The Threepenny Opera (1963 film)

The Threepenny Opera
Directed byWolfgang Staudte
Written byWolfgang Staudte
Günther Weisenborn
Based onThe Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht
Produced byKurt Ulrich
Heinz Willeg
StarringCurd Jürgens
Hildegard Knef
Gert Fröbe
CinematographyRoger Fellous
Edited byWolfgang Wehrum
Music byKurt Weill
Production
companies
Kurt Ulrich Film
Comptoir d'Expansion Cinématographique
Distributed byGloria Film
Release date
  • 28 February 1963 (1963-02-28)
Running time
124 minutes
CountriesFrance
West Germany
LanguageGerman

The Threepenny Opera (German: Die Dreigroschenoper) is a 1963 West German-French musical crime drama film directed by Wolfgang Staudte and starring Curd Jürgens, Hildegard Knef and Gert Fröbe.[1][2] Sammy Davis Jr. appeared as a street singer of ballads. It was shot in Eastmancolor at the Spandau Studios and Tempelhof Studios in West Berlin. The film's sets were designed by the art director Hein Heckroth.[3] It is based on the 1928 play The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht, itself inspired by the 18th-century British work The Beggar's Opera. A previous film adaptation The Threepenny Opera had been produced in 1931.

Plot

In Victorian London, the notorious criminal Captain Macheath is a wanted man but is protected by his friendship with the police officer 'Tiger' Brown, with whom he served in the British Army. When he marries Polly, the daughter of Peachum the "king of London's beggars", her parents set out to try and have him hanged by the authorities. He is ultimately betrayed by the prostitute Jenny, his former lover, and faces the gallows before a last-minute reprieve.

Cast

References

  1. ↑ Rentschler p.146
  2. ↑ Bergfelder, Carter & Göktürk p.132
  3. ↑ "Die Dreigroschenoper". Film Portal (in German). Retrieved 2026-02-06.

Bibliography

  • Bergfelder, Tim, Carter, Erica & Göktürk, Deniz. The German Cinema Book. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020.
  • Rentschler, Eric. German Film & Literature. Routledge, 2013.
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