Seven thieves
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Seven thieves |
| Original title | Seven Thieves |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1960 |
| length | 102 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Henry Hathaway |
| script | Sydney Boehm |
| production | Sydney Boehm |
| music | Dominic Frontiere |
| camera | Sam Leavitt |
| cut | Dorothy Spencer |
| occupation | |
| |
Seven Thieves (Original Title: Seven Thieves ) is an American crime film directed by Henry Hathaway from 1960 with Edward G. Robinson , Rod Steiger , Joan Collins and Eli Wallach in the lead roles. The film was produced by Twentieth Century Fox based on the novel The Lions At The Kill by Max Catto, written under his pseudonym Simon Kent.
action
The brilliant professor Theo Wilkins does not get the attention and recognition he deserves from the academic world and that of his colleagues. This makes him criminal. After his stay in prison, he persuades his old friend, an accomplished safe hacker Paul Mason, to meet him in Monte Carlo , Monaco . The professor carefully lets Mason in on the plan to rob the Monte Carlo casino, since it only affects the rich and the reckless there anyway. At the beginning he was not very enthusiastic, especially since working with his old friend brought him several years in prison. Gradually, however, and due to the lack of alternatives, Mason still has five dollars in his pocket, he begins to warm to the professor's daring plans. He assesses the five other comrades-in-arms in this coup. The professor recruited the night club singer Melanie, the saxophone player Poncho, the safe hacker Louis and the crude auto mechanic Hugo Baumer. The seventh member of the gang becomes Raymond Le May, the right hand man of the casino owner, to whom Melanie is hopelessly addicted and who provides the gang with all the documents and construction plans of the casino. Together they are seven thieves. However, the professor only trusts his protégé Mason and puts him in charge of the project.
After Paul Mason has put the other five crew members through their paces and is reasonably satisfied, he finally agrees, but only under two conditions, he is in charge and there is no violence in the robbery. If something goes wrong, he prefers to stay in prison over the French guillotine . The professor's meticulous and refined plans are meticulously implemented on the best possible day, a banquet. In the lush casino, the professor plays the role of Baron von Roelitz's personal physician, who mimes poncho. At the crucial moment, he should swallow a small dose of potassium cyanide , measured in such a way that he only falls into unconsciousness in order to simulate a heart attack. Poncho is not comfortable with the matter, but he doesn't want to be seen as a coward either, and the money is tempting, so he agrees to the professor's daring plan.
While Melanie, disguised as Madame De La Cruz, opens a window in an adjoining room of the casino, through which Paul and Louis can enter the said room via a narrow window ledge, in which the elevator leads to the vault, the professor and the supposed Baron a nerve-wracking spectacle for the audience. However, when the poncho is actually supposed to swallow the cyanide capsule to simulate the heart attack, he freezes in fear. The professor has taken this into account and helps nonchalantly by giving Poncho an involuntary dose of potassium cyanide by syringe into the neck; Poncho in person of the baron immediately sinks lifeless from his wheelchair to the floor. The casino owner, who fears a scandal due to the alleged heart attack (the suicide of the baron), is led into an adjoining room by the professor and calmed down with a few well-calculated words. Poncho, who comes suspiciously close to a dead person, is supposed to be picked up at the side entrance in an ambulance that Hugo Baumer drives. When Melanie is recognized by one of the guests as a nightclub singer and he threatens to blow the dizziness, Melanie just manages to get the returning safe crackers Paul and Louis, who in the meantime cracked the safe, stole the money and in an unobserved moment in a wheelchair of the baron's hiding, opened the window in the adjoining room of the casino. At the last moment, when an employee tries to confront Melanie, Paul and Louis appear and identify themselves as companions of Madame De La Cruz. The clerk disappears without a word. The professor leaves the casino with his lifeless protégé through the side entrance, where the ambulance is already waiting and Paul, Louis and Melanie through the front door. Hugo Baumer drives the ambulance, Paul is sitting next to him. The professor sits happily next to the lifeless poncho on the back seat of the car. The professor is beaming and celebrating his successful coup with Paul, he will finally get the worthy attention, even if not in his field within science. He has finally drawn a line with everything, shown it to the world again and found his inner peace again.
While Poncho is slowly coming to in the wheelchair, so the professor has measured the dose just right, the professor, on the other hand, dies unnoticed and unexpectedly of cardiac death in the back seat of the ambulance. The two vehicles then stop in a wooded area. Paul decides to bring the dead professor back to his hotel room so that it looks like a natural death. The other three drive with the casino booty to the joint meeting point. On the way to the hotel Melanie and Paul get closer, Melanie realizes that Paul is actually the son of the professor and that he honestly mourns his father. She doesn't want any more of the stolen money, Paul also renounces the money. While the three other crooks only want to divide the money by five and Raymond, who in their opinion has contributed little to the success of the casino robbery, should only get a tenth of the loot, Melanie and Paul join the trio at the agreed meeting point. They are horrified when Paul inspects the money and notices that the banknotes are marked and that the money is practically impossible to circulate. The only solution is to return the money to the casino. Paul hopes that the robbery has remained undetected and that the casino fears a scandal and will therefore not file a complaint. Poncho, Louis and Hugo Baumer are not impressed by Melanie and Paul's plans to return the money, and inevitably there is an argument. Hugo attacks Paul with a gun, but is knocked down by Paul. Paul takes the money. Together with Melanie, he brings the money back to the casino so as not to attract attention, they mingle with the guests like normal players and play roulette with the last remaining money from the budget. In the meantime, the director takes the suitcase back unnoticed, the casino boss is happy to have his money back and therefore doesn't want to make a fuss. Paul and Melanie meanwhile want to leave the casino relieved when the croupier asks them to wait until the ball falls. Paul and Melanie, who have randomly distributed their money in their minds according to the principle of luck, unexpectedly win a real stake of money by gambling. So the two of them leave the casino as honest and refined people with the money they have won as a bonus for a future together.
German synchronization
The information on the German dubbed version comes from the German dubbing files.
The dubbed version was produced by Elite Film Synchron GmbH in West Berlin. Fritz A. Koeniger wrote the dialogue book . The dialogue was directed by Heinz Giese .
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Theo Wilkins / Dr. Vital | Edward G. Robinson | Alfred Balthoff |
| Paul Mason / John Edwards | Rod Steiger | Horst Niendorf |
| Melanie / Madame De La Cruz | Joan Collins | Marion Degler |
| Poncho / Baron von Roelitz | Eli Wallach | Friedrich Joloff |
| Raymond Le May | Alexander Scourby | Paul Edwin Roth |
| Louis Antonizzi | Michael Dante | Wolfgang Gruner |
| Hugo Baumer | Berry Kroeger | Arnold Marquis |
| Casino Director | Sebastian Cabot | Konrad Wagner |
| Duc di Salins | Marcel Hillaire | Erich Fiedler |
| Casino Detective | John Beradino | Heinz Welzel |
| governor | Alphonse Martell | Kurt Waitzmann |
Reviews
“A group of professional crooks, led by their intelligent leader, are robbing the Monaco casino. Comfortable but charming genre entertainment that primarily relies on its experienced actors. "
Production notes
The production design was provided by John DeCuir and Lyle R. Wheeler . The sound editing comes from Harry M. Leonard and Charles Peck . The costumes were supplied by Bill Thomas , the buildings by Stuart A. Reiss and Walter M. Scott . Ben Nye and Myrl Stoltz were responsible for the masks and hairstyles. Edward B. Powell was the conductor as the musical director. The film was set on the French Riviera , Alpes-Maritimes .
Awards
- At the 1961 Academy Awards , the film received an Oscar nomination for Bill Thomas in the Best Costumes (Black & White) category .
Web links
- Seven thieves in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Seven thieves in cinema
Individual evidence
- ↑ Seven thieves in synchronized files
- ↑ Seven thieves. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 3, 2018 .