Tatiana (1937)

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Movie
German title Tatiana
Original title Knight Without Armor
Country of production United Kingdom
original language English
Publishing year 1937
length 100 (German version) 107 (original version) minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Jacques Feyder
script Lajos Biró , Frances Marion
production Alexander Korda
music Miklós Rózsa
camera Harry Stradling Sr.
cut Francis Lyon ,
William Hornbeck (Editing Supervisor)
occupation

as well as Raymond Huntley , Lyn Harding , Evelyn Ankers , Peter Bull , Guy Rolfe , Noel Purcell , Torin Thatcher and Miklós Rózsa.

Tatjana is a British history, adventure and romance film by Jacques Feyder with Marlene Dietrich and Robert Donat in the leading roles. It was set in Russia at the time of the end of Tsarism and the October Revolution .

action

The British Ainsley J. Fothergill, newspaper author and interpreter, is commissioned by a compatriot, the secret service officer Colonel Forrester, to perform espionage services in Russia because he has a masterful command of the Russian language. Fothergill is given the code name "Peter Ouranoff" and is smuggled into a group of revolutionary agitators under the direction of a certain Axelstein. The next target of this group is General Wladinoff, who is loyal to the Tsar and is said to be murdered in a bomb attack. Wladinoff has an already married daughter named Alexandra. When the attack fails, the murdered assassin saves himself in 'Ouranoff's' apartment, where he succumbs to his gunshot wound. Fothergill alias Ouranoff now falls into the crosshairs of state power, is drawn into complicity and finally banished to Siberia .

As a result of the First World War and the October Revolution in 1917, both Ouranoff and his leader Axelstein regained their freedom. On the other hand, Alexandra, meanwhile widowed, is arrested by the new rulers during the civil war between whites and reds that followed . Their only offense: their aristocratic origins. Fothergill alias Ouranoff receives the order from Axelstein, who has meanwhile moved up to the position of Soviet Commissioner , to bring Alexandra to him in Petrograd . There you should be tried. The double agent decides against this order and brings you and yourself to safety, to the White Guards . But the Red Army quickly defeated the supporters of the fallen tsarist system. Alexandra is arrested again. Ouranoff is able to obtain their release with a forged document, and both, now lovers, flee from their pursuers into the forest until they can finally escape their captors in one train.

At a train station, the fugitive noblewoman is recognized by a Soviet official, but a very young Soviet loyal named Puschkoff, enchanted by Alexandra's beauty, agrees to help the fleeing couple. He brings them to safety in Samara . All three become friends while driving there. His excessive consumption of alcohol and the fear of being discovered make Puschkoff surprisingly decide to commit suicide. His suicide distracts from Ouranoff and Alexandra, who are able to flee again at a bus stop. Her next travel companion will be a ship across the Volga , but Alexandra soon falls seriously ill. Ouranoff alias Fothergill desperately tries to find a doctor, but is captured by White Guards and, since he has no papers, mistaken for a 'red' spy. In the meantime, Alexandra was found and treated by a Red Cross doctor . In view of his impending execution, the British managed to escape again. He jumps on a train that is supposed to take Red Cross patients out of the country. There he meets Alexandra again.

Production backgrounds

The film, based on James Hilton's 1933 novel Knight Without Armor, is considered a “great stranger” in Dietrich's oeuvre. It is also their only non-Hollywood production between 1930 and 1946. The world premiere took place on June 1, 1937, in (the Federal Republic of) Germany it was only released on December 12, 1952.

Lazare Meerson was responsible for the film construction, the costumes are by Georges Benda. Muir Mathieson took over the musical direction, William Hornbeck the editing supervision . Jack Cardiff served chief cinematographer Harry Stradling Sr. as the second cinematographer.

During the shooting at the end of 1936, the Nazi government sent an emissary to London on behalf of Goebbels with Hitler's approval , who was supposed to try to persuade Dietrich to return to Germany with a highly attractive film offer. This difficult task was assigned to the screenwriter Rolf Vanloo . In Kay Weniger's Das Großes Personenlexikon des Films , the film's biography states: “In 1936, at the instigation of Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, Vanloo traveled to London to film the German exile star Marlene Dietrich (“ Tatjana ”) for the lead role of the singer Mado Doucet in the drama " Tango Notturno " written and produced by Vanloo . However, Dietrich refused to return to Nazi Germany ”.

For the Hungarian Miklós Rózsa was Tatjana the first film composition. He was chosen by Jacques Feyder after he had just seen the London performance of Rózsa's ballet Hungaria . At this point Feyder was already in the middle of filming. The memorable circumstances of Rózsa’s engagement can be read in The film’s biographical entry: “ After the first bottle of champagne , as Miklos Rozsa later recalled , my value as a composer rose, after the second I was better than for Feyder Beethoven and after the third the greatest composer of all time . Then Rozsa received his first commission for a film composition - for 'Tatjana'. ”His knowledge of the film world was so poor at this point that he even did not recognize Marlene Dietrich while they were having dinner together in the restaurant of the Green Park Hotel. In a short film scene, Rózsa can also be seen as a pianist.

criticism

The lexicon of international films judged: "Melodramatic adventure romance, with a less than believable story, but lavishly produced and skillfully staged for attractive - sometimes excellent - appearances by the cinema stars Marlene Dietrich / Robert Donat."

The Movie & Video Guide sums it up in a nutshell: "Sumptuous production, charismatic stars" and gives the film three out of four stars.

Halliwell's Film Guide characterized the film as follows: "Underrated romantic adventure with big production values ​​and some splendid moments".

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pieces by Peter Tchaikovsky were also used.
  2. ↑ Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 8: T - Z. David Tomlinson - Theo Zwierski. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 139.
  3. ↑ See Tony Thomas: Music for the Movies. Cranbury, New Jersey 1973. p. 92.
  4. ↑ Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 6: N - R. Mary Nolan - Meg Ryan. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 664.
  5. ↑ In Music for the Movies it says on page 93: “Around three o'clock they came in, an attractive German couple who were introduced as Mr. and Mrs. Sieber. She sat on my right and Feyder was on my left. I noticed people looking at us but I couldn't understand why. Suddenly she turned to me and asked 'Is my song ready?' I must have looked blank, and I felt Feyder nudging me. I came out with something like 'No, but I'm working on it.' She then said 'Mr. Feyder tells me you're going to write the music for our picture. ' I smiled idiotically. A little later I leaned over toward Feyder and whispered 'Who is she?' and he snarled back under his breath, 'Marlene Dietrich, you damn fool'. "
  6. ↑ Klaus Brüne (Red.): Lexikon des Internationale Films, Volume 8, p. 3727. Reinbek near Hamburg 1987
  7. ^ Leonard Maltin : Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 708
  8. ^ Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 567

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