In
the aftermath of the Second World War, German cinema was left in ruins
- there was a strong backlash against those filmmakers who had
remained faithful to the Nazi party, while many of Germany's best
filmmakers (including Fritz Lang) had moved to America in the 1930s
never to return. Gradually, the industry struggled back to form in the 1950s, low
budgets and lack of international markets meant that the most popular
productions were the Heimatfilms (homeland films), simple
morality plays. Large audience figures meant that the film studios were
gradually able to increase their budgets, and by the 1960s, big scale
movies were back on the cards.
The
Karl May novels were, and still are highly popular in the German
speaking world, telling of adventurous exploits in the Wild West, the
Orient, and beyond - he is credited today with selling over 200 million
books. Film adaptations of the books had been made as early as the
1920s, and again in the late 1930s, and discussions had been made about
shooting some of the Wild West stories - indeed a final script for a
Winnetou film was approved in 1944 by Joseph Goebbels but never
went into production. With German audiences filling cinemas, and
desperately wanting more home grown films, the Karl May themes seemed
like a perfect money
spinner for producer Horst Wendlandt. A key player at Rialto Film, he
had sucessfully produced a series of adult-targeted films based on the
Edgar Wallace thriller/horror novels, including The Secret of the Red Orchid (1962), and Dead Eyes of London
(1961), and now sought to target the younger FSK 6 and 12 (equivalent
to the UK PG/12 and American PG/PG-13) markets. The idea of shooting
Westerns in Europe was almost unknown at the beginning of the 1960s -
the Spaghetti Westerns
were several years away and instead of Spanish locations (used in most
of the Spaghetti Westerns), the Karl May series was shot in Jugoslavia
- taking advantage of the barren landscapes, mountains and rivers - all
of which are shown off to a great degree in the films.
The first production was, appropriately enough, Karl May's first Old West book - The Treasure of Silver Lake (1962).
The novel had to be altered for the screen - scenes set aboard an
American paddle steamer proved too much for the budget, while the
graphic details of Colonel Brinkley's savage nature had to be toned
down for the family market - but it still retained the charm and feel
of the original stories, and proved a massive hit with audiences across
Germany. Impressively, the distinctive soundtrack proved equally
popular and became a best-seller - still holding record sales for an
instrumental single. The studio quickly comissioned a second film, and
following the order of the original books Rialto produced the prequel
story Winnetou 1. Teil (1963) which told the origins of the Winnetou/Old Shatterhand characters who played the major role in Treasure of Silver Lake,
it secured actors Lex Barker and Pierre Brice in their respective roles
as Old Shatterhand and Winnetou. The film proved equally popular to
the first, and stands as the best in the series - boasting a rarely
bettered set piece with a full scale railway locomotive being driven
through a saloon building. Winnetou 2. Teil(1964) followed on, continuing the series' popularity.
With
the sucess of this trio of films, Rialto's big rivals CCC
Productions under Artur Brauner - who had rivaled Wendlandt's Edgar
Wallace Films with their own series of Dr. Mabuse films - sought to
capitalise. Poaching the series' lead stars, Lex Barker and Pierre
Brice, Brauner produced Old Shatterhand
(1964). Although boasting the biggest budget of any of the Karl May
Westerns, it was panned by critics but proved sucessful with
audiences. Brauner went on to shoot a variety of adventure films
based on Karl May's other adventure series, set in Mexico and the
Orient, and using Lex Barker as a frequent lead star.
Inbetween
their increasingly daring Edgar Wallace films, Rialto continued to film
their own Karl May Westerns. In order to add some variation to the
franchise, and to capitalise on the high audience figures, Horst Wendlandt comissioned a series of lower budget entries in a parellel franchise -Unter Geiern (1964), Der Ölprinz (1965) and Old Surehand 1. Teil
(1965) followed, starring Stewart Granger as another character from
Karl May's Old West stories - Old Surehand. On a much smaller scale
than the near-epic Shatterhand films, the Surehand productions had more
of a traditional Western feel, with darker and grittier
storylines. Lex Barker returned to play Shatterhand again
in Winnetou 3. Teil (1965) and for the last time in Winnetou und das Halbblut Apanatschi (1966), but by this time the popularity of the films was declining, and Old Surehand was the first film in the series not to win the coveted Goldene Leinwand
(Golden Canvas) award for sucessful business (requiring 3 million
viewers in 12 months) and none of the subsequent films were able to win
the award again. Despite some attempts to add variation to the
franchise with the darker Surehand films, by 1966 audiences were
becoming tired of the rather repetitive nature of the Karl May
Westerns, and the increasingly gritty/violent Spaghetti Westerns were becoming very popular in Germany and across Europe.
Rialto's final Karl May Western was Winnetou und sein Freund Old Firehand
(1966), which saw the adventurous tones of the earlier films all but replaced with a
grittier, Spaghetti Western feel - it was relatively unsucessful and
marked the end of the line for the studio's productions. Two years
later, CCC film shot Winnetou und Shatterhand im Tal der Toten
(1968) - bringing back the adventurous tone of the earlier pictures,
and re-uniting Lex Barker, Pierre Brice, and director Harald Reinl, it proved sucessful, but not enough to inspire more -
and was the last Karl May Western.
The People
Actor
Lex Barker had come to Europe after being typecast as Tarzan in America
during the 1950s, getting a role in Fellini's classic La Dolce Vita
(1960). He soon found a niché playing American characters in a
variety of films, including CCC's Dr. Mabuse productions. Although
initially reluctant to star in the Karl May Westerns thanks their
relatively low budgets, he soon became a household name (Sexy Lexy)
and was very popular for the rest of the decade as an action star.
English born Steward Granger, who played Old Surehand, had come to
Europe in the 1960s after his sucessful Hollywood career was damaged by
a painful divorce from popular actress Jean Simmons, and like Lex
Barker, found popularity in his roles - some of the last major
performances of his career. French actor Pierre Brice was the only
actor to appear in all 11 Karl
May Westerns and gained cult popularity across Europe as a result. The
film series also saw some of the first performances outside
Italy from Mario Girotti, soon to become known as Terence Hill,
and one of the stars of the Spaghetti Westerns, while Winnetou 2. Teil(1964) was an early performance for Klaus Kinski who would also shoot to international fame thanks to the Spaghetti Western boom a few years later, and The Treasure of Silver Lake was another strong performance for Herbert Lom.
The Legacy
Although
only comprising 11 films, shot over a period of just 6 years, the Karl
May Westerns proved highly influential to European cinema. Before 1962,
the idea of a Western being filmed in Europe seemed absurd - but the
German producers proved that it could be profitable, and in Spain and
Italy the Spaghetti Western
was
born, which had a permanent impact on cinema as a whole and ultimately
proved the death knell of the Karl May Westerns. Meanwhile in East
Germany the success of the May Westerns had been noticed, and the state
film studio, DEFA, set about creating their own series of Westerns,
known as the Indianerfilm,
which used the stories as anti-American propaganda, with the Native
Indians as sympathetic communists being bullied by the evil capitalists
- starring Gojko Mitic, who appeared in several of the May Westerns,
the series was popular and lasted until the 1980s. With his novels
almost
unknown in America, the Karl May films rarely made it across the
Atlantic - and those that did were often cut down and packaged as
regular Westerns, however the films remained popular in Germany, and in
recent years have enjoyed a revival on video. A television sketch show
by German comedian Michael Herbig featured regular parodies of the
films, and was adapted into a full length movie - Der Schuh des Manitu (2001) which has gone on to become the most sucessful German language film ever made, winning dozens of awards.
Karl May Western DVD Reviews
All
eleven of the Karl May Westerns have been released to DVD in recent
years, in a series of boxsets. For English speakers, choice is sadly
limited to the three UFA boxsets containing the nine Rialto films -
although annoyingly only two films in each set contain English audio
and subtitles. All six of the films with English options are reviewed
here, while notes on the other films can be accessed on the boxset
pages:
Old Surehand (1965) UFA Region 0 DVD (Karl May Collection II Boxset)
A decent plot combines with strong characterisation and acting to make this film one of the best in the series. Highly recommended and ideal for fans of the films.
The first film in the series, adventurous and effectively written, it does suffer slightly from an over-long run-time. A good place to start and recommended.
The first of the small Surehand productions is equally gritty and adventurous with an often tense plot. Recommended, although not as fun as the Shatterhand films.
Winnetou 1. teil (1963) UFA Region 0 DVD (Karl May Collection III Boxset)
A big, exciting film with some wonderful set-pieces. Enjoyable, adventurous fun. Highly recommended and a great place to start.
Winnetou 2. teil (1964) UFA Region 0 DVD (Karl May Collection III Boxset)
Not as epic as the first part, but well written and with an all star cast, including Klaus Kinski and Terence Hill. Recommended.
Less of the adventure here with a more traditional Western style storyline, some good action scenes but a slow start. Partly recommended - one for fans of the series only.
