The Threepenny Opera [2 Discs] [Criterion Collection]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

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, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 2
• Screen: Black and White
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
• Subtitle: Eng
• Features:
  • Disc One:
  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer, made from a new film restoration element from the Bundesarchiv in Germany
  • Audio commentary by scholars David Bathrick and Eric Rentschler
  • Archival introduction by Threepenny stars Fritz Rasp and Ernst Busch
  • New, exclusive documentary on Threepenny's controversial journey from stage to screen
  • New and improved English subtitle translation
  • Disc Two:
  • L'opera de Quat'sous, Pabst's French-language version of the film, starring Albert Prejean and Florelle
  • A multimedia presentation by film scholar Charles O'Brien on the differences between the English and French versions
  • Archival interview with Fritz Rasp
  • Galleries of production photos by Hans Casparius and production sketches by art director Andrej Andrejew
  • Plus: A new essay by film critic Tony Rayns

AWARDS

• National Board of Review

•     Won Best Foreign Film - 1931

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Rudolf Forster - Mackie Messer
       Margo Lion - Jenny
       Carola Neher - Polly Peachum
       Albert Prejean - Mackie Messer
       Lotte Lenya - Jenny
       Gaston Modot - Peachum
       Ernst Busch - Street-Singer
       Valeska Gert - Mrs. Peachum
       Fritz Rasp - Peachum
       Reinhold Schuenzel - Tiger Brown
       Vladimir Sokoloff - Smith, the Jailer
       Antonin Artaud - [in French Version]
       Jack Henley - Tiger Brown
       Odette Florelle - Polly
       Krafft Raschig - Mackie's Gang
       Hermann Thimig - Vicar
       Oskar Hocker - Mackie Messer's Gang Member
       Gustav Puttjer - Mackie Messer's Gang Member
       Jane Marken [Jeanne] - Mrs. Peachum
       Paul Kemp - Mackie Messer's Gang Member

• Director:

  G.W. Pabst

• Producer:

  Seymour Nebenzal

• Play Author:

  Bertolt Brecht

• Screenwriter:

  Leo Lania, Béla Balázs, Laszlo Vajda

• Play Author:

  John Gay

• Cinematographer:

  Fritz Arno Wagner

• Composer (Music Score):

  Kurt Weill

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Theo Mackeben

• Editor:

  Henri Rust

• Production Designer:

  André Andrejew

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Adolf Jansen

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, Rovi