The Threepenny Opera

Great musicals always have great people working at every different level in a united way. The script, the songs, the actors, the camera-movements all must stand on their own while contributing to the musical proper. We have classic cases of this where all those involved went their separate ways and were never able to recreate that magic. Instead of this somewhat accidental result, we have here a carefully calculated masterpiece. It was recognised that this was an important social work, and there were a number of things that needed to happen in its execution. They needed Brecht's (a dramatist becoming increasingly fascinated with cinema) cooperation, they got it. They needed a capable expressionistic director, they got it. They needed creative writers to narrow the work down to a typical film length, they got them. They needed strong powerful actors to circumvent any possible lingering sentimentality, they got them as well. This was an age where film was becoming run by the studios, but in creative ways striving to create great art, and we have stunning works like this to prove it.

5 out of 5 - Essential

I've just seen the restored 2006 German print, and while I found it entertaining, it's almost as long as the stage musical. The film medium can't support this, and after about the first half hour, it becomes claustrophobic and momentum-less, and a great disappointment. I had to fight the urge to pick up the clicker and press fast-forward. Part of the problem seems to me that the screenplay adapter or adapters didn't trust Brecht and Weill's theatrical instincts sufficiently: they left out half the songs (though the sound is remarkably good for 1931) and reordered the ones that were left. Most problematically, they rewrote the ending, with this nonsense of Polly and the gang taking over a bank. No march to the scaffold, no "Ballad of Sexual Dependency", no last-minute pardon from the King...

Many reviewers here seem to take the London location too seriously. That's just a relic of the John Gay original (The Beggar's Opera): it is most clearly meant to be a satire on Weimar Republic Germany. That's why the Nazis banned it. The real corruption is in the official institutions of power, not in the relatively benign underworld (which reappears in very similar shape and form in Fritz Lange's "M".) Those who don't know Brecht's translations of Gay's original names and texts should learn that MacHeath becomes 'Mackie Messer' (messer mean 'knife' in German, thus 'Mack the Knife'.)

The best thing about the film, is probably the documentary record it contains of just how the original audiences would have seen the story, and how the original performers would have rendered the songs. I particularly liked the Moritaet-Saenger and his incredible trilled "Rs" in the opening scene.

Those who acquired a taste for 1920s Berlin in 'Cabaret' ought to see this film inasmuch as it is the real thing. Lotte Lenya (Weill's wife in real life and the actress who played the evil Rosa Kleb in 'From Russia With Love') and Carola Neher (fled Hitler for the Soviet Union then betrayed by communism -- she died in a communist prison camp in 1942) each offer an unforgettable singing performance. Carola Neher's song alone is worth the price of admission -- she outclasses even Dietrich.

In the last few years before Nazi power overtook the German film industry, Kurt Weill's operetta reached the screen in this effective and well-cast version. Notable for including Lotte Lenya (Weill's wife) as Jenny, it is funny, memorable, imaginatively filmed, and despite the language barrier, does justice to the songs enshrined in popular culture such as ‘Mack the Knife'.

A giant of early European talkies, this musical has much to recommend to a viewer looking at it after seven decades. An adaptation with songs of John Gay's ‘The Beggar's Opera', it deals with the underworld of crooks, moneylenders, and cut-throats.

Chief of note in the varied cast are Rudolf Forster as Mackie, Carola Neher as Polly, Fritz Rasp as Peachum, and Ernst Busch as the Street Singer. This movie is one of bitterness and foreboding, and it is excellent.

GW Pabst was a master director of German cinema, especially excelling at his direction of actresses and developing their acting skills (i.e. Louise Brooks being a primary example). Bertholt Brecht's play is a classic and have always hugely appreciated the music of Kurt Weill (i.e. 'Street Scene'). Lotte Lenya left a huge impression on me when introduced to her as one of the great Bond villains in 'From Russia With Love' and she was every bit as talented a singer. So there was so much potential for 'The Threepenny Opera' to work.

And it mostly does work, quite well. 'The Threepenny Opera' may not be for those that prefer their stage to film adaptations to be one hundred percent faithful, which they seldom are in general. The anti-capitalist content is toned down, which left Brecht incensed, and it is a shame that several of the songs are cut and the order of the songs intact is at times re-arranged. It is not one of Pabst's best films, it's no 'Diary of a Lost Girl' for example, but his not so masterful films still always had interest value and so does 'The Threepenny Opera'. A film most notable for its incredible visuals and Lenya.

'The Threepenny Opera' has a lot of great things. Visually, the film is an absolute triumph. Not just the very evocative and at times elaborate sets and the at times eerie lighting, but especially the absolutely superb cinematography (some of the very best of that year, the best of it making the jaw drop). While some of the placement was questionable, the songs included are wonderful. "Mack the Knife" is considered a classic for very good reason and one can understand how today it is a big band favourite.

Dialogue is emotionally complex and while wordy it doesn't ramble. The story may be toned down politically, but is mostly compelling and the bold mood of the play is intact. Complete with some greatly executed scenes. The ending still astounds. The message still resonates and while it makes its point it doesn't overdo it in my view. Pabst's direction at its best is masterly, especially visually. Lenya re-creates the role that she portrayed on stage to legendary effect and her performance is utterly bewitching, her major solo is unforgettably performed and staged. Rudolf Forster makes Mackie a hard to dislike rogue. Carola Neher is a charming Polly and Fritz Rasp is formidable as Peachum.

Not everything works though. There are pacing problems where the film does at times badly lag. A primary example being the wedding scene, which goes on for far too long and feels very drawn out. The slapstick is not particularly amusing this time and comes over as clownish and not always merging with the atmosphere.

Some of the story is slightly disorganised too and the re-ordering of the songs doesn't always come off. "The Cannon Song" for instance feels very out of place and makes very little sense being placed at that point in the drama.

Overall though, impressive but to be taken on its own terms. 7/10