The Merry Wives of Windsor (1950 film)

The Merry Wives of Windsor (German: Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor) is a 1950 East German musical comedy film directed by Georg Wildhagen. It was based on William Shakespeare's play by the same name.

The Merry Wives of Windsor
Directed by	Georg Wildhagen
Written by	Otto Nicolai (opera) Salomon Hermann Mosenthal (opera) William Shakespeare (play) Georg Wildhagen Wolff von Gordon
Starring	Sonja Ziemann Camilla Spira Paul Esser Ina Halley
Cinematography	Eugen Klagemann Karl Plintzner
Music by	Otto Nicolai (opera)
Production company	DEFA
Distributed by	Progress Film
Release date	22 October 1950 (1950-10-22)
Running time	96 minutes
Country	East Germany
Language	German

Plot

In Elizabethan England, Sir John Falstaff is embroiled in attempting to have a love affair with several women, which soon turns into a humorous adventure.

Cast

• Sonja Ziemann as Mrs. Fluth
• Camilla Spira as Mrs. Gretchen Reich
• Paul Esser as Sir John Falstaff
• Ina Halley as Anna Reich
• Eckart Dux as Fenton
• Alexander Engel as Innkeeper Reich
• Claus Holm as Mr. Fluth
• Joachim Teege as Mr. Spärlich
• Gerd Frickhöffer as Dr. Cajus
• Rita Streich as Mrs. Fluth (singing voice)
• Martha Mödl as Mrs. Gretchen Reich (singing voice)
• Sonja Schöner as Anna Reich (singing voice)
• Helmut Krebs as Fenton (voice)
• Hans Kramer as Sir John Falstaff (voice)
• Willi Heyer-Kraemer as Innkeeper Reich (singing voice)
• Herbert Brauer as Mr. Fluth (singing voice)

Production

The film is an adaptation of the 1849 opera The Merry Wives of Windsor composed by Otto Nicolai with a libretto by Salomon Hermann Mosenthal which was based on William Shakespeare's play of the same title. It was made by the state-owned DEFA studio on a large budget.^[1]

Reception

The film was highly successful by East German standards,^[2] and drew 6,090,329 viewers to the cinemas.^[3] Ernst Richter noted that while "the socially critical tone was unmistakably present in the film", it was free of "heavy-handed communist propaganda."^[4] Heinz Kersten characterized it as one of the last apolitical entertainment pictures produced by DEFA before the Socialist Unity Party of Germany tightened its control on the national film industry.^[5] Albert Wilkening wrote it was "a significant step forward in making movies in the GDR... Wildhagen's directing was quite skillful."^[6]

References

1. Davidson & Hake p.220
2. Kersten. p. 29.
3. List of the 50 highest-grossing DEFA films.
4. Richter. p. 245.
5. Kersten. p. 52.
6. Wilkening. p. 165.

Bibliography

• Sabine Hake, John Davidson (editors). Framing the Fifties: Cinema in a Divided Germany. Berghahn Books (2007). ISBN 978-1-84545-204-9.
• Ernst Richert. Agitation und Propaganda : das System der publizistischen Massenführung in der Sowjetzone. Institut für politische Wissenschaft (1958). OCLC 185953805.
• Heinz Kersten. Das Filmwesen in der Sowjetischen Besatzungszone Deutschlands. Bundesministerium für Gesamtdeutsche Fragen (1963). ASIN B0000BK48Q.
• Albert Wilkening. Film. VEB Bibliographisches Institut (1966). OCLC 7216389.

External links

• The Merry Wives of Windsor at IMDb
• Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor on DEFA Sternstunden.