Mack the Knife

I had no idea that Bobby Darin's signature tune "Mack the Knife" was originally from an opera. I'd heard of The Threepenny Opera, and had even seen snippets from the 1963 film adaptation, but when I popped in the 1989 remake and saw the opening production number, I was shocked. "Mack the Knife" is a song about the main character MacHeath, a thief and murderer. When he seduces a young woman, the daughter of the "King of the beggars", his prospective father-in-law tries to ruin him.

It's a comic musical, a bit offbeat, a bit over-the-top at times, and silly enough to make you imagine the actors cracking up in between takes. The ratty costumes are still somewhat frilly, and everyone looks like they're having a blast. Raoul Julia plays MacHeath, reprising his Broadway role; who would have thought he could sing? Richard Harris and Julie Walters play a combination of Fagin and the Thenardiers (why didn't they ever play the unscrupulous couple in Les Miserables?), and every time they open their mouths, they make you laugh. Roger Daltrey (from The Who) is the fourth-wall-breaking "singing chorus" who's everywhere and omniscient, and a young Bill Nighy is a crooked cop.

All in all, I think this movie will be an acquired taste. Check out the first ten or fifteen minutes, and if you think it's cute and fun, you'll like the rest of it. If you think it's too weird, stick with Oliver! For something more mainstream.

I dare anyone knowledgeable in opera or musical theater history to watch this film and find even a scintilla of greatness carried over from the original score and various stage productions. The only principal who can lay claim to a real singing voice is Julia Migenes, and though top-billed among the female performers, she really doesn't have much to do, and what she does makes very little impression; you would not ever know that she was one of the world's leading opera stars for about a quarter-century. The rest is uncompromisingly bleak and shoddy looking, with nothing even good, let alone great, emerging from it. Raul Julia was sometimes a great stage actor and an occasionally effective film one, but he is devoid of anything like the charisma Macheath should exhibit in this iconic role. Julie Walters is okay, but looks like a refugee from Mrs. Lovett's pie shop in SWEENEY TODD. Harris is doing Harris, which early on was very interesting, but led into a kind of sameness in line delivery in his later films that was also mirrored by other great talents gone sour with age and boredom - say late Bette Davis and Ray Milland. Altogether a depressing experience, and I must admit that until I saw this film on a list recently, I had no idea it even existed. As to why it is has not been available on DVD, I can only say I'm not surprised.

In fact, Marc Blitzstein's off-Broadway adaptation of "Threepenny" was not so "bowdlerised" as is generally believed.

(I have a special interest in "Threepenny"; my dad was part of the first full production in the US; U of Illlinois Theatre Guild did it around the end of WW2. HJitler had been so nearly successful in suppressing the play that they had to reconstruct the script and score from recordings in two different languages {neither English}, a German prompter's script and similar sources.) Blitzstein's adaptation -- not a "translation" -- which had the full approval of Lotte Lenya -- was a lot closer to the original than generally believed.

The problem is that the version thereof that most people know is the MGM cast recording (recently available on Polygram on CD)(which includes Beatrice Arthur {as Lucy, the "big complete girl", and can't i see her hands on hips and shoulders thrown back on that line -- Bea was a major babe in the 50's}, Paul Dooley and John Astin) was heavily censored by Mike Curb, head of MGM Records -- i mean, 17 (i think it was) "Goddamn"s got cut to just "damn".

(At one time, MGM also offered a 2-LP set of the *entire* play, doubtless as heavily censored.)

The fact that most of the budget for this presumably went on the heavy-duty cast list shouldn't have mattered if it had been staged with flair and imagination and some sympathy for the original's satirical intent. Instead we get risibly bad song and dance sequences featuring picturesque beggars and whores, and the final alienation is accomplished by pulling back to reveal the action has taken place on a music-hall stage, appropriately enough for a production that's more Lionel 'Oliver' Blair than Brecht. The acting talent is shamefully misused: Migenes and Walters are good but don't have to try very hard: Migenes at least has a great voice and some feel for the material. Julia looks perfect as Mack, but struggles with the character, straitjacketed by a fake plummy accent. Harris's Peachum is embarrassingly mannered and Polly is atrocious. The adaptations of lyrics, script and music are often awkward: it was a bad move to base the film on Marc Blitzstein's bowdlerised Broadway version, but at least his words were singable, unlike most of what's been interpolated in gestures of faithfulness. And the attempt at overcoming the low budget by filming at claustrophobic angles on mist-shrouded sets lit in garish blues and oranges as if by some bargain-basement Vittorio Storaro fails utterly -- the film just looks cheap, shoddy and thoughtlessly made. Disgraceful.

Out of the three film versions of this Brecht classic this is by far the best. No, its not perfect. First it uses the watered down Blitztien translation on most songs and there is too much dancing in the film.The main problem with the film is that the editor hacked it up. I have the soundtrack and no less than 6 songs were omitted after filming, including "What Keeps Mankind Alive", the theme of the play! What we are left with though is well done, Raul Julia excels as Mackie, charming, smooth and dangerous and with a great singing voice. Richard Harris is a delight as J.J. Peacham, king of the beggars and is well matched by Julie Walters as his wife. Bill Nighy makes a wonderful;ly confused Tiger Brown and the Jealousy duet performed by Rachel Robertson and Erin Donovan is the musical high point. Not great but a big improvement over the German film and the dull 1960 film with Curt Jergens.