Mary (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Mary |
| Country of production | Great Britain , Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1931 |
| length | 78 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alfred Hitchcock |
| script |
Alma Reville , Herbert Juttke , Georg C. Klaren |
| production |
John Maxwell for South Film |
| music | John Reynders |
| camera | Jack E. Cox |
| cut | Rene Marrison |
| occupation | |
| |
Mary (alternative title: The Baring Trial ) is the German version of the thriller Mord - Sir John intervenes, which was filmed by Alfred Hitchcock at the same time . based on the novel "Enter Sir John" by Clemence Dane and Helen Simpson . German actors play in Mary on the same set . The plot is streamlined and slightly changed.
action
Mary Baring (who is still called Diana in the English version) is a member of a traveling drama troupe. One day, when she is found without memory next to a colleague's body, all circumstances indicate that she committed the crime. In the murder trial, the theater producer, writer and actor Sir John Menier is the only juror who has doubts about her guilt until the end. However, he bowed to pressure from the rest of the jury and ultimately voted guilty.
Driven by his guilty conscience, Sir John sets out on his own to find the real culprit. He also feels complicit in her conviction, as it turns out that he knows Mary from before, who had once applied to his theater as an actress - but he turned her down. With two assistants, a couple of actors from Mary's troupe, he investigates and comes across Handel Fane , an actor and acrobat with transvestite inclinations who was engaged to Mary. His dark secret that he is an escaped convict (in the original Fane is a mulatto ), who has to expect to be caught again at any time, is not allowed to Mary. When the mutual colleague wanted to tell her, Fane killed her.
Since Sir John has no inkling of this motive, but takes his perpetration as given despite the lack of evidence, he wants to corner Fane. He lets him audition for a supposedly new play. The text to be presented has clear references to the Mary Baring case. Fane panics and leaves Sir John's office. At a circus performance, which Sir John visits to question Fane again, the latter commits suicide while performing a trapeze trick. He leaves a written confession. Mary Baring is thus free. Sir John picks her up from prison in a car. (The original ends with Mary and Sir John appearing together in his theater.)
Others
Hitchcock shot Mary as a German language version parallel to Mord - Sir John intervenes! , scene after scene on the same set with the same staff, but with German actors (apart from two supporting roles). Mary is almost half an hour shorter than the original, although all the storylines have been taken over and no scene has been omitted. However, the dialogues have been tightened and many small details have been removed, especially those that give the original a slightly comical note. In retrospect, it is remarkable that the murderer is an escaped convict instead of a “half-breed” in the German version as in the original English version. In retrospect, it is remarkable for a film made for the German market in 1930.
There were some problems with script translation and shooting. Hitchcock (who spoke only moderate German) misunderstood the difficulties that arise due to different habits and different linguistic usage. In addition, problems arose with the main actor Alfred Abel, who refused to play individual scenes as Hitchcock requested.
literature
- Robert A. Harris, Michael S. Lasky, eds. Joe Hembus : Alfred Hitchcock and his films. (OT: The Films of Alfred Hitchcock. ) Goldmann, Munich 1976, ISBN 3-442-10201-4 .
- John Russel Taylor: The Hitchcock Biography. Fischer Cinema 1982, ISBN 3-596-23680-0 .
- Donald Spoto : Alfred Hitchcock - The dark side of genius. German translation by Bodo Fründt. Heyne, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-453-55146-X .
- Bodo Fründt : Alfred Hitchcock and his films. Heyne Film Library Volume 91, 1986, ISBN 3-453-86091-8 .
Web links
- Mary in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Mary at filmportal.de
- The Baring trial at filmstarts.de