My friend Harvey (1970)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | My friend Harvey |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1970 |
| length | 95 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Kurt Wilhelm |
| script | Kurt Wilhelm Alfred Polgar (translation) |
| production | Jürgen Richter |
| music | Rolf Alexander Wilhelm |
| camera | Alois Nitsche |
| occupation | |
| |
My friend Harvey is a German comedy film from 1970 . The television film is a literary adaptation of the play of the same name by Mary Chase .
action
Veta Simmons finally wants to marry off her daughter Myrtle Mae. But her 57-year-old brother Elwood Dowd frightens almost everyone with his delusion that he has a boyfriend of a five-foot-tall bunny named Harvey. Since Elwood also inherited the mother's entire fortune, she and her daughter are dependent on his goodwill. But although Elwood is a very likeable contemporary who takes care of his fellow human beings in a touching and friendly manner, be they friends or strangers, Veta decides to admit her brother to a sanatorium . She tells the responsible psychiatrist Dr. Lymann Sanderson is so hysterical about the story with Elwood that the latter assesses the case in such a way that he has her admitted himself. Of course, Veta only made this up to accuse Elwood before he admitted her himself. When he later asks Elwood and wants to apologize, he immediately offers him to have Veta fully instructed. But Elwood only wants the best for his sister, so he refuses and either leaves her or the lawyers to decide. Nevertheless, he stays in the clinic and shortly afterwards meets Betty Chumley and tells her about his best friend Harvey. Enthusiastic about his charm, Betty told her husband, the clinic director Dr. William Chumley, so that this and Dr. Senderson realize that it is not Veta, but really Elwood who belongs in the sanatorium.
However, since Elwood has disappeared, everyone starts looking for him. Meanwhile, Myrtle Mae tries to convince Omar Gaffney, the family lawyer, that it would be better to have Elwood incapacitated so that the house can be sold. But Gaffney hesitates, Elwood has always been friendly and courteous. When Veta finally comes home, tells the incident in the sanatorium and demands that Gaffney sue them all, he doesn't hesitate any longer. Finally, Chumley appears, who is still looking for Elwood. Through a phone call, he learns that Elwood is with Harvey at Emil's tavern. Chumley goes to meet him there. Only he won't come back from there. With no ulterior motive, Elwood finally goes back to the sanatorium to pick up Sister Ruth Kelly for a promised drink. He is finally asked by Senderson, the nurse Marvin Wilson and Kelly what happened to Chumley. Elwood finally tells how he once met Harvey and that Harvey also showed himself to Chumley; they both drank and fought over the bill before they left. He himself doesn't know where they have gone either.
But a short time later, Chumley arrives back at the sanatorium. He feels persecuted and tells Wilson to close the doors. But although he does that, they open up and Chumley flees again, after all, he doesn't want to die. He now knows that Elwood spoke the truth about his friend Harvey. But when Gaffney, Myrtle Mae and Veta arrive, Elwood realizes how much everyone is suffering from his friend, so he decides to take a medicine so that he never see Harvey again. But when Veta realizes that Elwood would lose his friendliness and become a normal, bad-tempered person, she thinks about it and prevents this. He should stay the way he is.
background
Rühmann embodied the figure of Elwood Dowd am already from 1950 to 1951 under the direction of Gerhard Metzner at the Kleiner Haus in Munich, under the direction of Willy Maertens at the Thalia Theater Hamburg and under the direction of Fritz Rémond junior at the Kleiner Theater im Zoo Frankfurt Theatre.
The film was broadcast on ZDF on February 22, 1970 , and the audience rating was 44%. A second broadcast took place on January 27, 1985 on 3sat .
Web links
- Harvey in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- My friend Harvey at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ^ Franz Josef Görtz & Hans Sarkowicz : Heinz Rühmann 1902-1994: The actor and his century. , Piper Verlag 2004, p. 399.
- ↑ Werner Faulstich & Ricarda Strobel : Bestseller as a market phenomenon: a quantitative finding on international literature 1970 in all media , Harrassowitz 1986, p. 290.
- ^ Achim Klünder: Lexikon der Fernsehspiele , KG Saur 1991, p. 408.