dance on the volcano
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | dance on the volcano |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1938 |
| length | 81 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Hans Steinhoff |
| script |
Hans Rehberg Hans Steinhoff Peter Hagen Song texts: Hans Fritz Beckmann |
| production | Majestic film , Berlin |
| music | Theo Mackeben |
| camera | Ewald Daub |
| cut | Martha Dübber |
| occupation | |
| |
Tanz auf dem Vulkan is a German feature film from 1938.
action
The Théâtre des Funambules is sold out night after night . The crowd puller is the charismatic actor Jean-Gaspard Debureau (1796–1846), played by Gustaf Gründgens . Debureau performs couplets in which he pours biting mockery on King Charles X, who is extremely unpopular with the people . But not only this: he also had quatrains that he wrote, which reviled the king, printed underground and distributed throughout Paris. So he comes into the sights of the state power. But he also gets in the king's way privately: Debureau adores and loves Countess Héloise de Cambouilly ( Sybille Schmitz ), who spied Karl X ( Ralph Arthur Roberts ) as a favorite.
Debureau invites the countess to a performance at the Théâtre des Funambules on the very evening when she is supposed to have a meeting with Charles X. Héloise decides for Debureau and against the king, much to the annoyance of her husband ( Theo Lingen ), who wants to get his wife out of the theater. During a break between two performances, however, she brought Debureau home, where she pretends not to have attended either of the two appointments because of a migraine.
Debureau urges the popular cousin of Charles, Louis Philippe ( Hans Leibelt ), who the French affectionately call "pear", to overthrow. But the future citizen-king hesitates. At a masked ball at the royal court, Karl X. has a ballet performed at which Louis Philippe, who is personally present, is mocked. But he is amused by the performance and is in no way offended, even applauds. The effect fizzled out. At the masquerade ball, Count Cambouilly dressed up as Debureau. Debureau finds out about this in good time and comes to the ball - without a mask. The King orders that Debureau be brought before him - and promptly the false Debureau, namely Cambouilly, is brought before the King, while the real Debureau sends the King a ticket inviting him to the Théâtre des Funambules.
The king actually appears, and on his visit to Debureau's cloakroom he discovers Heloise, hidden behind a curtain, which he forces to accompany him to his box. But Louis Philippe also visits Debureau before the performance in his cloakroom, where he leaves his hat and coat. During the performance, Debureau calls for overthrow on the open stage. He narrowly escapes his arrest in Louis Philippe's hat and coat. In the mask of Louis Philippe, he calls on the citizens of Paris to overthrow. Louis Philippe followed him and reproaches him for it. Debureau realizes that he has lost and wants to flee to England the next day.
When his attempts to persuade Héloise to accompany him into exile fail, he refrains from fleeing and confronts Count Cambouilly, who has him arrested as expected. After a six week trial, Debureau is sentenced to death. On the way to the scaffold, Debureau (arguably calculating!) Sings his couplets one more time, which all of Paris knows, and calls on the citizens for a coup d'état. The plan succeeds, the rousing melodies induce the people to free Debureau, and when even the soldiers of Charles X ally with the rebels, the king is overthrown and fled abroad. Louis Philippe is proclaimed his successor.
History of origin
The "Dance on the Volcano" was premiered on November 30, 1938 in Stuttgart and is a directorial work by Hans Steinhoff , a star filmmaker of the Nazi era and National Socialist of the first hour, whose perfectionism and meticulous working method were his trademark. Steinhoff carried on with the project for 15 years before realizing it. What moved him to make this non-conforming film is unclear. Anti-bourgeoisie was also peculiar to the National Socialists, on the other hand the film is rebellious - one last artistic rebellion before the lock step. Gustaf Gründgens was his ideal cast - he only wanted him for the role of Debureau. Later in the GDR, the film was viewed as one of several indications that Gründgens was a critic of the regime. The film scholars of that time declared that many of the statements in the film that could be understood as swipes against the Nazis were directly related to its main actor. It would only have been possible for Gründgens to accommodate these, as Steinhoff never wanted to do without his star.
Theo Mackeben's film music
The film lives to a large extent from the music of Theo Mackebens , from whose pen not only the “ When the citizens go to sleep / The night is not only there to sleep ”, interpreted by Gründgens, comes from, but also melodies that are still known today such as “You have Glück bei den Frau'n “(from Bel Ami ) or the “ Just don't cry for love ”made famous by Zarah Leander .
The film and the National Socialist censorship
Although Reich Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels reprimanded the film, it was not censored. Goebbels disliked the positive portrayal of an overthrow against an established system, but above all he found the hit “The night is not just for sleeping” as extremely unsuitable for a German film. Even if the film was shown almost unabridged in the cinemas, at least the distribution of this hit was forbidden in its film version on record. So is the verse ending with “Rebellion! Rebellion in the Catacombs! ”Could not be heard on the phonogram.
The importance of the film
The film is a mixture of feature film, period film and revue film. Today it is considered a total work of art consisting of drama, ballet and music and one of the best productions of its time. In particular, Gründgens' acting performance and Mackeben's music contributed to the success of this film.
criticism
"The operetta-like staging of the confused script, which was carried out with great effort, failed - despite a rousing Gustaf Gründgens in the lead role, whose song The night is not just for sleeping became legendary."
See also
literature
- Christa Bandmann and Joe Hembus : Classics of the German sound film 1930–1960. Munich 1980, pp. 118-120
- Renate Berger: Dance on the volcano. Gustaf Gründgens and Klaus Mann. Lambert Schneider, Darmstadt 2016, ISBN 978-3-650-40128-1
Web links
- Dance on the Volcano in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Dance on the volcano at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. Gustaf Gründgens: Excerpts from the films “Tanz auf dem Vulkan” and “Friedemann Bach” , LP LITERA 8 60 068, page 1
- Jump up ↑ Dance on the Volcano in the Lexicon of International Films