The Unfinished Symphony
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Unfinished Symphony |
| Country of production | United Kingdom |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1934 |
| length | 84 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Willi Forst |
| script |
Walter Reisch Willi Forst Ben W. Levy (English dialogues) |
| production |
Gregor Rabinowitsch Willi Forst |
| music | Willy Schmidt-Gentner using Schubert compositions |
| camera | Franz Planner |
| occupation | |
| |
The Unfinished Symphony is a British remake of the 1933 director's debut Leise plead my songs . Willi Forst directed both films . In addition to English supporting actors, Hans Jaray , Marta Eggerth and Paul Wagner repeat their main roles from the original.
action
The content is de facto identical to the original from 1933:
The young composer Franz Schubert has to move his guitar due to financial difficulties in order to at least continue to pay his rent. Emmy, the pawnbroker's daughter, is so impressed by his modest and friendly demeanor that she pays him more than the instrument is worth. Soon they will both get a little closer. In the meantime, the conductor Antonio Salieri seeks out Schubert, whose talent he has heard. He offers Schubert, who works full-time as an assistant teacher, to be introduced to society as a young talent at an upcoming soirée by Countess Kinsky. When the Viennese performed his unfinished symphony , several possible endings suddenly occurred to him in the middle of the game, which he then performed in not yet fully developed variations with artistic zeal. When he gets laughter from the distinguished audience - especially from the young Countess Esterházy - Schubert is so irritated that he breaks off his lecture and leaves the soirée angrily.
A few days later, Schubert was invited as a music teacher to the Count's palace of the Esterházys in Hungary . There he meets the countess again, who on the one hand apologizes for her behavior recently, but on the other hand treats him like an employee. The ice breaks when Schubert sees her dancing in the village jug of Czardas one evening . Despite the difference in class, they both want to get married. Her father, however, cleverly thwarts his daughter, who is prone to erratic decisions and emotional snap-shots. After returning to Vienna, Emmy is already waiting longingly for Schubert, but is all the more disappointed when a letter arrives from Caroline's younger sister Marie, in which she asks for Schubert to return to Hungary.
The old count, however, was not idle and arranged for Caroline's marriage to a young officer. Schubert arrives at the castle just at the time of the wedding. As an unexpected 'wedding present' he gives her his unfinished symphony, which he has finally completed. At the point where she laughed particularly loudly, Caroline now faints. After a final discussion between the two, Schubert decides to leave his composition unfinished. Then he finally returns home to Vienna.
Production notes
The Unfinished Symphony was Willi Forst's second directorial work and was created in Vienna in May 1934 with predominantly British actors. The production company was British Gaumont.
Two thirds of this film was shot from scratch, around one third (mainly the landscape but also the setting) was taken from the original.
The world premiere took place in London on August 23, 1934 ; as expected, there was no German or Austrian premiere.
Anthony Asquith was assigned to Forst as a dialogue director. Alfred Norkus set the tone.
Reviews
The film gained some recognition in Great Britain, for example The Era wrote in its August 29, 1934 issue of a "warm and fragrant enthralling production", and praised it as the "" Film of the year "", as "Film of the year".
After the American premiere on January 11, 1935, the New York Times read: “With a happy recklessness for bleak, historical truths, the sympathetic little music film follows… the story of Franz Schubert's glorious… symphony along the silk roads of romanticism (… ) Hans Jaray's appearance shows Schubert as a gentle and sad-looking youth, overly sensitive and at the same time filled with a modest trust in his genius. (…) Despite its mediocre and sometimes pathetic camera work, Unfinished Symphony offers an obliging and captivating background for the immortal songs of the great composer. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ full review in: The New York Times, January 14, 1935
Web links
- The Unfinished Symphony in the Internet Movie Database (English)