La caduta degli dei (1969)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Luchino Visconti

Writers:

Nicola Badalucco (story) and
Enrico Medioli (story) ...

Release Date:

18 December 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

The dramatic collapse of a wealthy, industrialist/Junker family during the reign of the Third Reich.

Plot Keywords:

Baron | German | Nazi | Germany | Murder

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Dirk Bogarde	...	Frederick Bruckmann
Ingrid Thulin	...	Sophie Von Essenbeck
Helmut Griem	...	Aschenbach
Helmut Berger	...	Martin Von Essenbeck
Renaud Verley	...	Gunther Von Essenbeck
Umberto Orsini	...	Herbert Thallman
Reinhard Kolldehoff	...	Konstantin Von Essenbeck (as René Koldehoff)
Albrecht Schoenhals	...	Joachim Von Essenbeck (as Albrecht Schönhals)
Florinda Bolkan	...	Olga
Nora Ricci	...	Governess
Charlotte Rampling	...	Elisabeth Thallman
Irina Wanka	...	Lisa
Karin Mittendorf	...	Thilde Thallman
Valentina Ricci	...	Erika Thalman
Wolfgang Hillinger	...	Janek

Also Known As:

Die Verdammten (West Germany)
Luchino Visconti's The Damned (USA) (poster title)
The Damned (Götterdämmerung)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, nudity and aberrant sexuality. (edited version)

Runtime:

156 min

Country:

Italy | West Germany

Language:

Italian | German

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Spain:18 | Ireland:18 | Italy:VM18 | Singapore:M18 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Norway:16 (original rating) | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R (cut version) (1979) | USA:X (original rating) | West Germany:16 | UK:X (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Attersee, Upper Austria, Austria

Company:

Ital-Noleggio Cinematografico

Trivia:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder's favorite film. He called it "perhaps the greatest film, the film that I think means as much to the history of film as Shakespeare to the history of theater."

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The film is set between 1933-1934, yet most of the insignia and badges, shown worn on the German military and Nazi Party uniforms, were not invented until after 1938.

Quotes:

Sophie Von Essenbeck: Nothing is impossible in this country.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Solino (2002)

Soundtrack:

Nachts ging das Telefon

Masterpiece

Most of the previous reviews noted the link in this sumptuous piece of high camp with Hamlet, but only one noted the secondary English title was a direct reference to Wagner's Twilight of the Gods. Presenting the rise of Nazism as a camp Wagnerian Soap Opera was what Visconti was after, I think. He succeeds brilliantly. Yes, it is distasteful in it's perversions, but Nazism was pretty distasteful in it's reality, and perverted too. I am not gay, but the Night of the Long Knives is one of the most memorable bits of cinematography I have seen- a cross dressing SA thug by the Wannansee having a premonition of doom at the hands of the SS- go figure! Thulin and Rampling are superb, Bogarde believable (in an utterly unbelievable role), and Berger chews the carpet in a way that gives overacting a good name. Not to be missed.