The Singer (TV 1978)
"El cantor" (original title)

The film is based on the events in Chile in 1973 when Pinnochet became dictator and hundreds of people are cruelly killed. Dean Reed plays Victor Hara-the most popular singer in the country... See full summary »

Director:

Dean Reed

Writers:

Dean Reed (scenario), Wolfgang Ebeling (scenario collaborator)

Stars:

Dean Reed, Friederike Aust, Gerry Wolff

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dean Reed	...	El Cantor
Friederike Aust	...	Janet
Gerry Wolff	...	Henry
Thomas Wolff	...	Manuel
Djoko Rosic	...	José (as Georgi Rositsch)
Damyan Antonov	...	(as Damjan Antonow)
Wladimir Jotschew
Dimitrina Savova	...	(as Dimitrina Sawowa)
Christina Sotirowa
Alexander Patino
Georgi Gerov	...	(as Georgi Gerow)
Stella Amandowa
Frank Bey
Isabel Orejana
Nikola Dadov	...	(as Nikola Dadow)

Storyline

The film is based on the events in Chile in 1973 when Pinnochet became dictator and hundreds of people are cruelly killed. Dean Reed plays Victor Hara-the most popular singer in the country. He tries to save the people from their misery with his songs. In 1973 he is arrested by Pinnochet and his body is found dead...Although he is Communist even nowadays Chile loves him because he was a good man.

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Plot Keywords:

chile | singer | musician | murder | latin america | 

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Genres:

Action | Biography | Drama | Music | Romance

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Details

Country:

East Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

1 January 1978 (East Germany)

Also Known As:

The Singer

Filming Locations:

DEFA-Studio für Spielfilme, Babelsberg, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

DEFA-Studio für Spielfilme, Deutscher Fernsehfunk (DFF), Sofia Film Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

"Aquí me quedo"
Performed by Dean Reed
Lyrics by Pablo Neruda
Music by Víctor Jara

User Reviews

Interesting but flat propaganda biography

This East Germany production from 1973 is about the the life and times of Victor Jara, a popular socialist singer and songwriter from Chile who was an important supporter of the left-winged communist government of president Allende before brutal dictator Pinochet became the leader of the country in 1973 and Allende and Jara were brutally killed during the violent revolution riots.

The films was written and directed by Dean Reed (who also plays Jara), a popular communist American singer and actor who left the United States and became a citizen of the German Democratic Republic in the early seventies and did many records and films with one-sided anti-west propaganda messages.

"El Cantor" from 1978 is one of them, and it's an interesting biography of a political icon of the cold war era, but it's also too biased, naive and sometimes even ridiculous. The acting isn't also the best except for Dean's solid performance of a broken hero, and the musical scored features lots of Jara's hymns and ballads and a strange synthesized-action score. The typical tidy German "Reihenhaus" suburbs are not a really suitable background for the exotic plains and mountains of Santiago de Chile, and all in all this film is really dated, but still an interesting remain of a long forgotten country and era.