Melody of the heart
Movie | |
---|---|
Original title | Melody of the heart |
Country of production | Germany |
original language | German |
Publishing year | 1929 |
length | 88 minutes |
Rod | |
Director | Hanns Schwarz |
script | Hans Székely |
production | Erich Pommer |
music |
Werner Richard Heymann using Hungarian folk songs and compositions by Franz von Suppè , Paul Abraham , Robert Stolz , Richard Fall , Viktor Gertler , Michael Eisemann and Ernst Arnold |
camera |
Günther Rittau Hans Schneeberger |
occupation | |
|
Melodie des Herzens is a film set in Hungary from 1929. It is considered to be the world's first German feature film to be completely set to music. Directed by Hanns Schwarz , Dita Parlo and Willy Fritsch play the leading roles.
action
The young Hungarian hussar János, descendant of poor farmers, saves on a horse with which he wants to achieve a modest prosperity one day. He would like to leave the military, set up a small haulage company with the horse and get married in the near future and maybe start a family. When he met the shy 16-year-old farmer girl Julia Balog one day, it happened to him. They both quickly fall in love. Julia works as a maid in the big city and out of love she is willing to give János her frugal income of just 20 pengő to buy a horse. It is an investment in the future of both of us.
But the young, fragile happiness is quickly put to the test. Julia loses her job because she was late when she returned from János. From now on she lives only on her savings and ends up in the clutches of a puff mother, her room landlady, Miss Czibulka, who drives her into prostitution. Despite this social decline, the girl retains her pure heart and love for János. One day, through his fellow soldiers, he gets into the house of joy where Julia works and thinks he can no longer believe his eyes. Excessively disappointed, he knocks his remaining money on the head, while Julia uses her recently earned money to buy a cheap horse. Then she throws herself into the Danube with suicidal intent . The horse remains on the bank. A farewell letter dangles from his neck, in which Julia János explains everything and gives him the horse.
background
Melodie des Herzens was the UFA's first 100 percent sound film and thus initiated the transition from the silent film era to sound film. The first spoken sentence crosses the lips of actor Willy Fritsch : "I'm saving on a horse."
Filming began in June 1929 and ended in September of the same year. Producer Erich Pommer also took over the production management, assisted by Max Pfeiffer , who was also in charge of recording in Hungary. Fritz Thiery was responsible for the sound, while Erich Kettelhut designed the film . The working titles of the film were Melody of Life and Sunday at half past three .
While the interior shots were shot in 1928, the so-called “Tonkreuz” on the grounds of the UFA Ateliers in Neubabelsberg , today's Studio Babelsberg in Potsdam , the exterior shots were shot in the countryside in Hungary and Budapest .
At the same time, three other versions of the film were made in English ( Melody of the Heart ), French ( Mélodie du cœur ) and Hungarian ( Vasárnap délután ).
The lyrics to Werner Richard Heymann's melodies come from, among others, Hans Székely , Fritz Grünbaum , Fritz Rotter , Arthur Rebner and Fritz Löhner-Beda .
In Germany, Melodie des Herzens was launched on December 16, 1929 in Berlin's UFA-Palast am Zoo and - not least because of its different language versions - it became a success and a classic in Europe.
Songs in the movie
- I'm not a captain, I'm not a big animal ... (Foxtrot by Paul Abraham), sung by Willy Fritsch
- Today I come to you, my girl ... and spring song (both Werner R. Heymann)
- Come and dance with me ... and on Sunday I'll come to you ... (both Robert Stolz)
- The Great Bear has seven stars ... (Viktor Gertler)
Reviews
Karlheinz Wendtland wrote in his book Geliebter Kintopp : “Shortly before Christmas 1929, experts and the public were full of excitement to see the first 'one-piece sound film' announced by Ufa. Hopes should not be disappointed. He started his triumphal march around the world, in German, French, English and Hungarian versions. "Wendtland said the film material was" heartfelt ", and Hanns Schwarz had" created an atmospheric film from the country and its people, which its effect on the Audience not missed ”. For the first time you could hear the "screen darling Willy Fritsch" sing in the cinema.
Paul Ickes referred to some of the wounds of the early sound film in the film week and remarked: “When a few people start to speak, then ten seconds before, mostly serious composure of nature sets in: one senses that it is time to speak. And the words come out heavy and clumsy. And that touches the core: […] but what we cannot get over […] is the incredible inertia of the loudspeaker. The voices have no response, no authenticity. The sound is multiplied on hard material, increased by so many volts of voltage and completely mechanized. "
“The sound film skeptics must be silent. The right to exist and the potential for success of the singing and speaking image has now also been clearly proven for Germany. The talkie is out of the experimental stage. The aim, direction and methodology of the sound film are clearly shown in the 'Melody of the Heart' . This Hungarian love story is not only accompanied by mechanical music. It is not a question of a few noises being photographed here and there exactly as the picture. Something completely new was created. Took up language, noise, word and song as much as the game itself, as well as the scenery and the photo. [...] You never even wonder whether it is original sound recordings or post-dubbed passages. It doesn’t even bother that the synchronism doesn’t work absolutely exactly with two or three places. It's the whole picture that inspires. Magnificently photographed. A symphony of beautiful pictures from Budapest and the Puszta. The wide, great steppe opens up. The fantastic Hungarian draw burners rise up towards the sky. Countless herds graze, and the strange horns of the Csikós and the Gulyás sound melancholy, until it is suddenly replaced by a wild Czardas. "
“Unfortunate film because all the well-known mistakes of the silent film (in the manuscript) were repeated. And also waged a hopeless battle with the clay. The microphone, once completely related to the film, did not come with the camera. So it gasped afterwards. The author should have avoided all of this, starting with the manuscript. There are examples that this can be avoided. There is an abyss between pure theater direction and pure film direction. Hanns Schwarz couldn't bridge it. So he directed the theater when the characters started talking and singing. [...] But his work, apart from the principle, is clean work and skillful work. Every detail is good, every scene is built dramatically flawlessly, effectively underlined. But lengths are there and the whole thing is lengthy. There is a lack of freedom in tone and scene, both are mutually enslaved. "
"All hopes were fulfilled: wonderful photography, masterful image design, wonderful pictures from the unknown, dreamy Hungary, language, music, songs, noises, Willy Fritsch, Dita Parlo [...], everything sings and speaks in 'melody of the heart' "
Web links
- Melody of the Heart in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Melody of the heart at filmportal.de
- Melody of the Heart two movie posters at filmposter-archiv.de
- From silent films to sound films Information at dievergessenenfilme.wordpress.com
swell
- ^ Studio Babelsberg: "Studios 4-7: Tonkreuz" www.studiobabelsberg.com, accessed September 8, 2015
- ^ Filmportal: "Willy Fritsch" www.filmportal.de, accessed September 8, 2015
- ↑ WasIstWas: “Babelsberger Filmstudios” www.wasistwas.de, accessed September 8, 2015
- ^ Filmportal: "Everything moves - Babelsberg in the Weimar Republic" www.filmportal.de, accessed September 8, 2015
- ^ Ulrich J. Klaus: German sound films, 1st year 1929/30. S. 127. Berlin-Berchtesgaden 1988. ISBN 3-927352-00-4
- ↑ mediabiz: “Studio Babelsberg until the end of the Second World War” www.mediabiz.de of September 13, 2002, accessed September 8, 2015
- ↑ Augsburger Allgemeine: “100 Years Babelsberger Filmstudios” www.augsburger-allgemeine.de from November 16, 2011, accessed September 8, 2015
- ↑ a b Karlheinz Wendtland: Beloved Kintopp. All German feature films from 1929–1945 with numerous artist biographies born in 1929 and 1930, Verlag Medium Film Karlheinz Wendtland, Berlin, first edition 1988, second revised edition 1990, p. 16, film 4/1929. ISBN 3-926945-10-9
- ↑ Melodie des Herz s at murnau-stiftung.de