El murciélago

Curious, lavish film adaptation of the operetta by Johan Strauß, with only core of music and songs retained and story expanded. Well written and directed it strangely enough lacks the required sensuality, despite hard-trying cast and an occasional bare breast.

Typical example of escapism towards the end of Nazi-Germany. Shooting was finished in the last days of Nazi-Germany; after the war the film was edited and distributed by East-German DEFA. It is astonishing that crew and cast were able to make this lavish film under the circumstances.

This Fledermaus was produced just before the end of the war. During the chaos at the end of the war the sound-track was lost and had to be re-recorded after the war with the then available equipment and with the same cast. This according to Neue Zürcher Zeitung in about 1948. I saw it several times in Zürich at this time. Modern technology has now done much to improve the sound quality. I approve of a man, in this case non-singing Siegfried Breuer, playing the roll of Prinz Orlowsky. Breuer makes a good prince. Some years later Peter Alexander produced a Fledermaus in which a tenor played/sang the role. This worked very well, tho the rest was not very good. A man should play/sing the title roll in Der Rosenkavalier. I know that these rolls were written for a castrato, but, in the case of Fledermaus, an operette contralto won't do - I have heard/seen several such performances and the poor ladies were hardly audible. You need a powerful contralto and tall, broad-shouldered and flat-chested operatic or wagnerian contraltos are rare. After all, the producers/directors are in the business of creating an illusion for both eye and ear, which is why I have written "play/sing" - too often the singing is good, the acting week.

This movie, which is based on the famous Strauss-operetta of the same title, is fine example of escapism. It was made in Prague during the final days of World War II, but edited by the East-German DEFA in 1946. It enjoyed great popularity on its release, since people were graving for a bit of wholesomeness and enjoyment. However, this film, which was only the 12th German movie made in colour before 1945, had suffered greatly during the final days of war. There was only a hint of colour left and the sound left a lot to be desired. Things didn't change much until 2002, when this film was painstakingly restored by Bibo TV. For the first time ever "Die Fledermaus" was released on Video and DVD earlier this months. The german TV-Channel ARD will premiere the restored version of this film on 14th December 2003, on the occasion of the 100th Birthday of this movie's leading actor Johannes Heesters. Mr. Heesters attended the cinematic re-release of this film last December. If you get a chance to see this movie, please do so. I highly recommend it.

This beautiful and very witty film (it's dialog is much funnier than the original operetta book) could easily have been left to rot (what's the word when films are concerned?) in the basements of UFA studios in Berlin and Prag, like so many films that had reached the post production stage did at the end of WW II. The main problem was that some of the footage was in Berlin, and some in Prag, and several scenes lacked the soundtrack. It would have needed extensive re-shooting, because one of the leads, the constantly chanting tenor Meltzer (Hans Brausewetter) was killed in Berlin during the final days of the war, on April 29, 1945. It was very fortunate that the soundtrack was found in Prag; otherwise who knows what might have been. But it was put together and thus one of the last Nazi films became the first DEFA film, released in 1946. It's also fortunate that Johannes Heesters has survived for more than a century, so that this film was re-released in a brilliantly restored version. It's a pity the DVD doesn't have subtitles. I translated this film recently for a cinematic release and spent 3 days doing it, since the mix of Viennese-Hungarian accents and the drunken babbling of hilarious Herr Frosch was very hard to understand. But it was worth it.

Another evaluation mentions a lack of sensuality in this adaptation of "Die Fledermaus", but sensuality is not the real trait of the operetta itself. Rather, it's playful frivolity, and this spirit was hit perfectly by the movie. This also happened to be the mood most appreciated by the people in Germany's darkest years after the war. Yet even without those accentuating circumstances, the movie was great, with Strauss' music, magnificent costumes, and - for that time - glorious color. One scene was often remarked upon, where Rosalinde, as part of her disguise, changes her hair from blond to red - on camera. In general, the movie played out more of the storyline than the original presents, which actually helped to make it clearer, and furthermore lent it an air of authenticity.

This movie, finished under the threat of the approaching Soviet Army, constitutes probably the high point of the old, well-oiled German film industry. When any German, who was of movie-going age in 1946, is asked thirty of even fifty years later, which film he remembers best from those years, "Die Fledermaus" is certain to come up. And thanks to the missing sensuality, youngsters like me under the age of eighteen were fortunately permitted to see it.