The 3 Penny Opera (1931)

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'.

Director:

Georg Wilhelm Pabst (as G.W. Pabst)

Writers:

Bertolt Brecht (story) (as Brecht), Léo Lania (manuscript) (as Lania)

Stars:

Rudolf Forster, Lotte Lenya, Carola Neher

1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Rudolf Forster	...	Mackie Messer
Carola Neher	...	Polly
Reinhold Schünzel	...	Tiger-Brown
Fritz Rasp	...	Peachum
Valeska Gert	...	Frau Peachum
Lotte Lenya	...	Jenny (as Lotte Lenja)
Hermann Thimig	...	Der Pfarrer
Ernst Busch	...	Der Straßensänger
Vladimir Sokoloff	...	Smith (as Wladimir Sokolow)
Paul Kemp	...	Mackie Messers Platte
Gustav Püttjer	...	Mackie Messers Platte
Oskar Höcker	...	Mackie Messers Platte
Krafft-Raschig	...	Mackie Messers Platte (as Kraft Raschig)
Herbert Grünbaum	...	Filch

Storyline

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'.

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Plot Keywords:

thieves | police | crowning | rats | social inequality | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Musical

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #405.

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Quotes

Peachum: You too wish to be part of this splendid occasion. You, poorest of the poor, who'd long ago have perished in the sewers of Turnbridge if I hadn't spent sleepless nights devising a way to wring a few pence out of your poverty. For I've shown that the rich of this world have no qualms about causing misery but can't bear the sight of it. They have hard hearts but weak nerves. Well, we won't spare their nerves today! By the thousands we'll tear at their nerves, for our rags do not conceal our ...

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Connections

Version of Die Dreigroschenoper (1995)

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Soundtracks

Die Dreigroschenoper
Composed by Kurt Weill
Libretto by Bertolt Brecht

User Reviews

Life is Money, Food, Sex, Nothing

Sometimes, if I ever feel especially depressed at something going off in the world I like to trot this one out to make me take an even more jaundiced view of things. This surely would be no. 1 in the Top 100 Most Cynical Movies Ever, even after all these years (the simultaneous French version is not so earthy, a more flowery artiness coming out instead). For me, it's the best movie I've seen of Pabst's, most of his post-WW2 stuff has eluded me so far.

The Guild Of Thieves' leader gets married to the Guild of Beggars' leader's daughter, causing friction between the two highly organised and respected professions, but inertia in the police who are in the Thieves' power. Prostitution, aberration, bigamy, thievery, extortion, bribery, corruption (and complete cynically cheerful indifference to it all), you name it it's here - after all it is all that Man can do! Laconic-looking Ernst Busch's searing inter-ditties leave you with the distinct impression that someone was rather tired with the world! The savage sounding German words spew out, whilst reading the English subtitles is sometimes heavy going in digesting all of the conceptual opinions in time to digest the next. Would that Bobby Darin had got his tonsils round a few more of the extraordinary gossamer Brecht/Weill songs from this! Lotte Lenya sparkled doing her Pirate Jenny number, being just a part of my favourite bit in the idling whorehouse.

All of the people involved in 3G are "lost to sight", except to the handful of Artheads who occasionally hold cultural revivals of Weill, Brecht or Pabst. There was a memorable series of events in London in 2000 to mark the 50th anniversary of Weill's death, but 99.99% of the general public passed it by.

Soon we will all be lost to sight too, along with all of our fractious opinions and silly vices.

Details

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

19 October 1956 (East Germany)

Also Known As:

The 3 Penny Opera

Filming Locations:

Staaken Studio, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Tobis Filmkunst, Nero-Film AG, Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min 104 min (censored) 106 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Tobis-Klangfilm)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1