Winnetou

Arguably the start of the notable German Western cycle of the 60's, along with Treasure of the Silver Lake (Der Schatz I'm Silbersee of the previous year). In this early adaption of the tremendously successful Karl May novels which formed the backbone of the series, Ex Tarzan Lex Barker, blonde hair slicked back in vague echo of Kirk Douglas, plays Old Shatterhand. French actor Pierre Brice is Winnetou, good Apache, his Indian blood brother. Unlike the cynicism of the Spaghetti Westerns which followed shortly afterwards, the German version is backward looking - nostalgic, perhaps, for the more simplistic and romantic version of the genre, common in Hollywood before the psychological complications wrought by the 50's. Thus Shatterhand and Winnetou are more Lone Ranger and Tonto than Trinità and Bambino. The present film is fully equal of its rivals elsewhere on the continent in recreating the old west in mid europe, wagon trains marauding indians and all. Winnetou 1 also has the distinction of a marvellous score by Martin Bottcher, its sweeping main theme instantly memorable and looks superb in the widescreen transfer. Recent months have seen the release of three or four boxes of the films featuring Winnetou et al, with another one including the 1980's TV series, also worth investigating. However prospective buyers should note that the English dialogue/subtitling is not consistent; box 1 for instance only has 2 out of the 4 films in English while even in those that do minor characters and small scenes often lapse back into German - not a problem when the plot is relatively straightforward but unless bought cheaply the annoyance is enough to dampen a full recommendation of a greatly entertaining series of films hardly known to western fans, at least in the UK.

"Winnetou 1" is packed with images not only I shall remember forever: the train crashing into the house, Nscho-tschi sitting on the edge of the canyon (shot in Yugoslavia as usual for the Karl May productions), Klekih Petra giving his life to save Winnetou, Old Shatterhand freeing Winnetou secretly, and much later becoming blood brothers. This is a myth larger than life, and it is admirable how well balanced it is with all its ingredients, Ralf Wolter playing the funny Sam Hawkens and Mario Adorf the intense villain Santer, while Marie Versini as Nscho-tschi adds a bit of romance. How often do you find a movie that has nothing to improve and you wish you just could see again and again? Yet I do understand people who think this is a naive or even lame flick - they just weren't at the cinema all those years ago, I suppose.

I first saw this film at the age of 10 in Germany and at that age found it captivating for it's quality of cinematography and sound-track.

The film was one of a series that attempted for the first time to capture the unique and high romantic Western novels of Germany's greatest adventure writer Karl May. Now, more than 30 years later, and with a video copy of the film in my library to look at when in the mood, I find this version of Karl May's novel rather quaint and clumsy in terms of script/screenplay and certainly out of step with the more popularised versions of the Wild West.

However, May's portrayal of late 19th century America was always a mixture of well researched facts mingled with high romantic fantasy adventure in the "Knights of the Round Table" or "Star Wars" vein. In this regard, the film does capture the spirit of Karl May's novels pretty well, if rather geared towards an assumed prior knowledge by the audience of the characters and of May's novels. From today's sophisticated movie audience's perspective this film version of "Winnetou I" is still noteworthy for its magnificent soundtrack rivaling any John Williams score, and for the noble portrayal of the hero by French actor Pierre Brice, who made this role his own in numerous sequels and stage shows.

To my mind, "Winnetou I" is the second from the best movies about Winnetou after "Old Shatterhand" ("Apache's last battle"). These movies are different. "Winnetou I" or "Apache's gold" is very romantic, a nice fairy-tale about noble and human Indian and his blood brother. It's idealized story, far from cruel reality. "Old Shatterhand" has some similar features, but it is more realistic. However, I can see both these movies after 40 or 35 years with pleasure despite of the naiveness of both these films as examples of excellent cinema art reminding me about ideals of childhood and youth. Director Harald Reinl is a great master of romantic cinema. This movie is very beautiful with a great deal of poetic. A beauty of nature (filmed in Croatia) is a background for romantic drama. Two contrasting actors - Pierre Brice (Winnetou) and Lex Barker (Shatterhand) - looks excellent together. To my mind, this is the best Barker's movie: he acts with true passion. Unfortunately, he lost it in last Winnetou's movies.. Pierre Brice is very intelligent actor with a good taste and wit some mystery in his noble face. This mystery makes him very attractive. Marie Versini's Nscho-tschi is the best Indian woman I see in the European westerns. He looks excellent alongside Pierre Brice and his acting is touching. Mario Adorf is very strong as villain Santer, Ralf Wolter's comical characterisation is also very good. And music (Martin Boettcher) is very beautiful. .

I love actors in this film. Pierre Brice and Lex Barker are very good as Vinnetou and Old Shatterhand. My favourite character is Vinnetou, because he is clever and skillful. In this film there aren´t simular things as in the book. I think it´s a very good film.