Time to live and time to die (movie)

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Movie
German title Time to live and time to die
Original title A Time to Love and a Time to Die
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1958
length 132 minutes
Rod
Director Douglas Sirk
script Orin Jannings ,
Erich Maria Remarque
production Robert Arthur
music Miklós Rózsa
camera Russell Metty
cut Ted J. Kent
occupation

A Time to Love and a Time to Die is in the United States under the direction of Douglas Sirk produced film from 1958. It is based on the eponymous novel by Erich Maria Remarque from the year 1954th

action

Ernst Gräber and his troops are in retreat in Russia. Although his conscience revolted, he took part in the liquidation of Russian partisans. One of his comrades kills himself desperately. In the spring of 1944, Gräber received his long-awaited home leave . He returns to his hometown, which is completely bombed, and only after a long search does he find his parents' house again and learns that his parents are missing. While looking for them, he met Elisabeth, the daughter of a doctor who was sent to the concentration camp because of a statement that was “ detrimental to the military ” . They fall in love in the midst of the chaos of war.

Gräber's old school friend Oscar Binding has meanwhile become district leader and offers Gräber a grand apartment, alcohol and support. Gräber stays away from him, however, and stays temporarily in a hospital , where his comrades equip him with a blue dress uniform so that he and Elisabeth can go to an elegant restaurant from which they can escape just in time before it is destroyed by bombs becomes.

Graves and Elisabeth marry with difficulty, but are bombed out in Elisabeth's apartment. Gräber visits his old teacher Professor Pohlmann, who helps the Jews hide Joseph. Pohlmann cannot ease the feelings of guilt that graves torment the graves because of his actions on the Eastern Front, on the contrary: he points out to his former pupil that a crime is not excused by the fact that it was ordered.

As a husband, Gräber attends an appointment with Elisabeth with the Gestapo . An Untersturmführer hands him the ashes of Elisabeth's father in a cigar box. Gräber and Elisabeth find refuge with Mrs. Witte and live with her the rest of the time.

At the end of his home leave, Gräber has to go back to the front. Once there, he meets the survivors of his unit and in self-defense kills a comrade who had already excelled as a National Socialist agitator when he wanted to shoot captured civilians. Graves releases the civilians, but is shot by one of them with the weapon of the comrade he killed. The last shot shows Graves lying dying on the edge of a bridge, his hand reaching for Elisabeth's letter floating in the water, in which she informs him that she is pregnant.

Awards

The film was nominated for Best Sound at the Academy Awards in 1959 , certainly above all because it impressively shows the Allies' air raids solely through the constantly present growling humming sound of the squadrons. He received another nomination at the Golden Globe Awards in 1959 in the category of Best Film to Promote International Understanding. John Gavin won in the Best Young Actor category . At the International Film Festival in Berlin in 1958 , he was in the selection.

production

The film is based on the novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque . He was announced as a screenwriter by Universal Pictures, but Remarque had almost no control over his creation. Remarque protested in a letter to his agent Felix Guggenheim against his naming as a screenwriter. Therefore, he was only named in the credits as the author of the template.

Marianne Koch , who was under contract with Universal and had already worked with Sirk on The Last Chord , was originally planned as the female lead . The decision was then made for Liselotte powder. For the male lead, they had initially thought of Paul Newman , but the studio occupied this with the still unknown John Gavin, who was to be built as the successor to Rock Hudson .

Various war scenes from the film were filmed in the ruins of the villages of Hopfenohe, Bernreuth and Altenweiher on the Grafenwoehr training area.

The music in the opening sequence with the marching soldiers can be described as the forerunner of the "Roman March", which Miklos Rozsa composed for Ben Hur a year later. Both pieces show strong parallels.

All German-speaking actors have also dubbed themselves for the German-language version - with the exception of author Remarque, who was dubbed by Robert Klupp .

Film bug

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.
Some of the film errors are speculative, so they should be received with extreme caution, especially since there are no references or sources. Wrong (!) Errors (which clearly contradicted the film plot) have already been removed.

Although the film was praised for its realistic portrayal of the bombing raids, it nonetheless contains several small errors in the content:

  • The design of the uniforms partly corresponds to American customs. The rank and type of weapon of a Wehrmacht soldier was recognizable from the shoulder pieces and collar tabs, not from the number of angles on the sleeves. Since this is a team rank (corporal), the representation with the angle on the sleeve is correct.
  • Contrary to what is shown in the film, the darkening regulations were strictly observed. The curtains in front of room windows were not only drawn when a full alarm was given. The street lighting was also adapted to the needs of the war.
  • The ashes of people who had died in the concentration camp were only made available on request and only against prior payment of an administrative fee of 20 Reichsmarks and were not given to relatives without being asked.
  • Swastika flags or pictures of the guide are hardly shown in the film. Public buildings in particular would have been richly decorated with flags. In the office there would have been a picture of Adolf Hitler in a raised place of honor on the wall.
  • In heavily bombed cities, slogans would have been painted on the walls.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Schneider, Thomas F .: "The Shortest Career in History" - Erich Maria Remarque as a film employee. The story of a failure. In: Plachta, Bod (ed.): Literary collaboration. Tübingen 2001. Page 271, footnote.
  2. ^ Schneider, Thomas F .: "The Shortest Career in History" - Erich Maria Remarque as a film employee. The story of a failure. In: Plachta, Bod (ed.): Literary collaboration. Tübingen 2001. Pages 279–282.
  3. ↑ Elisabeth Läufer: Skeptics of Light. Douglas Sirk and his films. Frankfurt am Main 1987, page 166
  4. ↑ Altenweiher. An old hammer property , accessed on November 29, 2011
  5. ↑ Time to Live and Time to Die. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing index , accessed on August 8, 2015 .