I was one who loved The Phantom when it came out, @Hedgehog. I grew up avidly reading the comic strip, both in its daily and Sunday iterations, and like you I thought the movie captured the spirit of the comic in a fun way.
Oooooooookay. I beg your patience with this next bit. The next DVDs I recently acquired are a box set of seven films. But before discussing the films I need to give the background--and I would rather do it just once here instead of mentioning it with every review of the seven movies.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, there was a hugely popular German writer of adventure stories: Karl May. He wrote a lot of other stuff, too, but let's focus on his adventure stories. His fame reached others countries, but he never quite clicked with the English speaking audience. But in Germany, Karl May is legendary--a national institution. (His actual life is interesting, what with prison and shamelessly lying self-promotion---but let's leave that for another day.)
His most popular and famous stories are Westerns--yeah, set in the American West that he had never set foot in when he wrote the stories. These feature German adventurer Old Shatterhand and his blood-brother and Apache chief Winnetou. But he also wrote a series of stories (called the "Orient Cycle") featuring Kara Ben Nemsi, a German adventurer in North Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans during the late Ottoman Empire. And then there are the lesser tales, not as popular, featuring German doctor/adventurer Dr. Karl Sternau, usually in Mexico and Central America.
In the 1960s, German studio Rialto Films got the rights to May's Western novels and put out films with Old Shatterhand and Winnetou (and make no mistake--Winnetou is no Tonto; he is arguably the central character supported by his blood brother Shatterhand). These films were very successful.
But another German studio, CCC Films decided to get in on the act. They did not have the rights to the actual May stories, but they decided to use the characters---and, in a jaw-dropping development, used the SAME ACTORS as Rialto used, with Lex Barker being Old Shatterhand and Pierre Brice as Winnetou. And they put out two Westerns. And CCC did have the rights to do other Karl May films, and also put out films for those other intellectual properties.
And that brings me to this box set put out by Eureka! under its Masters of Cinema label. It is called "Adventure Calls: Karl May at CCC" and it features two movies with Old Shatterhand (Lex Barker) and Winnetou (Pierre Brice); three movies with Kara Ben Nemsi (also Lex Barker); and two movies with Dr. Karl Sternau (you guessed it--also Lex Barker). That American Lex Barker was apparently considered the archetype of Karl May's German heroes is probably worthy of study--but by somebody other than me!
So, with that background, I will be giving reviews of the seven films in this set. First up will be Old Shatterhand (1964). Stay tuned!
Old Shatterhand (1964). A German Western, which is not a phrase I even knew existed a year ago. The plot: a renegade soldier wants to stir up trouble between white settlers and the Apaches (Winnetou's tribe). Winnetou is trying to negotiate a peace treaty between his people and the "great white father in Washington." The bad guy wants this to fail and so he starts framing the Apaches for various atrocities. He uses drunk Comanches to frame the Apaches. As one does. Noble Winnetou and his blood brother Old Shatterhand strive to clear the Apaches' name and secure the peace--not just the peace between white settlers and Apaches, but between Comanches and Apaches.
It is not totally clear what the bad guy hopes to get out of this, but there is some loose talk about land deals...suggesting that he expects to take over the Apache lands once the military kills them. But motive is clearly a MacGuffin for the action.
The plot has a number of nice twists, as the good guys get evidence to clear the Apaches, and then the bad guys take that evidence away. And the good guys get more evidence. And lose it to the bad guys. and so on until the climactic battle scene.
This movie looks very good. CCC put a ton of money into it, which is not at all CCC's standard operating procedure. But this movie was special and became the most expensive German film of the 1960s. And it looks it on the screen. Wide screen with great sets, beautiful vistas (in Croatia, I think--but don't quote me). The battle scenes employ a large enough group of extras to be convincing. It is a German Western that easily stands up to Hollywood Westerns of the same period.
It is a good Western. If you like Westerns, you will likely enjoy this film.
Old Shatterhand (1964). A German Western, which is not a phrase I even knew existed a year ago. The plot: a renegade soldier wants to stir up trouble between white settlers and the Apaches (Winnetou's tribe). Winnetou is trying to negotiate a peace treaty between his people and the "great white father in Washington." The bad guy wants this to fail and so he starts framing the Apaches for various atrocities. He uses drunk Comanches to frame the Apaches. As one does. Noble Winnetou and his blood brother Old Shatterhand strive to clear the Apaches' name and secure the peace--not just the peace between white settlers and Apaches, but between Comanches and Apaches.
It is not totally clear what the bad guy hopes to get out of this, but there is some loose talk about land deals...suggesting that he expects to take over the Apache lands once the military kills them. But motive is clearly a MacGuffin for the action.
The plot has a number of nice twists, as the good guys get evidence to clear the Apaches, and then the bad guys take that evidence away. And the good guys get more evidence. And lose it to the bad guys. and so on until the climactic battle scene.
This movie looks very good. CCC put a ton of money into it, which is not at all CCC's standard operating procedure. But this movie was special and became the most expensive German film of the 1960s. And it looks it on the screen. Wide screen with great sets, beautiful vistas (in Croatia, I think--but don't quote me). The battle scenes employ a large enough group of extras to be convincing. It is a German Western that easily stands up to Hollywood Westerns of the same period.
It is a good Western. If you like Westerns, you will likely enjoy this film.
I'm not into Westerns (I'm sure I could find one I'd like), but I am curious as to whether they are in German with subtitles.
I'm not into Westerns (I'm sure I could find one I'd like), but I am curious as to whether they are in German with subtitles.
That's not quite as straightforward a question as it sounds.
The movie is in German with English subtitles. But there is also the option to listen to an English language dubbed version. But here is the twist--there is no way to see a version of the movie that is NOT dubbed. Even the German version is dubbed. The cast was multinational: German, French, American, Israeli....So, for example, Lex Barker, when filming, was speaking in English and then his voice was dubbed into German for the German language version. But others in the cast were speaking German or other languages.
So any version of the movie where the audio is in a single language is a dubbed version.
Personally, I chose to listen to the German version and read the subtitles, in part because I am trying to learn German. And hearing German spoken with a slow Western drawl is an experience!
I'm not into Westerns (I'm sure I could find one I'd like), but I am curious as to whether they are in German with subtitles.
That's not quite as straightforward a question as it sounds.
The movie is in German with English subtitles. But there is also the option to listen to an English language dubbed version. But here is the twist--there is no way to see a version of the movie that is NOT dubbed. Even the German version is dubbed. The cast was multinational: German, French, American, Israeli....So, for example, Lex Barker, when filming, was speaking in English and then his voice was dubbed into German for the German language version. But others in the cast were speaking German or other languages.
So any version of the movie where the audio is in a single language is a dubbed version.
Personally, I chose to listen to the German version and read the subtitles, in part because I am trying to learn German. And hearing German spoken with a slow Western drawl is an experience!
OMG it would be cool if someone put out a DVD where you could choose the originally recorded audio for everybody, with English subtitles. So some people would be in French, German, etc. But they’d all understand each other… you could show it at Pentecost! 😃
I’m reminded of a production of Die Fledermaus broadcast on PBS on New Years’ Eve decades ago. Every character sang in their native language rather than in German. (The chorus sang in German.)
The exception was Kiri Te Kanawa as Rosalinda. She sang her solos in English, as I recall, but she sang duets in whatever language her partner was singing in.
I’m reminded of a production of Die Fledermaus broadcast on PBS on New Years’ Eve decades ago. Every character sang in their native language rather than in German. (The chorus sang in German.)
The exception was Kiri Te Kanawa as Rosalinda. She sang her solos in English, as I recall, but she sang duets in whatever language her partner was singing in.
[Emily Litella]
Poor bats! Whyever would someone want to say “Die, fledermaus! Die!” They should live! A good long proper bat’s life! And eat toast! And fly free with all their cute little bat friends! Did you know they eat bugs? Imagine what it would be like without them! What a sad, sad—
I have finished with the next film in the CCC box set. It has the unwieldy title of Winnetou and Shatterhand in the Valley of Death (1968). The story is a fairly standard Western plot about hidden gold and our heroes, Winnetou & Shatterhand, making sure that the gold ends up with the proper owner. CCC is back in its more traditional penny-pinching form. There is a fight scene where the doors are clearly thin balsa wood, shattering with ludicrous ease when the stunt man dives into them. There is little or no attempt to hide it.
But here is an interesting trivia point. The prior movie, Old Shatterhand, came out in April of 1964. This movie came out in December of 1968. What happened?
This bring us back to my earlier post. Remember I mentioned that CCC did not have the rights to Karl May's actual Western novels? Those rights were held by Rialto. But CCC could use the characters of Winnetou & Shatterhand and then, cheekily, cast the same actors as Rialto was using. Of course, there was litigation! The settlement was that Old Shatterhand could be released but CCC had to agree not to use the characters again until Rialto was done with them. The last Rialto film was released in December of 1966. By then, the studio felt the public interest in the series had faded. And they were right. CCC's 1968 film did not do very well on release and the series ended.
Next up in the box set are films based on Karl May's "Orient" stories. CCC did have the rights to May's stories for these movies, and the three films came out in 1964 & 1965. I have no idea what they will be like, but I see the first is directed by Robert Siodmak.
In need of a good laugh, we went to see Minions and Monsters last weekend.
Is it great art? No.
Did we laugh like drains? Yes... yes we did.
It's a tribute to the silent film era. The minions end up being Keystone Cops-style film stars, and of course the arrival of sound makes things difficult for them. (No, we're not talking ISngin' in the Rain here although it was in my head the whole time!)
So many classic silent film gags - Buster Keaton with the house frame falling round him, for instance. The plot is pretty much irrelevant but ends satisfactorily.
Their nonsense language is always good for a giggle too - lots of French, Spanish, Italian and even Japanese (they referred to a train as 'shinkansen' which made me laugh).
Comments
I should find it and watch it again.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, there was a hugely popular German writer of adventure stories: Karl May. He wrote a lot of other stuff, too, but let's focus on his adventure stories. His fame reached others countries, but he never quite clicked with the English speaking audience. But in Germany, Karl May is legendary--a national institution. (His actual life is interesting, what with prison and shamelessly lying self-promotion---but let's leave that for another day.)
His most popular and famous stories are Westerns--yeah, set in the American West that he had never set foot in when he wrote the stories. These feature German adventurer Old Shatterhand and his blood-brother and Apache chief Winnetou. But he also wrote a series of stories (called the "Orient Cycle") featuring Kara Ben Nemsi, a German adventurer in North Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans during the late Ottoman Empire. And then there are the lesser tales, not as popular, featuring German doctor/adventurer Dr. Karl Sternau, usually in Mexico and Central America.
In the 1960s, German studio Rialto Films got the rights to May's Western novels and put out films with Old Shatterhand and Winnetou (and make no mistake--Winnetou is no Tonto; he is arguably the central character supported by his blood brother Shatterhand). These films were very successful.
But another German studio, CCC Films decided to get in on the act. They did not have the rights to the actual May stories, but they decided to use the characters---and, in a jaw-dropping development, used the SAME ACTORS as Rialto used, with Lex Barker being Old Shatterhand and Pierre Brice as Winnetou. And they put out two Westerns. And CCC did have the rights to do other Karl May films, and also put out films for those other intellectual properties.
And that brings me to this box set put out by Eureka! under its Masters of Cinema label. It is called "Adventure Calls: Karl May at CCC" and it features two movies with Old Shatterhand (Lex Barker) and Winnetou (Pierre Brice); three movies with Kara Ben Nemsi (also Lex Barker); and two movies with Dr. Karl Sternau (you guessed it--also Lex Barker). That American Lex Barker was apparently considered the archetype of Karl May's German heroes is probably worthy of study--but by somebody other than me!
So, with that background, I will be giving reviews of the seven films in this set. First up will be Old Shatterhand (1964). Stay tuned!
It is not totally clear what the bad guy hopes to get out of this, but there is some loose talk about land deals...suggesting that he expects to take over the Apache lands once the military kills them. But motive is clearly a MacGuffin for the action.
The plot has a number of nice twists, as the good guys get evidence to clear the Apaches, and then the bad guys take that evidence away. And the good guys get more evidence. And lose it to the bad guys. and so on until the climactic battle scene.
This movie looks very good. CCC put a ton of money into it, which is not at all CCC's standard operating procedure. But this movie was special and became the most expensive German film of the 1960s. And it looks it on the screen. Wide screen with great sets, beautiful vistas (in Croatia, I think--but don't quote me). The battle scenes employ a large enough group of extras to be convincing. It is a German Western that easily stands up to Hollywood Westerns of the same period.
It is a good Western. If you like Westerns, you will likely enjoy this film.
I'm not into Westerns (I'm sure I could find one I'd like), but I am curious as to whether they are in German with subtitles.
The movie is in German with English subtitles. But there is also the option to listen to an English language dubbed version. But here is the twist--there is no way to see a version of the movie that is NOT dubbed. Even the German version is dubbed. The cast was multinational: German, French, American, Israeli....So, for example, Lex Barker, when filming, was speaking in English and then his voice was dubbed into German for the German language version. But others in the cast were speaking German or other languages.
So any version of the movie where the audio is in a single language is a dubbed version.
Personally, I chose to listen to the German version and read the subtitles, in part because I am trying to learn German. And hearing German spoken with a slow Western drawl is an experience!
OMG it would be cool if someone put out a DVD where you could choose the originally recorded audio for everybody, with English subtitles. So some people would be in French, German, etc. But they’d all understand each other… you could show it at Pentecost! 😃
The exception was Kiri Te Kanawa as Rosalinda. She sang her solos in English, as I recall, but she sang duets in whatever language her partner was singing in.
[Emily Litella]
Poor bats! Whyever would someone want to say “Die, fledermaus! Die!” They should live! A good long proper bat’s life! And eat toast! And fly free with all their cute little bat friends! Did you know they eat bugs? Imagine what it would be like without them! What a sad, sad—
What’s that? … Oh. Oh, that’s very different.
Never mind! 🤓
[/Emily Litella]
But here is an interesting trivia point. The prior movie, Old Shatterhand, came out in April of 1964. This movie came out in December of 1968. What happened?
This bring us back to my earlier post. Remember I mentioned that CCC did not have the rights to Karl May's actual Western novels? Those rights were held by Rialto. But CCC could use the characters of Winnetou & Shatterhand and then, cheekily, cast the same actors as Rialto was using. Of course, there was litigation! The settlement was that Old Shatterhand could be released but CCC had to agree not to use the characters again until Rialto was done with them. The last Rialto film was released in December of 1966. By then, the studio felt the public interest in the series had faded. And they were right. CCC's 1968 film did not do very well on release and the series ended.
Next up in the box set are films based on Karl May's "Orient" stories. CCC did have the rights to May's stories for these movies, and the three films came out in 1964 & 1965. I have no idea what they will be like, but I see the first is directed by Robert Siodmak.
This has me whether this was how pre-WWI German sounded in the US - I seem to recall there were a lot of German speakers in the US west.
Is it great art? No.
Did we laugh like drains? Yes... yes we did.
It's a tribute to the silent film era. The minions end up being Keystone Cops-style film stars, and of course the arrival of sound makes things difficult for them. (No, we're not talking ISngin' in the Rain here although it was in my head the whole time!)
So many classic silent film gags - Buster Keaton with the house frame falling round him, for instance. The plot is pretty much irrelevant but ends satisfactorily.
Their nonsense language is always good for a giggle too - lots of French, Spanish, Italian and even Japanese (they referred to a train as 'shinkansen' which made me laugh).