My friend the otter

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title My friend the otter (Federal Republic of Germany)
A wave of shimmering water (German Democratic Republic)
Original title Ring of Bright Water
Country of production United Kingdom
original language English
Publishing year 1969
length 102 minutes
Rod
Director Jack Couffer
script Jack Couffer,
Bill Travers based
on the book Ring of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell
production Joseph Strick
music Frank Cordell ,
Betty Botley theme
song Ring of Bright Water
sung by Val Doonican
camera Wolfgang Suschitzky
cut Reginald Mills
occupation

My friend, the otter , ran in the German Democratic Republic under the title A wave of shiny water is a British feature film from 1969. It is loosely based on the 1960 autobiographical book Ring of Bright Water by the Scottish writer and conservationist Gavin Maxwell , who kept a tame Indian otter as a pet in the 1950s . The main roles are Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna , who had previously played the gamekeeper couple George and Joy Adamson in the film Born Free - Queen of the Wild .

action

Graham Merrill is a moderately successful writer from London. One day he notices a male otter in the window of a pet shop, which he finally buys and names Mij. After the otter devastated Merrill's apartment, Merrill moved into a rustic country house overlooking the sea on the west coast of Scotland. Here he made the acquaintance of Dr. Mary MacKenzie and her dog Johnny from the nearby village. Mij ​​and Johnny play together in the water and romp across the fields.

One day Mij meets a female otter. Regardless of the dangers, Mij keeps moving away from the country house to play with the female. He is almost killed once after being caught in a net. However, people find him in time and can save him. Merrill spends a lot of time drawing Mij. He notices that he can only grasp the otter's true dexterity underwater. He is building a large tank out of old windows to achieve his goal.

Not long after that, Merrill has to go to London to clear up matters with the bank. During this time he saw a woman's fur coat made of otter skin in a shop window and was shocked. He leaves Mij in the care of Dr. MacKenzie. While she is walking her dog and Mij one day, the otter is killed with a pickaxe by the ditch builder Angus. Dr. MacKenzie turns around in horror and Angus justifies himself with the words "It was just an otter". Upon his return, Merrill is dejected when Dr. McKenzie announces the death of his beloved otter.

Some time later, Merrill and Dr. MacKenzie found a trio of otter cubs near the country house, accompanied by their mother. They are pleased to see that it is Mij's female and offspring who play in their father's swimming area.

In the final scene, Merrill, who had tried in vain for years to write a novel about the Marsh Arabs , picks up pen and paper and begins to tell the story of his otter Mij - and what he has learned about himself in this friendship.

background

The shooting took place in London and in Ellenabeich on the Scottish island of Seil . Mij ​​the Otter was portrayed by several trained otters from the couple Tom and Mabel Beacham of Phillips , Wisconsin . The American animal trainer Hubert G. Wells acted as a further advisor .

In October 1969, Gold Key published a comic version of the film drawn by Jack Sparling.

The documentary Echoes of Camusfearna , published in 1995, shows previously unpublished video material with Gavin Maxwell and his otters and is narrated by Virginia McKenna. In 2007 this documentation was released on DVD.

The Irish singer Val Doonican (1927-2015) was won over for the title song . The single reached number 48 on the UK Singles Chart.

publication

My Friend the Otter was shown in the UK from January 1, 1969, and premiered in New York City on June 18, 1969. The German version was published with a delay. On December 21, 1973, the film ran under the title A wave of shining water for the first time in the cinemas of the German Democratic Republic, while it was not shown in West German cinemas. On December 25, 1975, the German-language television premiere was on DFF 2 and on April 29, 1978 the film had its West German premiere on Das Erste .

Reception and criticism

Despite grossing $ 2.4 million worldwide, the film made a loss of $ 615,000. The National Board of Review voted him one of the top 10 best films of the year in 1969. The British newspaper The Daily Telegraph named it one of the most popular British films of all time in 2005. Time Out magazine noted, “Savvy wildlife photography and solid work from the cast who are old hands at this type of thing. The 'ah' factor is not insignificant. ”The film also received positive reviews from Germany. For example, the lexicon of international films wrote : “Entertaining, moving animal story”.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Maxwell, Gavin (1960). Ring of Bright Water. Illustrated by Peter Scott, Michael Ayrton and Robin McEwen. London: Longmans, Green & Co. Ltd. ISBN 0-14-003923-6 .
  2. ↑ Mabel Beecham . Price County Daily . July 8, 2010 .: “She and her family spent half a year in Scotland while she managed the otter for the movie Ring of Bright Water. "
  3. ↑ Ring of Bright Water in the Grand Comics Database
  4. ↑ Virginia McKenna. (2007). Echoes of Camusfearna  (DVD). Beckmann.
  5. ^ A b c Lexicon of International Films V – Z, Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag Reinbek near Hamburg, 1995. pp. 6376–6377
  6. ↑ ABC's 5 Years of Film Production Profits & Losses . In: Variety , May 31, 1973, p. 3. 
  7. ↑ 1969 Award Winners . National Board of Review . Archived from the original on December 16, 2013. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  8. ↑ Chris Hastings: The dark love behind A Ring of Bright Water . The Daily Telegraph . September 11, 2005. Archived from the original on May 28, 2014.
  9. ↑ Geoff Andrew in Time Out Magazine, March 26, 2009