Playing for Time (1980)

Female prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp (Auschwitz) are spared from death in return for performing music for their captors.

Directors:

Daniel Mann, Joseph Sargent (uncredited)

Writers:

Arthur Miller, Fania Fénelon (autobiography: "The Musicians of Auschwitz")

Stars:

Vanessa Redgrave, Jane Alexander, Maud Adams

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 5 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Vanessa Redgrave	...	Fania Fenelon
Jane Alexander	...	Alma Rose
Maud Adams	...	Mala
Christine Baranski	...	Olga
Robin Bartlett	...	Etalina
Marisa Berenson	...	Elzvieta
Verna Bloom	...	Paulette
Donna Haley	...	Katrina
Lenore Harris	...	Charlotte
Mady Kaplan	...	Varya
Will Lee	...	Shmuel
Anna Levine	...	Michou
Viveca Lindfors	...	Frau Schmidt
Melanie Mayron	...	Marianne
Marcell Rosenblatt	...	Giselle

Storyline

In World War II, the Jewish French musician and cabaret singer Fania Fenelon Goldstein is sent by the Nazis from Paris to the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. The guards take her clothing and luggage and they cut her hair very short. One day, when she is very weak, she hears someone asking whether any prisoner could sing Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly and she joins the group of musicians that have been spared from the gas chambers to entertain the Nazis performing music for them. She convinces the conductor Alma Rose to invite her friend Marianne, telling that she would be a talented singer. Along the years of abusive treatment, they survive but losing their dignity.

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Plot Keywords:

nazi concentration camp | nazi | singer | prisoner | musician | 

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Genres:

Drama | Music

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German French

Release Date:

30 September 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

Playing for Time

Filming Locations:

Fort Indiantown Gap, Annville, Pennsylvania, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Szygzy Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

150 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Barbra Streisand was originally offered the role of Fania Fenelon. Streisand resembles the real Fenelon much more than Vanessa Redgrave, who ultimately took the part.

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Goofs

Dr. Josef Mengele is seen seen wearing the famous 1930s-era black SS uniform with the Red swastika arm band. This is very common mistake in many WW2 films. The Black SS uniforms were discontinued at the start of the war in 1939 and replaced by the Green Grey uniforms seen on the other officers throughout the film.

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Connections

Featured in The 33rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1981)

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Soundtracks

J'attendrai
Music by Dino Olivieri
Lyrics by Louis Poterat
Performed by Vanessa Redgrave

User Reviews

An astonishing masterpiece

It is amazing to me that this film is pretty much unavailable in any format.

What a cast. Vanessa Redgrave. Jane Alexander. Marisa Berenson. Verna Bloom. Melanie Mayron. And a subtle and evocative script by none other than Arthur Miller.

A summary of it sounds unpleasant and harrowing and to a certain extent it is. But there is extraordinary beauty in this daring and unusual picture. A group of women, all musicians, are allowed by the Nazis to remain alive on the condition that they amuse their captors with music.

It simply must be seen, and will never be forgotten. See this picture any way you can. I am sure that in time it will be rediscovered and seen for the sublime utterance that it is.