Salto Mortale (TV series)

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Television series
Original title Somersault Mortale
Country of production Germany
original language German
Year (s) 1969-1972
length 60 minutes
Episodes 18 in 2 seasons
genre circus
idea Fritz Aeckerle
music Rolf-Hans Müller
First broadcast January 29, 1969 on German television
occupation

The story of a family of artistes - somersault is a 18-piece circus - television series of the then Südwestfunks (SWF) with the Swiss television , directed by Michael Brown , who in two seasons from January 1969 to June 1969 (10 episodes) and in October 1971 until January 1972 (8 episodes) was broadcast on First German Television (ARD). The authors were Heinz Oskar Wuttig and Horst Pillau . The theme music by the then head of the SWF dance orchestra, Rolf-Hans Müller , developed into a classic of circus music.

action

The series tells the story of the Swiss artist family Doria. Circus director Kogler is shortly before a planned European tour of his Circus Krone before the problem that one of the members of an artist group engaged for the trapeze act is absent due to an accident while they are still engaged in other activities. With the help of the rogue artist agent Jacobsen, he manages to book the Flying Dorias as an attraction. Each episode of the series takes place in a different European guest location, individual sequences take place in Solothurn, where the Dorias live in a large house.

Father Carlo holds the reins of the family in his hand. His children and their partners make up the trapeze troupe. The youngest son Viggo is the star of the group with the triple somersault , the somersault mortale , his brother Sascha is the catcher. Also there are his Spanish wife Lona, his sister Francis, who jumps the so-called death jump out of the big top blindfolded, and her Italian husband Rudolfo. Dorias' eldest brother, Mischa, sustained serious injuries to his left hand in a fire in the circus wagon , in which the mother was killed; he used to be the catcher of the troops. He finds it difficult to accept that he can no longer pursue this calling.

Later, the Russian Nina joins them, who eventually marries Viggo. Initially, father Carlo is not at all happy about the connection, as he foresees a great career for his son, in which a wife seems to be a hindrance and he only sees Nina as a carer for her old and sick father. Only when he, a formerly famous Russian music clown, fell seriously ill and Nina slipped into his role unrecognized and thus thrilled the audience, did he give up his resistance.

An integral part of the series is also the artist agent Jacobsen, who has a long friendship with Carlo Doria. He not only acts as a link between the performers and the ringmaster, but also as a mediator when family disputes arise among the Dorias.

Filming

The majority of the series takes place in Circus Krone and so large parts of the filming took place there. The first episode already shows an aerial photo of the real Circus Krone on the Heiligengeistfeld in Hamburg. However, in the first season, many of the scenes that take place in the area of ​​the caravans were shot in the studio. This can be seen above all from the fact that the mostly unspecified locations of the circus do not change, but always have the same underground, for example, even though the locations are supposed to be in different countries according to the plot.

In the second season, however, the circus scenes were mostly filmed in real guest performances. Other companies can also be seen here, such as Circus Knie in Switzerland. With a few exceptions, the scenes showing the respective host cities were filmed in the respective city.

Audience and spectators: Although the circus always went on to the next guest performance, when the camera pans around the arena, the same audience was often to be seen and in the same seating arrangement, as if they were always following behind. Also a little bizarre were the "cardboard comrades" who could be seen in the back rows and served as a substitute audience, since apparently there were never enough extras for these recordings.

Artists: With the actor-artists of Dorias and the real protagonists on the trapeze, you can clearly see from the camera positions or cuts that they are different people. If, for example, the camera is pointed down from the dome at the "catcher" (including the face), one can repeatedly see clearly that it is not Sascha (Horst Janson). The hair colors of the real "jumpers" also differ noticeably from those of the actors.

Even if some of the action does not take place in Circus Krone, all scenes that are supposed to show the performance of the Flying Dorias were shot in the big top of Circus Krone. Exceptions are the recordings that take place in permanent buildings, which also took place in the Kronebau in Munich.

background

The actor Joseph Offenbach died shortly after the shooting of the last episode of the series, which was first broadcast just under three months later.

Christel Sembach-Krone , the director of the real Circus Krone, can be seen in two episodes with horse training.

criticism

Kino.de spoke of a “top-class cult series” and further concluded: “The successful mixture of family life, excitement and circus attractions as well as the impressive star line-up made the series from the pen of Heinz-Oskar Wuttig and Horst Pillau incredibly popular . Gustav Knuth, Horst Janson, Hellmut Lange, Hans Söhnker, Margot Hielscher, Joseph Offenbach and above all the former Ice Prince Hans-Jürgen Bäumler as Viggo Doria are just a few names from the top-class ensemble. "

media

  • The complete episodes of the series were released on DVD in 2006. The sound has been revised to Dolby Digital 2.0 [mono, without DS bit]. The image material has also been edited, with the exception of episode 8 (Istanbul), which has a clear brown cast. The DVD collection only contains the series episodes without any bonus material.

Episode list

season 1

The first season was broadcast from January 29 to June 4, 1969 on First German Television (ARD).

No.
( total ) 		No.
( St. ) 		Original title First broadcast in Germany Director script
1 1 Hamburg Jan. 29, 1969 Michael Braun Heinz Oskar Wuttig , Michael Braun
2 2 Amsterdam Feb 12, 1969 Michael Braun Heinz Oskar Wuttig, Michael Braun
3 3 London Feb. 26, 1969 Michael Braun Heinz Oskar Wuttig, Michael Braun
4th 4th Marseille March 12 1969 Michael Braun Heinz Oskar Wuttig, Michael Braun
5 5 Seville 26th Mar 1969 Michael Braun Heinz Oskar Wuttig, Michael Braun
6th 6th Naples Apr 9, 1969 Michael Braun Michael Braun
7th 7th Athens Apr 23, 1969 Michael Braun Michael Braun
8th 8th Istanbul May 7, 1969 Michael Braun Heinz Oskar Wuttig, Michael Braun
9 9 Prague May 21, 1969 Michael Braun Michael Braun
10 10 Munich 4th June 1969 Michael Braun Heinz Oskar Wuttig, Michael Braun

season 2

The second season was broadcast from October 13, 1971 to January 26, 1972 on First German Television (ARD).

No.
( total ) 		No.
( St. ) 		Original title First broadcast in Germany Director script
11 1 London and Munich Oct 13, 1971 Michael Braun Heinz Oskar Wuttig , Michael Braun
12 2 Copenhagen Oct. 27, 1971 Michael Braun Heinz Oskar Wuttig, Michael Braun
13 3 Brussels Nov 10, 1971 Michael Braun Karl Wilhelm Vivier, Michael Braun
14th 4th Bern Nov 24, 1971 Michael Braun Karl Wilhelm Vivier, Michael Braun
15th 5 Venice Dec 8, 1971 Michael Braun Heinz Oskar Wuttig, Michael Braun
16 6th Paris Dec 22, 1971 Michael Braun Karl Wilhelm Vivier, Michael Braun
17th 7th Stockholm Jan. 12, 1972 Michael Braun Heinz Oskar Wuttig, Michael Braun
18th 8th Vienna Jan. 26, 1972 Michael Braun Heinz Oskar Wuttig, Michael Braun

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Salto Mortale - The story of an artist family at kino.de
  2. ↑ Salto Mortale at likemag.com/de
  3. ↑ Salto Mortale - The story of a family of artists ( Memento of the original from July 2, 2017 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. at circus-krone.com/de @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / circus-krone.com
  4. ↑ Circus Krone - it all started with an animal show in the Harz Mountains. In: Hamburger Abendblatt, June 23, 2011. Retrieved on July 1, 2017.
  5. ↑ Salto Mortale episode list season 1 in the IMDb
  6. ↑ Salto Mortale episode list season 2 in the IMDb