Winnetou and Shatterhand in the Valley of the Dead
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Winnetou and Shatterhand in the Valley of the Dead |
 | |
| Country of production | Federal Republic of Germany , Italy , Yugoslavia |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1968 |
| length | 89 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Harald Reinl |
| script |
Herbert Reinecker (as Alex Berg ); Harald Reinl with the dramaturgical collaboration of Manfred Barthel after a treatment by Harald G. Petersson and Werner P. Zibaso |
| production |
Artur Brauner for CCC-Filmkunst GmbH & Co. KG; Sulejman Kapić for Jadran Film (Zagreb); Super International Pictures (Rome) |
| music | Martin Böttcher |
| camera | Ernst W. Kalinke |
| cut | Hermann Haller |
| occupation | |
| |
Winnetou and Shatterhand in the Valley of the Dead is a movie from 1968 based on motifs by Karl May ( Karl May film ).
The last Karl May film of the 1960s brings together some of the leading actors from the first, “ The Treasure in Silbersee ”. The film has nothing to do with the novel “In the Valley of Death” (free adaptation of storylines from the Karl May Colportage novel “ German Hearts - German Heroes ”) published by Karl May Verlag . Due to the cast, the film is reminiscent of the first film "The Treasure in Silver Lake". Lex Barker played "Old Shatterhand" for the last time, replacing "Old Firehand" from the original novel. For the last time the well-known music by Martin Böttcher will also be heard .
action
Winnetou is late to save Major Kingsley from Murdock's bandits, he dies in his arms. Winnetou can assure him beforehand that he has forwarded a letter from him and that he will remain silent about the gold of the army until the right moment. Major Kingsley had moved the Army war chest to a secret location during a bandit raid on Fort Dawson. In court, the major is accused of stealing the army's cash register and of having fled to Mexico. The proceedings are suspended until Kingsley's daughter Mabel arrives with the possibly exonerating letter.
The villain Murdock was present at the trial and learned about the letter. His people raid the stagecoach with Mabel to steal the letter from her, but the arriving Old Shatterhand prevents the robbery. Shatterhand asks Mabel not to show the letter to the court so that it doesn't end up in the wrong hands. Mabel does so and asks the court to give the court 60 days to find evidence of her father's innocence.
Murdock breaks into Mabel's room to get the letter again, but is again surprised and knocked out by Old Shatterhand. Shatterhand delivers Murdock to the sheriff, who secretly works with the bandits and lets him escape at the earliest opportunity.
Winnetou sets out with Old Shatterhand and Mabel to show her her father's grave as proof of his death and innocence. They are accompanied by Lieutenant Cummings, who is supposed to prevent Mabel from escaping and to witness the Major's death.
Sam Hawkens and Lord Castlepool, who has arranged to meet him, also accompany the friends so as not to miss the adventure.
On the way, Murdock sets a trap for the group that the blood brothers recognize. But Lieutenant Cummings rides in, falls into Murdock's hands, and is tortured to force the letter to be handed over. Old Shatterhand wants to ask the Sioux Indians for help, but is captured by the new Red Buffalo chief. When Winnetou hears the Sioux horses, Mabel hands Murdock the letter, which contains only a reference to the Apaches regarding the gold. The Sioux arrest Shatterhand's friends and the bandits. Murdock promises the chief half of the gold treasure, after which he releases the bandits. Winnetou provokes Red Buffalo to a duel for the release of his group and wins him. The six freedmen are pursued by the bandits and the Sioux on the way to the area of the friendly Osagen , where the gold is hidden. After Winnetou takes the treasure map from a hiding place and leads the group to Major Kingsley's grave, the latter is rehabilitated for Lieutenant Cummings .
Murdock manages to get his hands on Mabel. He forces Winnetou to lead him to the place of gold, the "Valley of the Dead", a site of chiefs' graves. Winnetou, Shatterhand, Cummings and the five accompanying Osagen are supposed to get the gold out of the valley, where toxic sulfur fumes, crude oil and natural gas escape. When the eight pull the cart with the gold out of its hiding place, the Sioux attack. With their shots they ignite the natural gas and in the sea of flames the gold sinks into the ground. Shatterhand shows Murdock the spot, but Murdock refuses to believe it and digs up the chief graves. Sam Hawkens and Lord Castlepool, left behind by the bandits, arrive with the Osagen, who are joined by the Sioux, who fled the gas explosions. Working together, they wipe out the bandits. Major Kingsley's innocence is confirmed in court.
background
After Horst Wendlandt announced the end of the Winnetou series on March 3, 1967 , in November 1967 the youth magazine Bravo presented the producer Artur Brauner as the savior of the Winnetou films. In 1967 Brauner negotiated with both the Romanian Romania-Film and the Yugoslavian Jadran-Film, for which he decided as a co-producer. After Brauner's sobering experiences with Romania during the production of Kampf um Rom , the great experience with Winnetou films was the decisive factor for Jadran.
Brauner rejected Werner P. Zibaso's first draft of the script . Winnetou only played a small role alongside Old Firehand . However, Brauner wanted "strong and extraordinary actions for Winnetou and Old Shatterhand". The script written by his dramaturge Hannes Dahlberg was criticized by the Karl-May-Verlag because it had nothing to do with the book In the Valley of Death , so that on March 18, 1968 Herbert Reinecker was hired. Reinecker delivered his new script at the beginning of April, which was adopted with a few changes.
Filming began on July 1, 1968 near Dubrovnik . Most of the locations were already known from earlier Karl May films , including Popovo Polje . The attack on the stagecoach took place in the dried up river bed of the Trebišnjica , at another point of the river bed was the snake valley . The attack on Farmer Adams was filmed in Zupci. The western town of Ivanica, which had been left behind from an Italian western, was used for several scenes near Dubrovnik.
Then the move to the hotel complex Crvena Luka took place. At the Krka Falls , the Osagen fishing ground was turned, and at the Roski Falls (Roski Slap), Winnetou and Old Shatterhand canoeed. At Benkovac , the bee scene was filmed with partly real and partly copied bees. The Vrana Lake , which served as a background motif for the Sioux village, was particularly new. At the Zrmanja Canyon, the torture scene of Lieutenant Cummings was filmed with a special hanging device.
On August 9th, Rik Battaglia fell ill with hepatitis and was hospitalized in Zagreb . Some scenes were therefore rewritten by Harald Reinl so that Major Kingsley was not killed by Murdock, but by a villain. Other fight scenes took place without Battaglia, but filming stopped on August 22nd. On September 3rd, shooting began again over the Zrmanja, although Battaglia was not yet fully restored, so that only a small amount of work could be done. The last pictures were taken on September 11, 1968 in the Paklenica Gorge.
The last scenes in the courtroom followed on September 16 and 17 in the CCC film studios in Berlin. As a special attraction, a small team under director Harald Reinl shot a few riding scenes with doubles at the Grand Canyon from October 1st , which were incorporated into the film.
The premiere took place on December 12, 1968 in the sold out Mathäser -Filmpalast, Munich . Despite the friendly reception, the film was provided with relatively few copies , so that it did not open in Frankfurt am Main and Hamburg until April 1969, in Berlin and Cologne only in May 1969. This was also due to the fact that Brauner did not fight his own film wanted to compete with Rome . Thus Winnetou and Shatterhand only achieved a middle place in the 1968/69 cinema season in the Valley of the Dead , but then of all Karl May films he stayed in Constantin Film's cinema program for the longest and was later also featured in youth performances for years by Neue Constantin shown. The film also sold well in world sales, which CCC largely took over itself.
Reviews
“A super family film based on motifs by Karl May: loyalty, generosity, justice, love - everything a moviegoer's heart desires. A top film in its category. It is not new that Harald Reinl knows how to do it. Exciting chases, nerve-wracking duels, perfect widescreen panoramas, noble men, bad villains, cunning redskins and the fair touch of Manitou all contribute to the success of the film. "
“Harald Reinl, the inventor of the May film style, gathered everything that has a name in this genre for this Winnetou late harvest, and what was probably the last May show surprisingly turned out to be the best. The script suffers from the repetition of the same situations over and over again - all kinds of people are kidnapped and tortured so that the 'good guys' should feel blackmailed - but in terms of dialogue and sequence of scenes, it is far more interesting than expected. "
“Harald Reinl once again understood how to create breathless tension for 90 minutes at times. But clichés of the cheapest kind were obviously just good enough for him to show the contrast between the two blood brothers on the one hand and the worthlessness of their opponents on the other. He has forgotten that his fans are young Karl May lovers. To shower twelve-year-olds with horror scenes that last for minutes is not justifiable even in an age without taboos. "
“In terms of its design, the film appears as a (intentional or unintentional?) Remake of DER SCHATZ IM SILBERSEE [...]. The nostalgic end to a great film series. "
"The last infusion of the 'Winnetou' series based on Karl May, designed entirely for combat-oriented actions, even more stereotypical and irrelevant than all its predecessors."
"A colorful and routinely told adventure story based on motifs by Karl May. Because of an unnecessary torture scene, the film should only be seen from the age of 15."
media
- VHS : "Winnetou and Shatterhand in the Valley of the Dead" - Polyband
- DVD : "Winnetou and Shatterhand in the Valley of the Dead" - Polyband 75019-0
- 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
literature
- Michael Petzel: Karl May film book. Scenes and pictures from the German dream factory , Karl-May-Verlag Bamberg-Radebeul, 1998, second expanded edition 1999, ISBN 3-7802-0153-4
Web links
- Winnetou and Shatterhand in the Valley of Death in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Winnetou and Shatterhand in the Valley of the Dead in the German dubbing index
- Winnetou and Shatterhand in the Valley of the Dead at Filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Wolfgang Hermesmeier, Stefan Schmatz: Development and expansion of the collected works. In: Lothar u. Bernhard Schmitt (Ed.): The cut diamond. The collected works of Karl May . Karl-May-Verlag, Bamberg 2003, ISBN 3-7802-0160-7 , p. 442 ff.
- ↑ Michael Petzel: Karl-May-Filmbuch , Bamberg 1998, 2nd edition 1999, p. 377
- ↑ Winnetou and Shatterhand in the Valley of the Dead. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Evangelischer Presseverband München, Review No. 564/1968.