Amphitryon

Reinhold Schünzel


Tit. It.: “Anfitrione“; Scen.: Reinhold Schünzel, Dalla Commedia “Amphitryo“ Di Plauto; F.: Werner Bohne, Fritz Arno Wagner; Scgf.: Robert Herlth, Walter Röhrig; Cost.: Rochus Gliese, Manon Hahn, Walter Schulze-Mittendorf; Mu.: Franz Doelle; Ass.R.: Kurt Hoffmann; Int.: Willy Fritsch (Amphitryon), Käthe Gold (Alkmene), Paul Kemp (Sosias), Fita Benkhoff (Andria), Adele Sandrock (Juno), Hilde Hildebrand (Amica Di Alkmene); Prod.: Ufa; 35mm. L.: 2806 M. D.: 104’. Bn.

info_outline
T. it.: Italian title. T. int.: International title. T. alt.: Alternative title. Sog.: Story. Scen.: Screenplay. F.: Cinematography. M.: Editing. Scgf.: Set Design. Mus.: Music. Int.: Cast. Prod.: Production Company. L.: Length. D.: Running Time. f/s: Frames per second. Bn.: Black e White. Col.: Color. Da: Print source

Film Notes

Alcmene asks Jove to end the war that Amphitryon, her husband, is fighting. Before declaring Thebes’ victory, Jove, disguised as Amphitryon, pays the attractive woman a visit along with Mercury. Alcmene falls for the disguise but the return of her real husband brings the situation to a head. Only Juno’s intervention can return things back to normal.

To succeed in making Schünzel’s film, the UFA had to modernise and expand their technical equipment considerably. The film’s sound mixing, special effects and background projection set the pattern for all the company’s later productions. Even if the UFA management was slightly suspicious of Amphitryon throughout its production and even after its release, the film was shown right up until the beginning of the war. […] It is a film based on doppelgangers and misunderstandings, that becomes more and more eroticized, at the expense of a stay at home, elderly, bald, chubby hero who declares himself immortal. The fact that this old goat is a being of the same stature as Jove himself, whose highly appealing image is applauded throughout the film by the ignorant masses, constitutes a clearly anti-authoritarian vein in the film.

Kraft Wetzel, Peter A. Hagemann, Liebe, Tod und Technik. Kino des Phantastischen 1933-1945, Berlin 1977

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Print Made From An Original Picture And Sound Negative In 2004