MUBI

Brecht hated this movie. He might have had a point in that the film made by Pabst was conventional vis-a-vis cinema as his theatrical production was non-convential vis-a-vis the theatre. But he also underrated the power of conventiona cinema as what Pabst crafted is a late-period Weimar masterpiece that was faithful to the spirit of the Brecht play – “First the Grub, than the Morality!” More crucially this film is peopled with much of the cast of the original production. The great Ernst Busch is the street-singer(who sings the jaunty ode to Mack the Knife’s massacres and rapes that subsequently became a pop song), Lotte Lenya is Pirate Jenny and Carola Neyer is Polly Peachum.

Some of the additions to this film were made by Brecht, especially the stunning Beggars March to Queen Victoria’s parade at the end and especially the last shot of the beggars marching into the shadow as Busch sings the Street Singer’s Farewell, “There are Those Who Dwell in Darkness/There are Those who Live in the Light/You only see the people lit in lights/But the ones in darkness, keep out of sight”, written by Brecht especially for this film. In light of the year (1931, same as M) this takes on added historical weight.

G.W. Pabst directs Bertolt Brecht’s famous stage sensation with only a little of the biting social commentary that made it the toast of Berlin in ’28, but with enough of the play’s emphasis on capitalist corruption and the seemingly inseparable line between criminal and politician/police, that it was banned by the Nazi’s two years later. Mackie Messer (Rudolf Forster) is the king of London’s underworld, in leagues with the chief of police, but when he makes off with a capitalist’s daughter, even his old friend has little power to save him from the gallows, until, remarkably, the criminal element suddenly transform into the capitalist powers-that-be, and the proletariat element on the street is left to wander the darkness, as the rich get richer and corruption rules outright. Criterion’s stuffed DVD has everything you’d want to know about the film’s troubled history, from lawsuits filed by Brecht and composer Kurt Weill for utilizing so little of the original play and score, to critical analysis of the stunning set designs of Andrej Andrejew and remarkably fluid camera of master cinematographer Fritz Arno Wagner, which help make the film one of the best of the post-silent Weimer era.