Via Mala (1945)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Via Mala |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1945 |
| length | 106 (original 1945) 93 (military censorship version 1948) minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Josef von Baky |
| script | Thea of Harbou |
| production | Eberhard Schmidt (production group) for UFA , Berlin |
| music | Georg Haentzschel |
| camera |
Carl Hoffmann Werner Krien |
| cut | Wolfgang Becker |
| occupation | |
| |
Via Mala (later subtitle Die Straße des Böse ) is a German feature film drama from 1943/44 based on the novel of the same name by John Knittel (1934). Under the direction of Josef von Baky , Carl Wery played a despotic head of the family.
action
The old miller Jonas Lauretz, who lives in a remote mountain area, is a true despot, he tyrannizes his family without end. If he has drunk too much again, nobody is safe from him. More than once he hit his wife and children. Servant Jöry was so badly injured from his beatings that everyone only sees him as a cripple. And on top of that, Lauretz has found a lover in front of everyone: Kuni, the maid. Over the years fear has turned into boundless hatred in the family. Once again, son Nikolaus was sent down into the valley in wind and weather to buy schnapps for the old man. But on the way back he falls in the icy gorge and the bottle breaks. Nikolaus therefore no longer dares to go home, although Silvelie, the baby boy, who comes towards him, promises to talk to both fathers in order to prevent worse. But it doesn't help - besides being angry, Lauretz beats the half-frozen son almost dead with a whip. Since he is now without alcohol, the brutal tyrant sets out to stop off at the inn of the innkeeper, Bündner.
Silvelie is the only one in the family who has a wage and a living, she has found a job at Bündner, who loves her. She pleaded with the tavern operator not to give her father any alcohol, as this would make it even more unpredictable. Bündner complies with Silvelie's request, and she has to endure all the anger of her father who hits her angrily. A doctor called in by Bündner treats the young, battered girl. Meanwhile, old Lauretz trudges off again. But he never arrives at home. The suspicion quickly arises that one of the family might have murdered the terrible patron. Most likely the slender and well-behaved Silvelie would have a reason for it. His disappearance is a blessing for everyone in the family, nobody weeps a tear after the old man. After the old bailiff in charge of the investigation dies during an interrogation, no further investigation is carried out for the time being.
One suspects one another and is still not sure whether the bestial head of the family will not be at the door again one day. When the new bailiff from Richenau comes to the village, the case is reopened. He learns the whole truth about the old man from the Lauretz family and, by the way, falls in love with Silvelie. While he is still investigating, the young couple marries. When Richenau expresses his suspicion in front of the family that his newlyweds killed the old man, everyone else starts to talk and say what they know. Finally, Bündner Silvelie and Richenau lead to the bridge over the raging river and admits that Lauretz fell into the depths there. Then he himself jumps into the abyss.
Production notes
Via Mala was filmed from July 12th to November 6th, 1943. Re-shoots took place in June and July 1944. The exterior shots were made in the Alps, in and near Mayrhofen . The studio recordings were made on the Babelsberg outdoor area as well as in the Froelich studio in Berlin-Tempelhof and in the Ufaststadt Babelsberg .
The decision to film Knittel's novel goes back to 1941. At that time, UFA acquired the rights for RM 75,000 for a period of ten years. In the initial plans, the cast list included Luise Ullrich , Karl Ludwig Diehl , Marianne Hoppe and Werner Hinz .
By the end of the shooting in 1944, there seemed to be no obstacles to the release of this film. On March 9, 1945, Reichsfilmintendant Hans Hinkel wrote to the Reich Commissioner for the German Film Industry: “During these days, three films that I have already run through will be released: 'Via Mala', 'We'll see you again' and 'How do we say our children '. ”Ten days later, the U-turn took place by 180 degrees:“ Via Mala only permitted for foreign countries. ”The reason for the ban was the fact that Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels considered the Knittel material for these difficult times looked too gloomy - especially since positive and optimistic conversation to distract the German people from the increasingly difficult everyday life of the war had the highest priority.
Due to the numerous delays (editing requirements, re-shooting) and the Goebbels ban, the film could only be shown to a broader public in the post-war period. However, there had already been a performance for the residents of the Mayrhofen location on April 9, 1945. In November 1946 the official world premiere took place in Knittel's homeland, Switzerland ( Zurich ). After the Soviet military censors approved the film at the end of 1947, the official German premiere took place on January 16, 1948. In the Federal Republic of Germany, Via Mala started in Munich on June 9, 1950 , and the (West) Berlin performance finally took place on October 17, 1950.
Walter Röhrig and German Herbricht created the film structures. The costume designs come from Manon Hahn .
This film is the first German Via Mala film, and two more should follow.
- Still photos
Carl Wery
Karin Hardt and Hilde Körber
Renate Mannhardt, Malte Jaeger, Karin Hardt and Viktor Staal
Viktor Staal, Carl Kuhlmann and Karin Hardt
Hilde Körber and Renate Mannhardt
Reviews
In its issue of January 24, 1948, Der Spiegel wrote: “The director has put the whole thing in an oppressively low farmhouse parlor, in the threatening rattling up and down of the sawmill and in a somewhat too well-kept village inn. In between relaxing mountain landscapes and again and again a roaring, tumbling Gießbach, the main actor, so to speak. Despite all efforts, not much of the hot, unhealthily fascinating atmosphere of Knittel's novel, the coveted "pièce de résistance" of all lending libraries, has hit the screen. Most likely in Hilde Körber's uptight and closed Hanna. (...) Karl Hoffmann, one of the greats of film art, was in charge of the overall photographic management: "Dr. Mabuse", "The Nibelungs", "Faust", "The Congress Dances". The now deceased master sometimes plays too boldly on his technical instrument. "
The lexicon of international films writes: "John Knittel's novel, published in the 1930s, was diluted to a mere crime fiction colportage."
Web links
- Via Mala in theInternet Movie Database(English)
- Via Mala at filmportal.de
- Via Mala Complete film at the Deutsche Filmothek
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hoffmann shot the 1943 recordings
- ↑ Krien only photographed the scenes from the 1944 re-shoot
- ↑ cf. Boguslaw Drewniak: 'The German Film 1938–1945', an overview. Düsseldorf 1987, p. 556
- ↑ cf. 'Der deutsche Film 1938–1945', p. 479
- ↑ In Kay Weniger 's ' Das Großes Personenlexikon des Films ', Volume 1, it says on page 222 f .: "The family drama seemed so dark to Propaganda Minister Goebbels that he forbade it to be shown during the war."
- ↑ Crowds in front of Schlimmen Strasse . In: Der Spiegel . No. 4 , 1948 ( online ).
- ↑ Via Mala in the Lexicon of International Films , accessed April 24, 2014.