The Damned (1969 film)
| The Damned | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
|
|
| Directed by | Luchino Visconti |
| Produced by | Ever Haggiag Alfred Levy |
| Screenplay by | Luchino Visconti Enrico Medioli Nicola Badalucco |
| Starring |
Dirk Bogarde Ingrid Thulin Helmut Griem Helmut Berger |
| Music by | Maurice Jarre |
| Cinematography |
Pasquale De Santis Armando Nannuzzi |
| Edited by | Ruggero Mastroianni |
|
Production
company |
Eichberg-Film
Italnoleggio Pegaso |
| Distributed by |
Warner Bros. Seven Arts Productions |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
154 minutes |
| Country | Italy West Germany |
| Language | English German |
| Box office | $1.2 million (US/Canada) |
The Damned (Italian title: La caduta degli dei [literally "The Fall of the Gods"]) is a 1969 Italian-German drama film written and directed by Luchino Visconti. The plot centers on the Essenbecks, a wealthy industrialist family who have begun doing business with the Nazi Party, a thinly veiled reference to the Essen-based Krupp family of steel industrialists.
The Italian title is the conventional translation of the term Götterdämmerung (with its Wagnerian association), but for the German version, the title Die Verdammten ("The Damned") was chosen. All versions use Götterdämmerung as a subtitle, however.
The Damned has often been regarded as the first of Visconti's films described as "The German Trilogy", followed by Death in Venice (1971) and Ludwig (1973). Author Henry Bacon, in his book "Visconti: Explorations of Beauty and Decay" (1998), specifically categorizes these films together under a chapter "Visconti & Germany". Visconti's earlier films had analyzed Italian society during the Risorgimento and postwar periods. Peter Bondanella's Italian Cinema (2002) depicts the trilogy as a move to take a broader view of European politics and culture. Stylistically, "They emphasize lavish sets and costumes, sensuous lighting, painstakingly slow camerawork, and a penchant for imagery reflecting subjective states or symbolic values," comments Bondanella.
The film centers on the Essenbecks, a wealthy industrialist family who have begun doing business with the Nazi Party. On the night of the Reichstag fire, the family's conservative patriarch, Baron Joachim von Essenbeck, who represents the old Germany and detests Hitler, is murdered. Herbert Thalmann, the family firm's vice president, who openly opposes the Nazis, is framed for the crime. He escapes the grasp of the Gestapo, but his wife Elizabeth and their children do not.
...
Wikipedia