Moor and the Ravens of London (film)
Mohr and the ravens of London is a German children's film of the DEFA of Helmut Dziuba from 1969. It is based on the same youth book by Vilmos and Ilse grain .
action
The year 1856: Because of his writings, Karl Marx , known as "Mohr", had to go into exile from Germany to London . He lives in poverty in London, but is determined to pursue his goal of enforcing workers' rights. One day he meets the 13-year-old worker boy Joe and his little sister Becky on a country road not far from London. Both have to go to town because Joe's night shift to the spinning mill is about to begin - although night shifts for children have now been banned. Since the gates of the spinning mill are already closed when Joe appears, he gets in via the warehouse of the factory and goes to his work place unobtrusively. His heavily pregnant mother Mary also works in the factory and, among other things, designs the company's spinning patterns.
In the middle of the night shift, the factory inspector Mr. Ender appears with Karl Marx. While the minder Bell urges the children to state that they only work on a night shift as an exception, which is also only supposed to go until midnight, Joe, with Marx's support, is the first to dare to report the unworthy working conditions. All children have to work twelve hours in a row, eat their food while working, are only allowed to step out once and receive blows and wage deductions for the smallest irregularities. Night and day shifts alternate regularly.
Shortly before the monthly wages are paid out, a few meters of point are suddenly missing from the warehouse. First, Mary Kling is accused of theft because she is the only one who has access to the camp. When she is outraged that she has just created the goods that were missing, Joe is determined to be the culprit because, according to the night watchman, he had broken into the storage rooms a short time ago. The wages of 20 shillings are deducted from both of them. In addition, they should pay off the stolen material with another 25 shillings. In reality, however, the guilty party is the gang of ravens, which also includes Joe's big brother Billy. At first they celebrate the theft as revenge on factory manager Mr. Cross, but become pensive when Joe tells them who the victim is in the end. They pay him the money they received for the goods.
Mr. Ender gets Mr. Cross through that child labor is reduced to eight hours. The Klings as perpetrators are also rehabilitated, but the withheld monthly wages are not paid out retrospectively. Still, things seem to be looking up for the family. Since Mary had her child, the previously unemployed father got a job with Mr. Cross. Right now the workers, like those of other factories, decide to go on strike and father Kling refuses - in contrast to Joe, who learned from Marx. The workers want fixed hours and fixed wages. Karl Marx supports them and gives advice. Worker Collins becomes the leader of the strike. When all the workers have gathered, Mr. Ender, who is also present, reassures the masses - Mr. Cross would meet the demands if Collins spoke to him alone. However, Cross breaks his word when all the workers have gone back to their machines and instead fires Collins. Together with Marx's support, Mr. Ender prepares a leaflet for the workers, in which he calls on them to stoppage and stands behind their demands. The workers go on strike again, forcing Mr. Cross to put their demands down in a contract. The gang of ravens has also become smarter under Marx's remarks on right, wrong, poor and rich: They are dissolving and the members are now doing honest work.
production
Mohr and the Ravens of London was created on the occasion of the 150th birthday of Karl Marx. The scenario came from Margot Beichler and Gudrun Rammler . It was the only DEFA film in which Marx played a central role. The film had its world premiere on March 22, 1969 in Halle .
Production design: The extensive historical exterior decorations were built in the DEFA studio in Potsdam-Babelsberg. In the central hall, Oxford Street and in the outdoor area Rabengasse were designed as a venue by the production designer Harry Leupold . Functional spinning machines from the 19th century were required for the scenes in the spinning room. These self-actuators were dismantled in an old cloth factory in Meerane and brought to the studio.
criticism
The contemporary critics praised actor Alfred Müller, who "understands to make the strength of character, the sense of justice, the clarity of thought of Marx visible in many [...] everyday little things". Other critics criticized “a… certain… detail in the dialogues - a fact that stands in the way of an all-round convincing interpretation of the material. The didactic intention may have gained the upper hand here over specific cinematic methods. ”Nevertheless, the film is worth seeing, which is mainly due to the“ apparently documentary insight into an unknown world that is reminiscent of Dickens' novels ”: The film is“ with an unusually precise and impressive description of the living conditions of those English factory children. "
For the film service , Mohr and the Ravens of London was "a film afflicted with theatrical weaknesses, but emotional, largely unheroic film, which is less a celebration for Karl Marx than a representation of child labor in 19th century England."
Award
At the Youth Film Week in Halle, Mohr and the Ravens of London was honored as the best children's film in 1969.
literature
- F.-B. Habel : The great lexicon of DEFA feature films . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-349-7 , pp. 415-416 .
- Moor and the Ravens of London . In: Ingelore König, Dieter Wiedemann, Lothar Wolf (eds.): Between Marx and Muck. DEFA films for children . Henschel, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-89487-234-9 , pp. 169-171.
publication
The film has been available on DVD since 2009.
Web links
- Mohr and the ravens of London in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Mohr and the Ravens of London at filmportal.de
- Online documentation Harry Leupold, stage and production design 1952-95
- Mohr and the Ravens of London at the DEFA Foundation
Individual evidence
- ↑ Helmut Ullrich in: Volksstimme , October 18, 1969.
- ↑ Friedrich Salow: Fascinable Marx picture . In: Filmspiegel , No. 9, 1969, p. 8.
- ↑ Moor and the Ravens of London . In: Ingelore König, Dieter Wiedemann, Lothar Wolf (eds.): Between Marx and Muck. DEFA films for children . Henschel, Berlin 1996, pp. 170-171.
- ↑ Moor and the Ravens of London. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .