"The 3 Penny Opera" *** (out of ****)There was a time audiences went to the movies for escapism. This was true in America during the Great Depression and World War II. Audiences in the 1930s and 1940s wanted to forget about their worries. People went to see movies with Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Brothers, musicals with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers or Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler. But it seems people in the Weimar Republic had different intentions.
Woody Allen was asked about cinema during his youth and how Hollywood films of his era influenced him. He was quoted as saying "You would leave your poor house behind and all your problems with school and family and all that and you would go into the cinema, and there they would have penthouses and white telephones and the women were lovely and the men always had an appropriate witticism."
Cinema in Germany during this time period wanted to emphasis a great new world. Some believed German cinema would overtake American cinema. Weimar Cinema wanted to show people what Germany was capable of. A prime example is Fritz Lang's "Metropolis". The huge sets, the emphasis on technology. It was very important part of cinema in Germany.
Rarely have I seen a film which offered such a hopeless view of the world as in G.W. Pabst's "The 3 Penny Opera". The film was based on a stage play by Brecht and Weill. It opened in 1928 Berlin were it became a hit. The film was released in 1931 and was a flop at the box-office. Pabst was said to be in the audience on opening night of the play and knew he wanted to get it on film. In adapting this play however many things became lost in translation, mostly due, strangely enough, by Brecht himself.
Brecht was a Communist. His "3 Penny Opera (Die 3 Groschen-Oper)" was a social and political commentary on life in Germany. Brecht offered a leftist view dealing with Marxist class warfare. Pay attention to the lyrics to the opening song which plays over the credits; "You gents who to a virtuous life would lead us/ And turn us from all wrong doing and sin/ First of all see to it that you feed us/ Then start your preaching/ That's where to begin."
These lyrics actually explain a lot. For one they explain the view most Germans had after the economic crisis of WW1. It also shows how Hitler came to power. He was able to feed on this despair. People worked and ate under Hitler. He made them feel good about their country. Ironically, the Nazi Party would ban this film in 1933. According to Brecht, the film's message is, all those in power are crooks. Though Brecht is making more of a commentary on capitalism than the Nazi party.
Like most German expressionist films "The 3 Penny Opera" has some great visual shots showing us a character's mindset. One of my favorite scenes is when Polly (Carola Neher) meets Mackie Messer (Rudolf Forster). He flirts with her as she and her mother try to avoid him. They do some window shopping as they come across a wedding dress. Polly grazes at it while through the reflection of the window we see Mackie stand next to the gown, as if by an alter at a church. It turns out Mackie is actually standing next to Polly. But couldn't the scene be interpreted as Polly's daydreaming. Thinking about marrying the man she just saw?
Another scene has Mackie and Polly singing a duet on a boat harbor. They are in shadows. Most of the film had a dark, grey look. Life is depressing. But as the couple sings, they move towards a light. They are out of the darkness. While in another number, this time, it is a solo by Polly, she stands background the moonlight. She is wearing her white gown while the background is black. It has an unsettling look. It doesn't seem real. Something is just a bit off from reality.
But what do these scenes tell you about the movie? "The 3 Penny Opera" is the story of Mackie Messer. A serial killer and rapist. He spends much of his time in a whorehouse until he falls in love with Polly, who happens to be the daughter of a rival, "the poorest man in London" (where the film takes place) Mr. Peachum (Fritz Rasp). Peachum, upset that Mackie has married his daughter, sends the chief of police, Tiger Brown (Reinhold Schunzel) after Mackie to hang him. Brown though is a friend of Mackie.
Everyone in the film is dishonest. The crooks have connections with the police. Even the crooks aren't honest about being poor. Mr. Peachum runs a business teaching people how to beg for many, supplying them with crutches and dirty clothes. Eventually, according to Brecht, these people are capitalist and represent how bankers and business owners fraud working people out of money.
Ideas such as this were actually common in Western and Eastern Europe after the Communist left. A good modern example of this is in the Romanian film by Nicolae Margineanu, "Look Forward in Anger (Priveste inainte cu manie)".
The score by Kurt Weill, probably the most famous of his career, are all songs about death and despair. The most popular song in the film, "Mack the Knife", is a prologue describing all the murders Mackie has committed. One of the whores Mackie visits, Jenny (Lotte Lenya, Weill's wife) sings the "Pirate Song", where she dreams of having her own pirate ship where she will get her revenge on society and all the people who look down upon her by killing them. And the final song, "The Canon Song" is about what soldiers face on the battlefield. In the end everyone dies. Real cheerful stuff right?
If you are unfamiliar with Brecht his idea was to make viewers conscience they are watching a play. The orchestra would be onstage with the actors. The actors wouldn't wear costumes. They would interact with the audience. Pabst doesn't give the viewer this experience so much. The unrealistic quality of the background during Polly's song helps as does an on-screen narrator which, in song, describes what we have seen and what is to come. He even stares into the camera and addresses it as "ladies and gentlemen".
G.W. Pabst was actually a famous director in Germany at the time. His other well-known film is "Pandora's Box" with Louise Brooks. I'm not sure if today's audiences are as familiar with him as they are Lang or Murnau. But his importance to cinema is as equal as theirs.
What stops "The 3 Penny Opera" from being a great film to me is the political intentions of Brecht I feel aren't fully realized. The film is very different from the stage play. Three additional writers were brought on when it became known Brecht was not adapting his stage play but working on something completely new. Hungarian writer Bela Balazs was brought on. He worked on the landmark Hungarian film "Valahol Europaban (Somewhere in Europe)". I also don't like the choice of Rudolf Forster in the lead. It is hard to look at him and associate the crimes sung about in "Mack the Knife" to him. He doesn't come off harsh enough. He looks too respectable. True, sometimes he has a hard edge to him, but it feels more like an act than his true nature.
Criterion released the film on DVD last year to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the film. One of the special features includes a French version of the film Pabst directed. That is actually a good version. In some ways I prefer that version. But, I'm perfectly aware it is this German version which gets all the attention. And you can see how this film influenced works ranging from Fosse's "Cabaret" to Woody Allen's "Shadows & Fog" (which even uses many of the songs from this play).
It is not a great film but one which should be appreciated and seen by all filmbuffs.
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