known version after it was cut around June 1943, corresponds to the Version from 1991: 3225 meters).
During the research on the occasion of the restoration of the Agfacolor film, a 35 mm copy of the premiere version, which was believed to be lost, was discovered in the Gosfilmofond of Russia in 2016. It contains the scene at the Braunschweiger Hoftheater, previously known only from still photos. This version, which now has the false color magenta (more commonly known as red cast ) known from earlier films , is obviously the premiere version, is 3590 meters long and was extensively restored in 2017. It has been in stores - together with the other versions - since March 29, 2019.
criticism
“The lavishly designed, technically brilliant, colorful and nicely ironic film that was created on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the UFA company is based on a script that Erich Kästner delivered under a pseudonym as a politically ostracized person. Kästner linked the individual episodes through a philosophy of life that elevates the simple experience of adventure to a worldview. The fantasy of the story itself remains dominant. A splendid smiley comedy. "
"A splendid equipment film that shows off its immense effort and indulgently savored the Agfacolor color process, which was new at the time."
In the Berliner Tagesspiegel of June 26, 1978, when the film was shown again in a new color scheme, it was read: “There was no lack of cheek, actually provocations, in Kästner's text, although one must consider that in uncertain times even the smallest allusion on grievances, which were certainly dangerous, were also correctly understood. So when Münchhausen remarks to the impostor Cagliostro that the former rule, but he wants to live, that he needs everything to live, but that the latter is abusing his power. Or when there is talk of the omnipotence of the State Inquisition. All of this was certainly heard with different ears than today… The film has two main advantages that were not particularly appreciated in those years: charm and irony. And so, together with all of its fantasy, it is ultimately a film against time. "
Awards
The film was awarded the ratings "artistically particularly valuable" and "popularly valuable" by the film testing agency .
In November 2013, the German Film and Media Assessment (FBW) in Wiesbaden awarded the film the title “particularly valuable”.
Home theater and other publications
The first home cinema releases, long before VHS and DVD, were Revue Film (distributed by Foto-Quelle; approx. 120 ms / w sound film, cut-out version approx. 17 min.), Piccolo Film in Munich (2 × approx. 110 m color Sound film, cut version approx. 35 min.) And UFA (4 × approx. 110 m color sound film, cut version approx. 70 min.) In Super 8 format with magnetic sound ; the latter from 1980 is one of the rarities for collectors of Super 8 films and achieves comparatively high prices on relevant Internet auctions or on various film collectors' fairs.
Warner Home Video released the film on DVD on December 2, 2005. On November 15, 2013, it was released by the Murnau Foundation as part of its Transit Classic - Deluxe Edition in a digitally remastered version on DVD, each with a length of 110 minutes.
See also
literature
- Knut Hickethier : Münchhausen. In: Dieter Krusche: Reclams film guide. Reclam, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-15-010676-1 , pp. 458-462.
- Günter Helmes : Erich Kästner as a media author: The scripts for the films Münchhausen and Then I prefer cod liver oil . In: Yearbook on Culture and Literature of the Weimar Republic 2007, pp. 167–181.
- Alfons Maria Arns: Lies for Germany - Anti-Semitism and Nazi Reality in Erich Kästners and Josef von Bakys Münchhausen (1943). In: Anti-Semitism in Film - Laupheim Talks 2008. House of History Baden-Württemberg (ed.). Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter 2011, pp. 127–148, ISBN 978-3-8253-5898-3 .
- Alfons Maria Arns: Half the truth. On dealing with Nazi films on television and criticism of the example of Münchhausen. In: medium, H. 4, 1991, pp. 35-41.
Web links
- Münchhausen in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Münchhausen at filmportal.de (including premiere posters, contemporary magazine titles, photos)
- Project: Münchhausen at the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation
- Münchhausen at cinema.de
- Announcement by Ilse Werner about Münchhausen on YouTube
- Ufa
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for Münchhausen . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , June 2013 (PDF; test number: 58 9V V).
- ↑ Gottfried August Bürger : Wonderful journeys on water and land, campaigns and amusing adventures of Freiherr von Münchhausen: [How he himself telling the same about the bottle in the circle of his friends.] With e. Attachment of older lie poems . Edited by Irene Ruttmann. Reprint d. 2nd edition London 1788, Reclam Stuttgart 1969
- ^ Heinrich Detering : Breaking political taboos and political camouflage in Erich Kästner's Münchhausen screenplay (1942). In: Michael Braun (Ed.): Taboo and breaking taboos in literature and film (= film - medium - discourse 20). Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-8260-3341-4 , p. 56.
- ^ "Confidential press information", periodically published on index cards by Dr. Ernst Dröscher Verlag, card no.751 with the date January 5, 1943 (exhibit in the German Newspaper Museum in Wadgassen )
- ^ Klaus Kreimeier: The Ufa story. Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich / Vienna 1992, ISBN 3-446-15214-8 .
- ↑ project Munchausen on murnau-stiftung.de , accessed on May 24 of 2019.
- ↑ Münchhausen. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ^ [Andreas Friedrich]: Münchhausen. In: Reclam: Film genres: Fantasy and fairy tale films.
- ^ Karlheinz Wendtland: Beloved Kintopp. All German feature films from 1929–1945 with numerous artist biographies born in 1943, 1944 and 1945, Verlag Medium Film Karlheinz Wendtland, Berlin, Film 15/1943, pp. 15, 16, ISBN 3-926945-05-2 .
- ↑ See the jury statement of the FBW zu Münchhausen , requested on 2019.
- ↑ Münchhausen at konsolentreff.de (with Super 8 cover)
- ↑ Münchhausen DVD Murnau Foundation.
