Pygmalion (1935)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Pygmalion |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1935 |
| length | 92 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Erich Engel |
| script |
Heinrich Oberlander Walter Wassermann |
| production | Eberhard Klagemann |
| music | Theo Mackeben |
| camera | Bruno Mondi |
| cut | René Métain |
| occupation | |
and Erna Morena , Werner Pledath , Josef Dahmen , Ernst Behmer , Erich Dunskus , Oskar Höcker , Wera Schultz : | |
Pygmalion is a German feature film directed by Erich Engel with Jenny Jugo and Gustaf Gründgens in the leading roles. It is the first sound film version of the famous 1912 play by George Bernard Shaw .
action
Poor lower-class girl Eliza Doolittle sells flowers to passers-by in front of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. Her ordinary jargon, her idiosyncratic expression fascinates the brief linguist and phonetics teacher Professor Higgins. He meets a good acquaintance, Colonel Pickering, who is also interested in science, and makes a bet with him: Higgins bets that he will be able to turn the poor girl in the dirty look into a fine lady of London society within only six months to do with excellent manners and pronunciation. Eliza doesn't know what to expect, but after a bit of persuasion she finally agrees to move into the professor's fine house. There she first receives the good soul of the house, the housekeeper Mrs. Pearce, and bathes and scrubs the flower girl thoroughly.
Obert Pickering warns his friend against seeing Eliza merely as an object of study, instead of a person made of flesh and blood who cannot simply be shaped at will. Higgins, emotionally deeply underdeveloped, rejects this objection. One day Papa Doolittle, a filthy but clever garbage man, stands in front of the door and demands money for his daughter to live with the bachelor Higgins, as a kind of compensation for the danger that Eliza could be compromised by this morally sensitive living situation. When Higgins says after a few months that he has now largely reshaped and "civilized" Eliza according to his ideas, he takes the litmus test: the professor introduces her to his mother, a fine lady of high society. Eliza has become "more elegant" over time, but has retained her undisguised and spontaneous manner and delights Mrs. Higgins and the others with her firm and flowery narrative. The young Freddy Hill is particularly taken with the lively and unconventional young lady.
The months have passed by in a flash, and Professor Higgins sees great progress in Eliza Doolittle. He thinks that he can now finally dare to introduce the flower girl into upscale London society. He still sees himself as an experimenter and the "new Eliza" as his creation. The stiff Brit does not let feelings arise. Miss Doolittle passed the final test at a reception with excellent results, and Higgins was delighted with himself and the world. However, Eliza has long since fallen in love with her "master and master" and is so angry with the callous and unnoticed teacher that she throws slippers at him in a fit of anger. Higgins is very angry that “his creature” is proving to be so ungrateful, and so the two part in an argument. At the Higgins mother, Eliza howls out and talks about her feelings for Higgins junior. Freddy sees his chance now and asks the girl to become his wife. In the meantime, Professor Higgins has withdrawn and is only now realizing what he has lost. He goes to Eliza and in his very own uptight way asks her to come back to him. She says yes, beaming.
Production notes
Pygmalion was created between mid-June and mid-August 1935 and was premiered on September 2, 1935 in the Berlin Capitol cinema. The film received the rating "artistically valuable". Jenny Jugo herself is said to have written to Shaw to request the filming rights.
Producer Eberhard Klagemann also took over the production management. The film structures were designed by Emil Hasler and carried out by Artur Schwarz . Ernst Wilhelm Fiedler assisted head cameraman Bruno Mondi . Rudolf Schaad assisted director Engel. Gustav Rathje was one of two unit managers.
Jenny Jugo sings the song " I'm funny - whether I have money or none ".
After the great success of the film, the Jugo is said to have received numerous offers from abroad, but they turned them down.
reception
The film was a great commercial success in the Third Reich, even if Shaw is said to have been dissatisfied with the film.
Guido Altendorf writes in “A declaration of love to Jenny Jugo”: “Erich Engel smuggles a pinch of Marxism into the film version, because unlike Shaw, Eliza's roots are not cut off. As you cultivate your language, you will become aware of your own origins and class differences. The cultural gap between teacher and student threatens to be reversed. Love ensures that its victory and its downfall pause roughly in the middle to ensure the happy ending. "
In 1938 Hollywood star Claudette Colbert was asked by the Swiss press which German-speaking actress would have the best chances as a film star in America. Colbert, who had seen Jenny Jugo in Pygmalion , mentioned her name: "Her advantages are impartiality, wit, charm, playfulness and, last but not least, good looks."
See also
Web links
- Pygmalion in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Pygmalion at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Pygmalion ( Memento of the original from October 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on filmmuseum-potsdam.de
- ^ Pygmalion in: The Nazi film. Style epochs of film; on books.google.de
- ↑ Pygmalion on portifex.com
- ↑ Pygmalion ( Memento of the original from October 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on filmmuseum-potsdam.de
- ↑ cit. according to Film-Kurier No. 109, dated May 11, 1938
