The Harmonists

Starring:Ben Becker, Heino Ferch, Ulrich Noethen, Heinrich Schafmeister, Max Tidof, Kai Wiesinger, Meret Becker, Katja Riemann, Noemi Fischer, Dana VÃ¡vrovÃ¡, Otto Sander, Michaela Rosen, GÃ¼nter Lamprecht, GÃ©rard Semaan, Rolf Hoppe, JÃ¼rgen Schornagel, Rudolf Wessely, Susi Nicoletti, Giora Feidman, Kathi Lindner
Director: Joseph Vilsmaier
Studio: Miramax
Product Type: DVD

Description

Filled with topflight performances and unforgettable music, this entertaining and critically acclaimed story was cheered by audiences everywhere! When Harry, a struggling but highly imaginative funnyman, forms a singing group with an unusual group of friends, "The Harmonists" go on to become an overnight sensation in prewar Germany. But as their wave of success inevitably collides with the nation's changing political tide, the group's members are forced to face unprecedented challenges that will try their wills and test their loyalty! An award winner at several prestigious film festivals -- THE HARMONISTS is another outstanding motion picture you don't want to miss!

Customer Reviews:

Ugh - its widescreen.......2006-12-26

The film is great, but I was extremely disappointed because I didn't realize that it is the widescreen version - i.e., it doesn't cover the screen top and bottom. Beware! No wonder it was only $9.99...

Portraying the horrors of Hitler incrementally.......2005-02-23

If you thought "Schindler's List" came off a little heavy-handed and patronizing, you are not the only one. I find movies such as "Sophie's Choice" and the "Comedian Harmonists" to be infinitely more effective in relaying the sadness and depressing realities of the Nazi fanaticism. Whereas "Schindler's List" is one numbing horror story after another, the smaller stories mentioned above have the ability to focus the viewers attention and admisration on a smaller range of characters and themes.
Watching this film was simultaneously uplifting and depressing-the fine characters practicing their art while the politics trudge on. The last concert scene is one of the more heartrenching aspects of this film. Hitler's drones allowing one last go-around before the Jews are disbanded from the group forcefully. It's amazing how petty the politics were-ranging from music,literature and artwork. We all know the end result, but it's more interesting to me to see it's effects and roots from a different viewpoint.
The music of course is the big draw here. Good acting and singing easily overcome some of the staid visual direction. Some scenes looked like they were slapped together. The sets were obvious and did not successfully visualize pre WW2 Germany and the depressed economy.

Enormously Entertaining And Enormously Touching.......2005-01-16

In 1927 in Berlin, Harry Frommermann (Ulrich Noethen), a poor, talented musician, puts an ad in a paper asking that anyone interested in forming a singing group meet with him. Robert Biberti (Ben Becker) shows up, equally poor but brash, confident, full of drive. Soon there are five of them, plus the piano accompanist. They are all young, all talented singers, all unknown. Frommermann is the creative force, choosing the songs and creating the vocal arrangements. And of the six, three are Jews (including Frommermann), and three are gentile (including Biberti). By the end of 1927 they have become a huge success in Germany as The Comedian Harmonists. The perform in white tie and tails, sing complex harmonies, all sorts of songs, and use their voices to imitate instruments. In the next few years their success extends to Europe and the United States. Some say, even now, that they are one of the greatest vocal groups of the century. After Hitler comes to power they are quickly banned from singing any songs written by Jews. Even so, they believe their popularity will provide them protection. At the end of a successful tour in the United States they debate about returning to Germany, but decide to go back where their friends and families are. In 1934, the group is banned from performing in public, and the Nazis strongly hint that the Aryan members of the group should reform without the Jewish members. Eventually the Jews leave Germany and the Aryan members stay put. Both form new groups but without any particular success. Both groups disband in 1941.

This movie works on many levels:

--It's a clear-eyed view of the growing racist changes in German society after Hitler comes to power. It shows how people didn't want to see what was happening around them. A Jewish music shop owner who has racist slogans painted on her window blames it on kids.

--It tells not only the story of The Comedian Harmonists, but the stories of the individual members. One Aryan who is married to a Jew divorces her as soon as he can and eventually marries the daughter of a wealthy Nazi. The Aryan girlfriend of a Jewish member of the group unhesitatingly converts to Judaism so they can marry in his faith. They eventually wind up in San Francisco in a happy marriage that lasted over fifty years. One Aryan member (Biberti) helped design rocket bombs during the war. One Jewish member (Frommermann) became a U.S. citizen, immediately joined the Army and spent the war years entertaining U.S. troops. One Jewish member after the war became a manufacturer of eye glass frames.

--It resurrects the style and skill of The Comedian Harmonists, who in America have been long forgotten. Throughout the movie the group performs some of their best songs, with the actors expertly lip synching to superbly restored original recordings.

There are many movies which show the impact of Nazism in the Thirties and Forties. I suppose the fate of a successful singing group, in that context, might not be considered worth too much attention. But this is an accomplished movie, with great acting. It is entertaining and enormously affecting. It's a movie well worth having. The DVD transfer is excellent.

A Fantastic Film on Many Levels.......2004-02-16

The Harmonists is a movie about the real life singing group which rose to fame during World War II. The group was torn apart by the Nazis and ended their brilliant career abruptly.

The movie does a great job of showing how the six men had very different personalities from each other but blended together to create incredible music. There was love and bitterness, friendship and joy. The group focusses on singing for their audience, but in the meantime the Nazi power grows.

There are three Jewish men in the group, and each one looks at his faith differently. There are also Jewish women involved with the men, and each situation causes friction and difficulty. The group gets more and more pressure to abandon its Jewish members.

The group does visit New York, where all but one member want to stay. Because of that one member, though, the group returns to Germany. Shortly after, they are banned from singing and the three Jewish members leave Germany permanently.

The actual group, the Comedian Harmonists, are still considered to be one of the greatest groups in Europe and their records are treasured. If you haven't heard of this group before, be sure to watch the DVD! The musical performances are a real treat and the story is quite moving.

Great music threaded into the story line........2003-11-03

The time and place is Germany as Hitler is coming to power. The story centers on the genesis of the Comedian Harmonists, a group of five singers and the piano player who accompanies them. We can't be sure how much of the story has much truth value, but we do know that the Harmonists were a real group and their music was much appreciated, and remains so even today. They are called "comedian" because of their lighthearted and humorous approach to the music they sing.

The founder of the group is a jew, Harry Frommermann. He is a talented singer/arranger and his vision is to bring together an exceptional group of men to sing "jazzed up" and highly stylized versions of popular songs. Harry is a perfectionist and the first third of the film shows him first cajoling and then badgering his singers to develop a musically unique and visually entertaining style. He succeeds beyond even his ambitious dreams. Soon the Comedian Harmonists are a feature act in demand not only in Germany, but internationally.

Unfortunatley for the Harmonists, Hitler comes to power in 1933, just as the group is headed for true stardom. Jews in Germany are beginning to feel the impact of the racial hatred that will end in the holocaust. Of the six members of the Harmonists, three are jews and as the story progresses, first restrictions and then cancellations of their concerts prevent the group from finding an audience in Germany for their work. They head to New York and find success there. Harry would like to remain in America, but the rest of the band still believes there is a chance for some success in Germany, so they head home again.

The Harmonists' error in judgment is typical of the mistake of many jews in Germany who thought they only needed to patiently wait for reason to return to their country. At the end of the film we see the Harmonists on stage in Munich performing to an audience that knows that something very special is being lost to them. The Harmonists disband and the jewish members escape to freedom. The group left in Germany tries to reconstitute the band, as does the group that leaves, but they do not experience the success of the original members.

Amazon.com

It is one of the notorious titles in all cinema history, but--sigh--it looks rather quaint today. In the mid-1930s, Ecstasy was a great conversation piece, for its scandalous acknowledgment of sexual passion in women and its revelation of the naked form of actress Hedy Kiesler, who would become the Hollywood star Hedy Lamarr. Henry Miller even wrote an excited essay about it, sure proof that something libidinous was loose. Czech director Gustav Machatý constructs the movie as an almost wordless shadow play of symbols and signs, mostly sexual (there are many close-ups of heavy-breathing horses and nude statues, cut together for maximum erotic impact). As precious as some of these things seem now, it's still amazing to consider Machatý's nerve in depicting one of the first orgasms to hit the movies. And then there's Hedy, whose expressive eyes matter more than her brief skinny-dip. She's an unmistakable future star. --Robert Horton

Description

Hedy Lamarr (Samson and Delilah) stars as Eva, a young woman who marries an older man and is rejected on their wedding night. Frustrated, she runs away and meets a younger man who responds to her unfulfilled yearnings. Called "the most whispered about picture in the world" at its release, "Ecstasy" shocked moviegoers with its erotic depiction of sex, particularly scenes of a young Lamarr swimming naked and its images of this unknown beauty at the height of passion. The European film propelled Lamarr into Hollywood stardom and became an internationally-known classic hailed for its sophisticated approach to sexuality, maintaining a special place in movie history.

Customer Reviews:

A Pleasant Surprise.......2006-07-01

I purchased this flick because it has a notorious reputation, and my reaction was, "Yeah, Right. How wild could a 1932 movie be?" Admittedly, Heddy Lamarr is shown swimming and running through a forest in the nude, and there is a love scene where she reportedly has the first orgasm ever filmed, but these scenes really contribute to a sense of naturalness to the film that I didn't find nasty or lewd....just artful. The use of visual symbols throughout the film is rich, clever,and quite accessable to a modern mind, unlike other films approaching it's time. I'm not a great scholar of films from the 30's, but I was reminded of clips I had seen of Leni Riefenstal's film, "Olympia." There is little dialog, which is in German, although the film is subtitled, but that really removes what would otherwise distract one from enjoying the visual wealth of this film. The soundtrack is well in synchronized with the film in both timing and mood. Altogether and interesting addition to any collection.

Shocking but Nothing to Rave About.......2005-06-08

This film is famous because of the nudity and blatant sexuality it entails. Not only does it show a naked woman running after her horse that has escaped, it is a long scene, and one that has a close-up from the chest up. This would be incredibly shocking for a film of the 1950s, let alone a film from the 1930s. Secondly, when the woman goes to her lover, the scene does not stop when the two kiss. In fact, it closes in on the woman's face as she thrives in ecstasy, suggesting an orgasm.

Hedy Lamarr is certainly beautiful and it is interesting to see her in this film because her look is dramatically different than that in her American films. Her transformation is akin to Joan Crawford's from the 1920s to the 1930s.

The film quality of Ecstacy is horrible, although not as bad as some. The print is covered in artifacts but the quality of the lighting still shines through. The silences are deafening, truly. They drown out the music score in the background and what little dialogue there is.

As an American watching this movie as a foreign film and as a fan of silent films, I was pleasantly surprised that most of the movie has no dialogue. I was not distracted by subtitles (often difficult to read in bad prints) throughout the film, much to it's merit.

The part of this movie that kills the film is the ending. When the woman could easily stay with her new lover, her guilt forces her to leave him. Then, the man is shown at work seemingly happy and either dreaming about his lover and their baby or living it. Whether or not this really happened or not is unclear because the emotions in the scene do not transition well. Sadly, it is the end of the film so it is not cleared up for the viewer.

One star for film quality.......2005-03-19

I was amazed by some of the camerawork in this film, enjoyed the inclusion of nudity and sensuality, and was awed by the forceful (propaganda?) images of manual laborers towards the end. The story is simple, but involving. If the film quality were good, I would give this film four or five stars. But I must warn you that while quite a few films this old have survived the ravages of time, or have been restored in one way or another, this film is in absolutely dreadful condition. The soundtrack hisses and rattles (deranging the music, since there is practically no dialogue), and the celluoid is thoroughly scratched, not to mention split asunder by occasional "thunderbolts." Perhaps it would have been too expensive to attempt a complete restoration of this particular film, but for the high price of the DVD, you'd expect some attempt to correct at least some of the damage. (Note: Anyone wishing to buy this strictly for the nude scenes will be largely disappointed because the nudity is mostly distant, and the film quality leaves most of the details to the viewer's imagination.) "Extase" definitely merits restoration, if it is feasible. As it is, the film quality so distracts from the viewing experience that it's painful to watch.

Four and a half stars!.......2003-12-05

This movie, starring a young Hedy Lamarr is proof of how sexual old films could be without showing much!
Ecstasy is basically the story of a young girl who marries an old guy (though they don't really explain why she did in the first place). He isn't at all interested in her on their wedding night...he isn't really interested in her at all! The simple prettiness of Hedy makes her seem like a girl you yourself would know and it makes it that much easier to feel all the emotions she is feeling. I was a little confused as to why there were silent parts (without even the use of dialogue boxes) and also talking parts. I personally liked the silent scenes. Hedy was a wonderful actress and her face alone could tell the entire story.
Anyways, after she requests a divorce from her husband, she lives with her father and while out alone one day, she decides to go swimming in the nude (this scene was blown way out of proportion; yes, she was naked, but I thought it was done very tastefully and you really don't see much). I won't give away all that happens, but by the end of that scene she meets a very VERY handsome land surveyor, who is everything she's searching for. After this initial meeting she later goes to his home and this results in the first on-screen orgasm, which was done simply showing Hedy's face, and it became, in my opinion, the hottest love scene ever!
Overall, this movie was excellent, though it should probably be seen more than once to see every little erotic message the director put in there. I would have given it five stars, but I didn't care for the ending. But please don't let that keep you from seeing this film! It is still wonderful!

A novelty every collector should have.......2000-02-16

This film has so many versions that it's hard to say which one you will get. The original is quite spicy with several nude scenes of Hedy Geisler (Hedy Lamar). The sound track is primitive with just a little dialog or, depending on which cut, no dialog. This film was made just into the sound era in Chechoslovakia. As a collectors' item, it is a must for classic film buffs, not for its quality or filmaking technique but for its impact on movie censorship in the US. The theme here is adultry. Hedy plays a young new wife to an older cold fish. Fustrated on her wedding night, she embarks on various endeavors clearly motivated by sexual fustration. The nude swim after a horseback ride is what all the hoopla was about. The horse runs away carrying our girl's clothes. From this point on, various versions carry various degrees of Hedy depending on which cut you get. I have 2, one purchased commercially in 1975 and another obtained later from a private collector. The second has much more nudity than the first. While hiding in the woods, Hedy meets a young surveyor and a liason blossoms. You'll have to buy the film to find out what happens. I would buy this film, especially if you haven't seen it. Although tame by modern standards, it had 'em gasping in 1933.

Average customer rating:

Ugh - its widescreen
Portraying the horrors of Hitler incrementally
Enormously Entertaining And Enormously Touching
A Fantastic Film on Many Levels
Great music threaded into the story line.

The Harmonists [Region 2]
Starring: Ben Becker , Heino Ferch , Ulrich Noethen , Heinrich Schafmeister , and Max Tidof
Director: Joseph Vilsmaier
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

( H ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B00004YV89

Customer Reviews:

Ugh - its widescreen.......2006-12-26

Portraying the horrors of Hitler incrementally.......2005-02-23

Enormously Entertaining And Enormously Touching.......2005-01-16

A Fantastic Film on Many Levels.......2004-02-16

The Harmonists is a movie about the real life singing group which rose to fame during World War II. The group was torn apart by the Nazis and ended their brilliant career abruptly.

Great music threaded into the story line........2003-11-03

Customer Reviews:

Ugh - its widescreen.......2006-12-26

Portraying the horrors of Hitler incrementally.......2005-02-23

Enormously Entertaining And Enormously Touching.......2005-01-16

A Fantastic Film on Many Levels.......2004-02-16

The Harmonists is a movie about the real life singing group which rose to fame during World War II. The group was torn apart by the Nazis and ended their brilliant career abruptly.

Great music threaded into the story line........2003-11-03

Customer Reviews:

Ugh - its widescreen.......2006-12-26

Portraying the horrors of Hitler incrementally.......2005-02-23

Enormously Entertaining And Enormously Touching.......2005-01-16

A Fantastic Film on Many Levels.......2004-02-16

The Harmonists is a movie about the real life singing group which rose to fame during World War II. The group was torn apart by the Nazis and ended their brilliant career abruptly.

Great music threaded into the story line........2003-11-03

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