Weber - Der Freischutz
by Rolf Liebermann
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Arlene Saunders, Edith Mathis, Franz Grundheber, Gottlob Frick, Tom KrauseDirector: Rolf Liebermann
Brand: Naxos OF America INC
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown); German (Subtitled); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Italian (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); German (Original Language), Mono; German (Published), Mono
Format: Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 123 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-01-30
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Arthaus Musik
Movie Reviews of Weber - Der Freischutz
Movie Review: Old, corny, weird and wonderful
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this film of Rolf Liebermann's 'Der Freischütz' from Hamburg in 1968. Admittedly I have to look away more often than I'd like in order to listen to the great singing and not have to watch the over made-up, technicolor, lip-sinking singers mug there way through this grand old spook opera. It was filmed on a sound stage not in the opera house. The purely musical assets of this film are very fine. Leopold Ludwig conducts a satisfyingly rustic performance of one of the most important operas composed in the early 19th century.
His cast of singers is extremely good. It preserves two now-mostly-forgotten singers as the romantic leads, Max and Agathe. Ernst Kozub (Max) and Arlene Saunders (Agathe) were both extremely good singers who enjoyed brief careers in the 1960s and 1970s (in Saunders case). Kozub burned out early and then died rather young, I don't know what became of Arlene Saunders. The 1992 edition of the Grove Dictionary of Opera writes of her in the present tense, but I haven't heard of her in at least 20 years. It is fortunate to have these two wonderful performances on film, even if they are hobbled by the 1968 German approach to filming opera... it's all very fake looking. But it IS fascinating and oddly disturbing in the wonderful (as staged by Liebermann) Wolf's Glen scene. I loved Bernhard Minetti's Samiel (Satan) in his elegant cardinal red silk cape. And the bizarre films of nocturnal woodland creatures skittering around under the eclipsing moon is oddly chilling. The sets are very good and the painted backdrops are beautiful and evocative. The overall effect is indeed weird, as it should be in this opera.
The entire cast is classic. Gottlob Frick (at the very end of his career) is Kaspar the devil's pawn who tries to kill Agathe using magic bullets. Frick, looking like Boris Karloff as the insane homocidal butler in 'The Old Dark House', is intense. He looks bizarre and sings with a manic abandon that brings you up short. The balance of the cast is pretty amazing when you think about it. Edith Mathis is enchanting as Aenchen, even if her hair style is pure Berlin 1968 and not der Schwarzwald 1812. Franz Grundheber makes a very early appearance in the small part of Killian, his voice was very beautiful when he was young. But the real vocal treats in this film come in the persons of Tom Krause (Prinz Ottokar) and, most especially, in Hans Sotin (the Hermit). They are both in their early magnificent vocal primes and it is a joy to listen to them. Hans Sotin is tremendous in this small but pivotal role and brings the opera to a suitably glorious and happy end.
A true Märchen. There's even a touch of Germanic homo-eroticism between the Hermit and the Prince. I couldn't tear my eyes away from Sotin and Krause circling one another and gazing into each other's eyes. I'm not making this up.
Echt deutsch
The makeup and hair styles in this film are pretty awful. Das Folk are dressed in Disneyland German peasant garb and hair-sprayed out of all human recognition, and are plastered in heavy theatrical foundation with, in some cases, thick black brows smeared on. The leading lady, Miss Saunders, sports a hefty pair of false eyelashes and what looks like a petroleum-product based wig; it could be rubber from the looks of it. In fact she looks a little bit like a life size rubber doll. There are many similar instances of slightly sinister undertones here.
This is an important opera film of an important opera. There is nothing konzeptual about it. It's old-fashioned, fusty, musty and corny and its the best film of this opera currently available. If you can get past the makeup and wigs there is much to enjoy. If you have to shut your eyes from time to time you will still be in for a great vocal treat. Students of opera will want to have this as it is historically significant. And, more importantly, lovers of this evergreen masterpiece will have to have it in their collections.
Summary of Weber - Der Freischutz
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