Comedian Harmonists (film)

Comedian Harmonists (English title: The Harmonists) is a 1997 German film, directed by Joseph Vilsmaier, about the popular German vocal group the Comedian Harmonists of the 1920s and 1930s. The film was supported by the German and Austrian film fund.

Comedian Harmonists
Directed byJoseph Vilsmaier
Produced byReinhard Klooss
Screenplay byKlaus Richter, Jürgen Egger
Starring
Music byHarald Kloser, Thomas Schobel, Walter Jurmann (Songs)
CinematographyJoseph Vilsmaier
Edited byPeter R. Adam
Production
company
Perathon Film und Fernseh GmbH
Distributed bySenator Film (Germany)
Miramax Films (USA)
Release date
  • 25 December 1997 (1997-12-25) (Germany)
[1]
Running time
127 minutes
CountryGermany
LanguageGerman
Box office$16 million (Germany)[1]

Plot

In 1927, unemployed German-Jewish actor Harry Frommermann is inspired by the American group The Revelers to create a German group of the same format. He holds auditions and signs on four additional singers and a pianist. Naming themselves the "Comedian Harmonists", they meet international fame and popularity. However, they eventually run into trouble when the Nazis come to power, as half the group is Jewish.

Cast

Reception

Comedian Harmonists succeeded in Europe, grossing over $16 million in Germany.[1] U.S. President Bill Clinton told critic Roger Ebert it was among his favorite films of the year, although the movie did not get widespread release, hence reception in the United States.

Bernd Reinhardt of the World Socialist Web Site called it "an exciting film which is well worth seeing and which pays proper attention to the sextet's music." He also remarked on the film's attention to historical detail and the importance of its theme of musical internationalism.[2]

Awards and nominations

At the 1998 German Film Awards, Comedian Harmonists won the awards for Best Feature Film, Best Editing (for Peter R. Adam), Best Actor (for Ulrich Noethen), Best Supporting Actress (for Meret Becker), and Best Production Design (for Rolf Zehetbauer). Joseph Vilsmaier was nominated for Best Direction, losing to Wim Wenders for The End of Violence. At the 1998 Bavarian Film Awards Joseph Vilsmaier won the awards for Best Director. Ben Becker, Heino Ferch, Ulrich Noethen, Heinrich Schafmeister, Max Tidof and Kai Wiesinger won a Special Prize

Vilsmaier was nominated for Best Cinematographer for Comedian Harmonists at the 1998 European Film Awards.

American version

The U.S. Miramax release contains at least one difference from the original: in the original, there is a scene, when the Harmonists arrive in New York and perform in front of the U.S. Navy, where the camera singles out one African American navy man who is visibly enjoying the music, until he gets a stinging look of rebuke from a superior officer. This segment was cut from the American release.

Legacy

The film led to the writing of a musical play, Veronika, der Lenz ist da – Die Comedian Harmonists, which opened at the Komödie on the Kurfürstendamm in Berlin on 19 December 1997. When this production closed, the actors who had played the original sextet formed themselves into a new group called the Berlin Comedian Harmonists,[3] which was still in existence in 2012.

Notes
  1. "ACNielsen EDI Box Office News: Hollywood Flavors German B.O.". Variety. May 4, 1998. p. 31.
  2. Reinhardt, Bernd. "Music is international: the film Comedian Harmonists". World Socialist Web Site. International Committee of the Fourth International. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
  3. Guests for March 3, 2001 (Berlin) at prairiehome.publicradio.org, accessed 4 February 2012
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