Maria Bard

  • Phil Jutzi – Berlin-Alexanderplatz – Die Geschichte Franz Biberkopfs AKA Berlin-Alexanderplatz: The Story of Franz Biberkopf (1931)

    Phil Jutzi1931-1940CrimeDramaGermanyWeimar Republic cinema

    Quote:
    If you’ve read the book, this film version comes as a surprise – how does it manage to make so little of so much? Or is it so much of so little? Döblin co-authored the screenplay, which compresses his sprawling novel into a breathless eighty-eight minutes. Of course, much is sacrificed, but the skeleton plot still compares favourably to that of many modern movies. Technically, too, this flick has aged magnificently – considering this is one of the first German films with sound, what we see and hear is a lot smoother than I’d expected. The cinematography is astonishing by the standards of the decades that followed…Read More »

  • Phil Jutzi – Berlin Alexanderplatz [+Extras] (1931)

    1931-1940ClassicsDramaGermanyPhil JutziWeimar Republic cinema

    Plot Synopsis by Hal Erickson
    Most modern-day viewers are familiar with German author Alfred Doeblin’s naturalistic novel Berlin Alexanderplatz from its epic TV miniseries presentation, directed in 1980 by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. The Doeblin work was previously filmed on the very brink of the Nazi takeover in 1933, with Heinrich George as the ex-convict protagonist. Yearning for respectability, George finds he cannot escape the influence of his old criminal cohorts. When George refuses to pay “hush money” to the mob, his faithful wife Margarete Schlegel is killed. George resignedly returns to a life of crime, ultimately descending into madness. The 1933 adaptation of Berlin Alexanderplatz ran a brisk 90 minutes; Fassbinder’s 1980 TV version ran ten times longer.Read More »

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