"Die Buddenbrooks" (1979) TV mini-series 1979-

Writers:

Berndt Rhotert (writer)
Franz Peter Wirth (writer)

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

5 October 1979 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

TV Mini-Series | Based On Novel

Cast

Ruth Leuwerik

...

Elisabeth (2 episodes, 1979)

Series Directed by
Franz Peter Wirth		(11 episodes, 1979)

Series Writing credits
Thomas Mann		(2 episodes, 1979)
Berndt Rhotert		(unknown episodes)
Franz Peter Wirth		(unknown episodes)

Series Original Music by
Eugen Thomass		(unknown episodes)

Series Cinematography by
Gernot Roll		(unknown episodes)

Series Production Management
Carol Vogel	....	post-production supervisor (unknown episodes)
Jesse Vogel	....	post-production supervisor (unknown episodes)

Series Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Karol Chodura	....	assistant director (11 episodes, 1979)

Series Other crew
Carol Vogel	....	director: host segments (unknown episodes)
Jesse Vogel	....	director: host segments (unknown episodes)

Production Companies

• Hessischer Rundfunk (HR)
• TF1
• Taurus Film

Also Known As:

Runtime:

Germany:614 min

Country:

West Germany | France

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Certification:

Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Gdansk, Pomorskie, Poland

Company:

Hessischer Rundfunk (HR)

Movie Connections:

Version of Buddenbrooks (2008)

Competent but not outstanding costume drama

I sometimes think there are too many period dramas, mostly British, in which immense sums of money are spent taking over streets and removing all the television aerials from them, just to prove that gorgeously-dressed men with stiff collars and moustaches are also prey to the finer emotions. This television series can't really be blamed for that, because it dates from 1978, when I think such adaptations were not so thick on the ground. All the same I can't help thinking of it as yet more of the same, and while the quality is very good, and it all looked very expensive, and I enjoyed watching the stiff collars and railway trains, I didn't notice any overarching theme or idea.

As I'm British, I just can't help comparing this with Brideshead Revisited (1982), which has to be the best television series ever. This is a monstrously unfair comparison, and it's not surprising that the acting in Buddenbrooks comes out badly when compared with that of Brideshead, given that Brideshead's cast included the likes of John Gielgud, Jeremy Irons and Laurence Olivier, all at the top of their form. But it just goes to show how impossibly good a straight period drama has got to be these days to stand out from all the others.

Nevertheless Buddenbrooks is certainly pretty good as period dramas go. Certainly it would save a heap of money, and be a good idea generally, if the next time a British television station planned yet another Jane Austen adaptation, they scrapped it and broadcast a subtitled version of Buddenbrooks instead.