Main Cast: Rudolf Forster, Margo Lion, Carola Neher, Lotte Lenya, Albert Prejean, Ernst Busch, Gaston Modot, Valeska Gert, Fritz Rasp
Release Year: 1931
Country: DE/FR
Run Time: 107 minutes
Plot
Filmmaker G.W. Pabst's adaptation of Bertoldt Brecht and Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera (Die Dreisgoschenoper) is every bit as good as the stage original, and sometimes even better. Filmed in both German and French versions with different casts (a planned English-language version was abandoned), Threepenny is most readily available today in its German incarnation. Rudolf Forster stars as robber captain MacHeath -- aka Mackie Messer, or Mack the Knife -- who falls in love with Polly (Carola Neher), daughter of beggar king Peachum (Fritz Rasp). Despising MacHeath, Peachum plots the thief's downfall with his best friend, corrupt police official Tiger Brown (Reinhold Schunzel). The satirical "happy ending" of the original -- MacHeath, en route to the gallows, suddenly and without motivation promoted to knighthood! -- is altered somewhat by Pabst and his scenarists to accommodate a swipe against Depression-era bankers. Lotte Lenya, Weill's wife, brilliantly repeats her stage role as Pirate Jenny. Stylistically, Threepenny Opera is a Georg Grosz drawing come to life; despite its 1890s London setting, the film's calculatedly tawdry veneer is clearly meant to represent the wide-open Berlin of the 1930s. For the record: the French version of Threepenny Opera starred Albert Prejean as MacHeath. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Librettist Bertolt Brecht was understandably upset with the considerable liberties taken in transferring his and Kurt Weill's monumental The Threepenny Opera to the screen. Still, while director G.W. Pabst and his collaborators may have altered too much of the material (including cutting some of the score's most memorable numbers) and may have (perhaps inevitably) changed the theatrical tone of the piece, the result is still fascinating. If Brecht's sense of theatrical alienation is missing, his attacks on capitalism still come through strongly. As with the play, there's a distinct remoteness to the piece; one watches the film and while one is never bored, one is also never engaged in the characters, thus making the viewer an observer rather than a participant. The cast is strong, with Rudolf Forster making a charmingly ruthless Mackie whose stern authoritarianism still has a softer side to it. Carola Neher captures both the tender and the tough sides of Polly, and Reinhold Schuenzel is an amusing Tiger Brown. Best of all, however, are Fritz Rasp and Lotte Lenya. Rasp's Peachum is a slimy marvel, a Fagin with no soul and no remorse. Lenya's performance is mesmerizing; she gives so much weight to the film that her character seems a major force, rather than the relatively minor role that it is, and her "Pirate Jenny" is both shilling and thrilling. Pabst and his designers have given the film a distinctive chiaroscuro look, and the director has created several sequences -- including the climactic march during the coronation -- that are simply stunning. Ultimately, the problems in adapting Threepenny to the screen keep the film from being a classic, but it's still a unique experience. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Vladimir Sokoloff - Smith, the Jailer; Reinhold Schuenzel - Tiger Brown; Antonin Artaud - [in French Version]; Odette Florelle - Polly; Jane Marken [Jeanne] - Mrs. Peachum; Gustav Püttjer - Mackie Messer's Gang Member; Krafft Raschig - Mackie's Gang; Hermann Thimig - Vicar; Jack Henley - Tiger Brown; Paul Kemp - Mackie Messer's Gang Member; Oskar Hocker - Mackie Messer's Gang Member
Credit
G.W. Pabst - Director, Henri Rust - Editor, Kurt Weill - Composer (Music Score), Theo Mackeben - Musical Direction/Supervision, André Andrejew - Production Designer, Fritz Arno Wagner - Cinematographer, Seymour Nebenzal - Producer, Adolf Jansen - Sound/Sound Designer, Leo Lania - Screenwriter, Béla Balázs - Screenwriter, Laszlo Vajda - Screenwriter, Bertolt Brecht - Play Author, John Gay - Play Author
The Threepenny Opera (German: Die 3-Groschen-Oper) is a 1931Germanmusical film directed by G. W. Pabst. It was produced by Seymour Nebenzal's Nero-Film for Tonbild-Syndikat AG (Tobis), Berlin and Warner Bros. Pictures GmbH, Berlin. The film is loosely based on the 1928 musical theatre success The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. As was usual in the early sound film era, Pabst also directed a French language version of the film, L'Opéra de quat'sous, with some variation of plot details (the French title literally translates as "the four penny opera"). A planned English version was not made. The two existing versions were released on a video.
The Threepenny Opera differs in significant respects from the play, and the internal timeline is somewhat vague. The whole of society is presented as corrupt in one form or another.
bande à Mac - Arthur Duarte, Marcel Merminod, Pierre Léaud, Albert Broquin
Plot summary
Macheath aka "Mack the Knife" ("Mackie Messer" in German) is presented as an anti-hero and is in league with Tiger Brown, Chief of Police, who is in charge of the coronation of an unspecified queen.
Macheath marries Polly Peachum, daughter of Jonathan Jeremiah Peachum, but still visits the brothel on Turnmill Street. Peachum is displeased at his daughter's marriage, and threatens Brown with disruption of the coronation - arranging for a protest march of beggars and others. Macheath is arrested, after a rooftop escape from the brothel where he had gone to visit Jenny, his former lover during a raid. Macheath is imprisoned and sentenced to death.
Polly, meanwhile, buys a bank, and runs it with Macheath's henchmen, making him a bank director, and she then arranges surety for Macheath to leave prison. This causes a change of heart by her parents - her father tries to stop the protest march but fails.
Jenny visits the prison, and aids Macheath's escape: he makes his way to the bank, where he discovers his new status. Brown, whose police career is ruined by the demonstration, and Peachum, also come to the bank and agree to link up.
Only some of the songs from the opera are used, in a different order.
