A Star Fell from Heaven (VHS Only): Schmidt...
(Ein Stern fällt von Himmel)
Schmidt. Elisir + songs. (1936). In German, with new, non-optional English subtitles. 91m. B&W.
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Click here to see Stefan Zucker discuss Slezak and Schmidt.
The plot sure isn't Goethe, but it is about two tenors: Tenor 1 damages his voice by drinking cologne, thinking it cognac. Tenor 2 has a problem singing while people are sucking lemons. Every time he goes to an audition, somebody just happens to be lemon sucking. He agrees to sing in place of Tenor 1, who lip-synchs. (By coincidence, the two tenors sound identical!) Tenor 2's girlfriend is upset by the fraud. So are his friends, who disrupt a performance. All ends happily when Tenor 1 recovers his voice, admits the deceit and makes a star of Tenor 2. Connoisseurs of Busby Berkeley take note: This film has a production number to rival the master's, but Berkeley was never so exquisitely wacky. The plot occasions much singing of songs, a trill and many high notes.
Until William Matteuzzi, no Italian tenor on records equaled Joseph Schmidt's comfortable top notes, heard to great effect here. His voice is uncommonly warm and full-bodied in this film. Notice how, in "Una furtiva lagrima," Schmidt's mouth goes slightly lopsided when he makes a crescendo on the syllable "spir" in the word "sospir." Notice too how the tip of his tongue sometimes rises on top notes, in particular. Many voice teachers view both traits as faults, yet they are common. With other singers, raised tongues seem to have no impact on tone quality. But you hear Schmidt's tone deteriorate as you see his tongue go up, at the end of the interpolated B-flat at the close of "Una furtiva lagrima," for example. (Domingo's tongue does the same thing as Schmidt's, apparently without affecting the tone. See BCS Video #676, Otello, or BCS Video or DVD #452, Chénier). The print is glorious.--Stefan Zucker
"In no film is Joseph Schmidt better cast than here. He was able to put before the camera the Joseph Schmidt that he was in private: a normal human being, positive thinking, bubbling over with humor. The film also is full of vocal high points. For example, thanks to close miking and the lack of disturbing cutaways, his rendering of 'Una furtiva lagrima' provides a deep experience, a real lesson in the art of singing."--Alfred A. Fassbind, Joseph Schmidt
Comments From a Customer
"The wonderful quality of the picture and sound of A Star Fell From Heaven far exceeded my expectations. Schmidt and Tauber undoubtedly are the voices of this century along with Caruso and Crosby."--John Joyce, Tennenhall, Wolverhampton, England
The Nazis' Seizure of A Star Fell From Heaven
The Lux Film Gesellschaft was established by Josef Koppelmann in the late 1920s. Initially Lux brought German films to Austria but later Josef decided to produce Austrian films. After securing the talent of Leo Slezak (who mentions Josef in one of his books), Koppelmann recruited Austrian opera stars, famous actors and cabaret chanteuses who began appearing in his productions and became regular visitors at his home. Among them were Franciska Gaal, Paul Hörbiger, Kurt Weill, Artur Schnabel and Joseph Schmidt. Lux also was the first company to bring talking films to Austria.
On the morning of March 12, 1938, troops of the Wehrmacht and the SS crossed the German-Austrian border. On the following day, in Linz, Hitler announced the Anschluss (annexation) of Austria into the German Reich. There were big celebrations all over Austria. Jews, however, were deprived of their civil rights and many were arrested. Jewish shops and businesses were broken into, destroyed or taken over by non-Jews. This seizure was called "aryanization" and was the fate of Lux.
Koppelmann not only was deprived of his company, but he also was arrested and taken to the Buchenwald concentration camp, where he was incarcerated for nearly a year. He traded away his fortune for his release from Buchenwald (this was still possible in 1939, before the Final Solution) and, together with his wife, Klara, and five-year-old son, Raoul, managed to obtain a visa to British-Mandate Palestine. Koppelmann always refused to talk about what happened to him in Buchenwald, but he returned a broken and sick man, never again the energetic and resourceful person he had been. He passed away in January 1950, never having recuperated. This was several years before I met and later married Raoul.
The Lux films either were destroyed or distributed under other producers’ names, making it difficult to ascertain how many titles the company actually made.
Lux produced many musicals. Among the famous ones is "Ein Stern Fällt vom Himmel" ("A Star Falls from Heaven") with Joseph Schmidt. This film is still available but the producer listed is "Styria," a company that according to the Austrian Films Archives was founded in Austria, in 1938! (The film was made in 1936.) Another film still circulating but without a credit for the real producers is Unser Kaiser.
Thus ended a beautiful chapter in Austrian film history and in Jewish history as well as in the Kopelman family. (We now omit the double letters.) We are left with a family saga and a sad heart.
We hope Bel Canto Society will correct history by providing credits to Lux Film and mentioning Josef Koppelmann.
--Chava Blodek-Kopelman, Ann Arbor, MI
Intergloria, the company that produced the Kiepura and Eggerth vehicle The Charm of La Bohème (Bel Canto Society D534), also was aryanized. Available Formats & Price Differences:
Foreign Customers: See Compatibility Page
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