Among vultures (film)
Unter Vultures is a German - French Karl May film from 1964 based on motifs from the book of the same name by Karl May . The first performance was on December 8, 1964 in the Mathäser -Filmpalast, Munich .
Stewart Granger plays Old Surehand for the first time , but his character is only loosely based on the book, mainly because Old Shatterhand appears as the main character. The other leading roles are cast with Pierre Brice , Götz George , Elke Sommer and Sieghardt Rupp .
action
In the American desert region, known as Llano Estacado , the farm of the settler Baumann is attacked by the so-called "vulture gang" and Baumann's wife is killed. Winnetou, Baumann and his son Martin are too late to intervene. The "vultures" made it look like Indians had raided the farm. Baumann is beside himself with pain and promptly accuses the neighboring tribe of the Shoshone under their chief Wokadeh of having committed the attack. The "vulture" bandit Weller, disguised as a Mormon preacher, arrives at the farm in the evening and claims to have witnessed the events. While Martin remains suspicious of him, his father trusts the stranger, who also names the Indians as the perpetrators.
A short time later, visitors arrive at the destroyed farm: Annie, who wants to bring a package of diamonds to her father, as well as the famous westerner Old Surehand and his dumb companion Old Wabble. An officer also arrives and announces that he and his men want to protect a group of settlers and stop the vultures. Shortly thereafter, Annie observes how he and Weller exchange a letter and, by confiding in Martin, reveals him to be a liar. When Old Surehand intervenes, the wrong officer is killed in self-defense. Weller only just manages to escape back to his gang and tells them about Annie's diamonds. Preston, the leader of the gang, sends him to the trek of the settlers whom he is supposed to lure into an ambush.
The next day, Old Surehand, Old Wabble, Baumann and two helpers set out to warn the settlers. In a brief, unobserved moment, Annie is kidnapped by the vulture gang. Alarmed by their calls for help, Martin succeeds in following them unnoticed. He follows them into the hiding place and even gains approval from the leader when Annie's kidnappers appear and reveal his true identity. With the active support of Winnetou, however, he and Annie manage to escape.
Assuming they find Martin's father on the trek, Annie and Martin ride towards him, but unexpectedly meet Weller and some allies, including a judge who has thought Martin was a horse thief since the gang hiding place. Annie manages to intervene at the last minute before the vultures can murder him. For the time being they are accommodated in the car of the settler Baker, who is supposed to watch them. Annie also succeeds in placing Weller, who is still disguised as a preacher, in an uncertain light.
Old Surehand has meanwhile rushed after the vengeful Baumann Senior, who wanted to bring the chief of the Shoshone to account and was captured by the Indians. Old Surehand was able to get free in a divine judgment on the torture stake through his shooting skills and convinced the Shoshone that it would make more sense to take action against the actual perpetrators of the attack, the "vulture gang". Surehand is already riding to help the settlers. He informs the settlers about the ambush and exposes Weller. Martin Baumann is finally released. Weller, who was supposed to keep reporting to his cronies, is now forced by Old Surehand to supply the bandits with false information. In this way, the settlers can determine the time and place of the attack themselves.
When the trek is ambushed “according to plan”, it has already collided with a wagon castle, and the “vultures” are taken under gunfire. But only Winnetou and the arriving tribe of the Shoshone can overcome the overwhelming power of the bandits with their concentrated firepower. Everything seems to have gone well again when it turns out that Martin rode after the fugitive Weller and fell into the hands of the last gang members. It should be exchanged for Old Surehand. Although this can assert itself quite well, Weller can only be killed by Winnetou, who appeared despite the warning. It turns out that he is actually a wanted horse thief and the murderer of Baumann's wife. At the grave of the judge who died in battle, Old Surehand vows to bring the settlers safely to Arizona.
background
Originally, in Winnetou and the bear hunter , the working title of the film, Lex Barker was supposed to be back as Old Shatterhand at the side of Winnetou actor Pierre Brice. However, when producer Horst Wendlandt managed to win over former Hollywood star Stewart Granger, he gave instructions to rewrite the script to him as Old Surehand, although he did not resemble this Karl May character in age or stature.
Elke Sommer took on the female lead. Producer Artur Brauner made them available in return for signing Pierre Brice in his film Old Shatterhand . As a director, Wendlandt was able to assert Alfred Vohrer over Constantin-Film for the first time .
Filming began on August 10, 1964. The Park and Jadran hotels in Rijeka formed the headquarters of the rotating staff. In the high valley of Grobnik Polje, architect Vladimir Tadej built Baumanns Ranch. The Shoshone camp on the road to the Platak ski area was largely taken over by the Assiniboin village of Winnetou, part 2, which had just been turned off . For the bear scenes, after the bad experience with real grizzly bears in Winnetou Part 2 , they were content with photos of native bears, even though they were considerably smaller than grizzly bears. The TV version doesn't show the dogs fighting the bear.
Tadej built the gold rush settlement with the saloon as the focal point in the Paklenica Gorge, and for the scenes that played there, the team moved to the Hotel Alan in Starigrad-Paklenica . On Mali Alan, who had served as Nugget Tsil in Winnetou Part 1 , this time the night camp of the "vulture gang" was, and the final scene also took place here.
Šibenik was the third location for filming the Krka waterfalls near Skradin and Roski. Most recently, the film team stayed in Split at the Hotel Marijan . From there one went to the end of the Perućko jezero reservoir to the village of Vrlicka. The battle for the wagon castle was filmed here. In the upper area of the lake, which fell dry in late summer, the scene took place when Martin and Annie came to the trek in an apparently desert-like environment.
The FSK was in its examination of the Dec. 7, 1964 Frontier Hellcat as already the previous Winnetou films free until 12 years because "the fullness of the fight scenes, the fights, shootings, burning and killing" for 6-year-old "highly Dimensions overexciting ”. For the first time a Karl May film by the Rialto did not receive a film rating . The film evaluation board ruled on December 8, 1964: “The framework was tailored too primitively, so that no more external tension arose. Earlier Karl May films showed that the director's efforts and in some cases were of great photographic quality, but here we have to state that everything has been made quite artless, even in the mere technical sense. ”The contradiction of the Constantin Film Distribution to this decision was rejected.
In 1972 Constantin submitted the film to the FSK again and applied for approval from the age of 6, which the main committee, however, unanimously rejected. Two years later, the ZDF broadcast Unter Vultures , and in a new examination on June 13, 1979, the examiners declared the classification from 6 years "with regard to the development of the last few years and the underlying changed values".
DVD
On May 30, 2014 Universum Film GmbH released a Karl May complete box (Blu-ray) under the title Karl May Klassikeredition , which contains 15 other films in the series in addition to Unter Vultures . On November 30, 2012, the Karl May Collection No. 2 (Blu-ray) with the films Unter Vultures , The Oil Prince and Old Surehand . On July 2, 2010, Universum released film Unter Vultures as a solo film. On May 2, 2005 the Karl May DVD Collection II was released with the films Unter Vultures , Der Ölprinz and Old Surehand 1st part .
synchronization
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Old Surehand | Stewart Granger | Heinz Engelmann |
| Winnetou | Pierre Brice | Thomas Eckelmann |
| Martin Baumann | Götz George | speaks himself |
| Annie | Elke Sommer | Margot Leonard |
| Preston | Sieghardt Rupp | speaks himself |
| Weller | Miha Baloh | Claus Holm |
| Old Wabble | Milan Srdoč | Hugo Schrader |
| Baumann sr. | Walter Barnes | Arnold Marquis |
| Judge Leander | Renato Baldini | Siegfried Schürenberg |
| Baker jr. | Mario Girotti | Joachim Pukass |
| Wokadeh | Gojko Mitic | Michael Chevalier |
| Gordon | Louis Velle | Lothar Blumhagen |
Distribution title abroad
The film was announced on film posters abroad with the following titles:
- Belgium : "Parmi les Vautours / De Gang der Aasgieren"
- Czechoslovakia : "Mezi Supy / Medzi Supmy"
- Denmark : "Winnetou og Vesten Sjakaler"
- France : "Parmi les Vautours"
- Italy : "La dove scende il sole"
- Yugoslavia : "Med Jastrebi"
- Romania : "Printre Vulturi"
- Spain : "Los Buitres"
- USA : "Frontier Hellcat"
Awards
- Golden canvas for over 3 million visitors within 12 months, awarded on December 16, 1965 in the Savoy , Düsseldorf on the occasion of the world premiere of " Old Surehand 1. Part ".
Reviews
“A simple story turned out to be very cumbersome and very superficial into an elaborate show. If you go home a little more satisfied than usual, it's only thanks to the experienced Stewart Granger. In any case, he surpasses the colorless and completely untalented Lex Barker. "
“Old Surehand (Stewart Granger in the Anglo-Saxon understatement manner) shoots justice down an alley and stands up for the weak. Apache chief Winnetou (Pierre Brice beautiful on horseback, agile on the warpath) is the ' Deus ex machina ' in May's adventure. Elke Sommer, boyishly, claims her femininity among rough legs. "
"Director Alfred Vohrer gets the story going rather unimaginatively, increases the tension in the middle section with tried and tested action tricks and lets the ending, which is certainly meant to be the climax - the attack of the gang of ghosts on the wagon castle - evaporate without any momentum."
"With this, the Karl May archive was further explored and a new actor of his central figure was won who, together with a landscape similar to the West and seemingly real props, [...] effective images not only really captivates the writer's community."
“As Old Surehand, the British old beau Stewart Granger, 51, is now riding the German western wave. Together with standard Winnetou Pierre Brice, he saves the honor of the Shoshone. Elke Sommer [...] gave the May-Spiel [...] figure and cleavage a little more agile than usual; the voice was dubbed by a proven speaker. "
"Alfred Vohrer's entertaining Karl-May-Western has numerous conflagrations and stars (such as Elke Sommer and Götz George) to offer."
"Colorful Indian adventure, exciting and humorous."
“Adventurous Karl May film, staged in a reasonably exciting and humorous way according to the usual patterns. Stewart Granger in particular adds spice to the familiar game through his ironic, distant portrayal. "
media
Literature :
- Author collective: The great album of the Karl May films. Volume 2, Schwarzkopf and Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-89602-479-5 .
- Michael Petzel: Karl-May film book. Karl-May-Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-7802-0153-4 , pp. 211ff.
- Michael Petzel: Karl-May film book. second expanded edition. Karl-May-Verlag, Bamberg 1999, ISBN 3-7802-0153-4 .
- Jürgen Kniep: “No youth approval!”. Film censorship in West Germany 1949–1990. Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2010, ISBN 978-3-8353-0638-7 .
Music :
- Wild West - Hot Orient. Karl May film music 1936–1968, Bear Family Records BCD 16413 HL, 8 CDs with 192 pages of film book
Web links
- Among Vultures in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Among vultures at filmportal.de
- Among vultures in the German dubbing file
- Among vultures. In: prisma.de. prisma-Verlag , accessed on October 8, 2017 .
- further sound carriers with film music
- Karl Mays Unter Vultures Movie poster at kinoplakate.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jürgen Kniep: No youth approval! 2010, p. 268.
- ↑ Michael Petzel: Karl-May-Filmbuch. 2nd Edition. 1999, p. 223.
- ↑ Jürgen Kniep: No youth approval! 2010, p. 268.
- ↑ Blu-Ray Unter Vultures and other DVDs of the series at filmportal.de
- ↑ Among vultures. In: old.filmarchiv.at. Paimann's film lists , December 30, 1964, accessed October 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Among vultures. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
