Die 3 Groschen-Oper (1931)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Georg Wilhelm Pabst

Writers:

Bertolt Brecht (text by)
Béla Balázs (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

25 February 1932 (Japan)

Genre:

Musical

Plot:

In London at the turn of the century, the bandit Mack the Knife marries Polly without the knowledge of her father, Peachum, the 'king of the beggars'.

Plot Keywords:

Based On Play | Number In Title

Cast

Rudolf Forster	...	Mackie Messer
Carola Neher	...	Polly
Reinhold Schünzel	...	Tiger-Brown
Fritz Rasp	...	Peachum
Valeska Gert	...	Mrs. Peachum
Lotte Lenya	...	Jenny (as Lotte Lenja)
Hermann Thimig	...	The Vicar
Ernst Busch	...	The Street Singer
Vladimir Sokoloff	...	Smith, the Jailer (as Wladimir Sokolow)
Paul Kemp	...	Mackie Messer's Gang Member
Gustav Püttjer	...	Mackie Messer's Gang Member
Oskar Höcker	...	Mackie Messer's Gang Member
Krafft-Raschig	...	Mackie Messer's Gang Member (as Kraft Raschig)
Herbert Grünbaum	...	Filch

Also Known As:

Die Dreigroschenoper (Germany) (alternative spelling)
The Beggar's Opera
The Threepenny Opera (International: English title) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Tobis-Klangfilm)

Certification:

Germany:(Banned) (1934-1945) | Finland:(Banned) (1932-1951) | Finland:K-16 (1951)

Filming Locations:

Halensee, Grunewald, Berlin, Germany

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The film was banned by the Nazi Party in 1933 and prints of the film were destroyed. The film was restored and reconstructed in the 1960s.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Zomergasten: (#17.4)" (2004)

Soundtrack:

Die Dreigroschenoper

CLASSIC FAILURE

This adaptation of Brecht/Weill's Musikspiel is considered by many a classic masterpiece. Classic it may be (and as such historically important), but a masterpiece it is not. I am not interested in the changes vis-a vis the play: recent research has found out that most changes were already proposed by Brecht himself and other research has found out that Brecht was not the writer at all, but Elisabeth Hauptmann. Nor am I interested in the fact that Weill's music is reduced and that not all songs are performed, which was unavoidable.

The point is that although there was real potential for a masterpiece (set designer, cast, director, cameraman etc.), Pabst never succeeds in making this adaptation into a real filmic adaptation. Scenes are presented in order, but never there is a feeling of a close and tightly held drama; the film is more or less subdivided. This may have been on purpose (considering the structure of the play), but for me it just does not work as film. It seems if no real choice was made between a documentation of the play or a truly filmic adaptation; what we are left with is something that lies in between, and that never comes alive. Are we seeing the result of all the (judicial) troubles director and writers had with Brecht and Weill? Or were the makers just too involved in making a masterpiece?

So, is this a mediocre or even bad picture? Certainly not. Individual scenes are fine due to sets and cast and the way in which Wagner and Pabst know how to use them (no room here to analyze this). But, on the other hand: do we really see or feel a menacing threat from the army of beggars? Do we really need Ernst Busch as the street singer?; do his scenes really add something? And are most songs not just registered as if they were performed on a stage? And is the editing not just adequate?

Today was my 5th or 6th viewing. I still cannot see why this film ever could be acclaimed a masterpiece.