COLOGNE, Germany -- German industry heavyweight Hanno Huth said he has resigned as chief executive of Berlin-based producer-distributor Senator Entertainment to focus on producing films independently. Christoph Borgmann, managing director of Senator's film production division, will succeed him as Senator Entertainment CEO. "I have spent the last five years in administration (at Senator), and since our IPO in 1999, I have concentrated on the stock market and running the financial side of the company," Huth said Friday in an interview explaining his decision. "But I always had more fun as a producer. I can't be a chief executive during the week and a producer on weekends, so I decided to step down as CEO and do what I love best -- making films." Huth's new, as-yet-unnamed production company will have a first-look deal with Senator, and he will stay on as a consultant to the group. Huth also will remain one of Senator's largest shareholders, holding about 12% of the market-listed firm. Borgmann is seen by many as being a more bottom-line-oriented figure than producer Huth. Huth brought Senator its greatest success in the early '90s, producing a string of German-language blockbusters. Senator enjoyed something of comeback this year. Its subsidiary, Berlin-based X-Filme Creative Pool, produced local boxoffice smash "Good Bye Lenin!"...
- 12/20/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
COLOGNE, Germany -- German industry heavyweight Hanno Huth said he has resigned as chief executive of Berlin-based producer-distributor Senator Entertainment to focus on producing films independently. Christoph Borgmann, managing director of Senator's film production division, will succeed him as Senator Entertainment CEO. "I have spent the last five years in administration (at Senator), and since our IPO in 1999, I have concentrated on the stock market and running the financial side of the company," Huth said Friday in an interview explaining his decision. "But I always had more fun as a producer. I can't be a chief executive during the week and a producer on weekends, so I decided to step down as CEO and do what I love best -- making films." Huth's new, as-yet-unnamed production company will have a first-look deal with Senator, and he will stay on as a consultant to the group. Huth also will remain one of Senator's largest shareholders, holding about 12% of the market-listed firm.
- 12/20/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
"Whimsical" is not an adjective that springs to mind in association with Napoleon Bonaparte, but it aptly describes this fanciful tale conjuring what might have happened if the legendary emperor had not spent his last days in exile on St. Helena but rather escaped to Paris.
A lighthearted adaptation of the novel "The Death of Napoleon" by historian Simon Leys, "The Emperor's New Clothes" lacks the vivacity to give it more than rarefied appeal, but it does have its witty moments and boasts a superb performance by Ian Holm as the height-challenged ruler who becomes an unlikely romantic figure.
The film's conceit is that Napoleon, tired of his life on the island and eager to reclaim his throne, manages to come up with a plot in which he will trade identities with a look-alike who will assume his role on St. Helena while he escapes. The plan succeeds, with a drunken sailor taking his place. Napoleon, after several detours, including one to Waterloo, makes his way to Paris, where, after discovering that his contact has died unexpectedly, he is rudely awakened with the realities of life as a penniless commoner.
The contact's widow, Pumpkin (Iben Hjejle), a beautiful fruit merchant, reluctantly offers to take the stranger in after he falls and injures himself. Soon the pair are romantically involved, with Napoleon utilizing his military prowess to reorganize and make profitable Pumpkin's failing business. Unfortunately, his plans to assume his rightful identity become derailed by the fact that his double has come to enjoy his new role far too much to relinquish it.
While the central idea is a clever one, the script unfortunately lacks the sparkle necessary to make the conceit come alive, and there's an aimless, plodding quality to the proceedings, which unsuccessfully attempt to blend historical melodrama and romantic comedy. Only in isolated moments does the story live up to its potential, as in the haunting scene where Napoleon visits an insane asylum filled with lunatics also claiming to be the former emperor. Also moving is the episode in which he reveals his true identity to his lover, who refuses to believe him while revealing her contempt for everything Napoleon stands for.
Holm, playing both Napoleon and his boorish body double, invests his performance with his usual sharp intelligence and awareness, mining every emotional and comic aspect of his roles. His imperious Napoleon, while obviously a man used to having his own way, becomes a highly sympathetic figure as he attempts to cope with his new, lowly station in life and also becomes helplessly smitten. Hjejle, who previously appeared in "High Fidelity", is also impressive as the determined widow.
THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES
Paramount Classics
A Redwave production presented by FilmFour and Redwave in association with Mikado Films and Senator Film
Credits:
Director: Alan Taylor
Screenwriters: Kevin Molony, Alan Taylor, Herbie Wave
Producer: Uberto Pasolini
Executive producers: Paul Webster, Hanno Huth, Roberto Cicutto
Director of photography: Alessio Gelsini Torresi
Editor: Masahiro Hirakubo
Music: Rachel Portman
Production designer: Andrea Chrisanti
Cast:
Napoleon/Eugene: Ian Holm
Pumpkin: Iben Hjejle
Dr. Lambert: Tim McInnerney
Gerard: Tom Watson
Running time -- 107 minutes
MPAA rating PG...
A lighthearted adaptation of the novel "The Death of Napoleon" by historian Simon Leys, "The Emperor's New Clothes" lacks the vivacity to give it more than rarefied appeal, but it does have its witty moments and boasts a superb performance by Ian Holm as the height-challenged ruler who becomes an unlikely romantic figure.
The film's conceit is that Napoleon, tired of his life on the island and eager to reclaim his throne, manages to come up with a plot in which he will trade identities with a look-alike who will assume his role on St. Helena while he escapes. The plan succeeds, with a drunken sailor taking his place. Napoleon, after several detours, including one to Waterloo, makes his way to Paris, where, after discovering that his contact has died unexpectedly, he is rudely awakened with the realities of life as a penniless commoner.
The contact's widow, Pumpkin (Iben Hjejle), a beautiful fruit merchant, reluctantly offers to take the stranger in after he falls and injures himself. Soon the pair are romantically involved, with Napoleon utilizing his military prowess to reorganize and make profitable Pumpkin's failing business. Unfortunately, his plans to assume his rightful identity become derailed by the fact that his double has come to enjoy his new role far too much to relinquish it.
While the central idea is a clever one, the script unfortunately lacks the sparkle necessary to make the conceit come alive, and there's an aimless, plodding quality to the proceedings, which unsuccessfully attempt to blend historical melodrama and romantic comedy. Only in isolated moments does the story live up to its potential, as in the haunting scene where Napoleon visits an insane asylum filled with lunatics also claiming to be the former emperor. Also moving is the episode in which he reveals his true identity to his lover, who refuses to believe him while revealing her contempt for everything Napoleon stands for.
Holm, playing both Napoleon and his boorish body double, invests his performance with his usual sharp intelligence and awareness, mining every emotional and comic aspect of his roles. His imperious Napoleon, while obviously a man used to having his own way, becomes a highly sympathetic figure as he attempts to cope with his new, lowly station in life and also becomes helplessly smitten. Hjejle, who previously appeared in "High Fidelity", is also impressive as the determined widow.
THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES
Paramount Classics
A Redwave production presented by FilmFour and Redwave in association with Mikado Films and Senator Film
Credits:
Director: Alan Taylor
Screenwriters: Kevin Molony, Alan Taylor, Herbie Wave
Producer: Uberto Pasolini
Executive producers: Paul Webster, Hanno Huth, Roberto Cicutto
Director of photography: Alessio Gelsini Torresi
Editor: Masahiro Hirakubo
Music: Rachel Portman
Production designer: Andrea Chrisanti
Cast:
Napoleon/Eugene: Ian Holm
Pumpkin: Iben Hjejle
Dr. Lambert: Tim McInnerney
Gerard: Tom Watson
Running time -- 107 minutes
MPAA rating PG...
- 6/24/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This German import details the fascinating story of the Comedian Harmonists, the six-member vocal group (three of whom were Jewish) whose enormous popularity in Germany before World War II didn't prevent their dissolution by the Nazis as part of the party's goal to ban "degenerate art."
A moving, informative account of the Harmonists' rise and fall, the film is part of a renewed wave of interest in the legendary group, whose story is also the subject of two stage productions. Miramax should see good results from the film on the art house circuit.
Told in traditional biopic style, "The Harmonists" illustrates how the group was formed by 20-year-old drama student Harry Frommermann (Ulrich Noethen) in 1927. Inspired by the success of an American a capella group, Frommermann placed an ad in the papers and found four other singers and a pianist to join him.
The Harmonists, who applied their intricate vocal harmonies to everything from German folk songs to American jazz standards, were an instant success in Germany and quickly achieved great popularity internationally as well. All was fine until the rise to power of the Nazis, who would allow them to continue only if they jettisoned the Jewish members. Their final performance in Germany was in 1934, and though the various members attempted to regroup over the years, the magic was never regained.
Klaus Richter's screenplay begins in amusing fashion, detailing the evolution of the group's musical style and the difficulties that resulted from the merging of such disparate personalities. Rich in incident, it wisely avoids melodrama even when it depicts their travails with the Nazis. The only area in which the film falters is in its apparently fictional depiction of the members' personal lives, including a melodramatic romantic triangle that develops between two of the singers and a beautiful young Jewish student (Meret Becker).
Director Joseph Vilsmaier otherwise handles the complicated subject matter in excellent fashion, providing a vivid sense of the period and the cultural milieu in which the Harmonists thrived. Particularly entertaining is the segment detailing the group's trip to America, where they achieved great success in New York (depicted through a combination of location shooting and period footage). One of the more moving moments comes when the group argues over whether they should stay in America or return to Germany; sadly, they made the wrong decision.
"The Harmonists", unlike the Broadway treatment, skillfully delineates the character of each of the singers in the group. Particular credit must go to the performers, who handle their own singing. Besides providing evocative portrayals, they replicate the sound of the original Harmonists with elegant precision.
THE HARMONISTS
Miramax Films
Director/executive producer: Joseph Vilsmaier
Screenwriter: Klaus Richter
Producers: Hanno Huth, Reinhard Kloos, Danny Krausz
Director of photography: Joseph Vilsmaier
Editor: Peter R. Adam
Original score: Harald Kloser
Production designer: Rolf Zehetbauer
Color/stereo
Cast:
Robert Biberti: Ben Becker
Roman Cycowski: Heino Ferch
Harry Frommermann: Ulrich Noethen
Erich A. Collin: Heinrich Schafmeister
Ari Leschnikoff: Max Tidof
Erwin Bootz: Kai Wiesinger
Erna Eggstein: Meret Becker
Running time -- 114 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
A moving, informative account of the Harmonists' rise and fall, the film is part of a renewed wave of interest in the legendary group, whose story is also the subject of two stage productions. Miramax should see good results from the film on the art house circuit.
Told in traditional biopic style, "The Harmonists" illustrates how the group was formed by 20-year-old drama student Harry Frommermann (Ulrich Noethen) in 1927. Inspired by the success of an American a capella group, Frommermann placed an ad in the papers and found four other singers and a pianist to join him.
The Harmonists, who applied their intricate vocal harmonies to everything from German folk songs to American jazz standards, were an instant success in Germany and quickly achieved great popularity internationally as well. All was fine until the rise to power of the Nazis, who would allow them to continue only if they jettisoned the Jewish members. Their final performance in Germany was in 1934, and though the various members attempted to regroup over the years, the magic was never regained.
Klaus Richter's screenplay begins in amusing fashion, detailing the evolution of the group's musical style and the difficulties that resulted from the merging of such disparate personalities. Rich in incident, it wisely avoids melodrama even when it depicts their travails with the Nazis. The only area in which the film falters is in its apparently fictional depiction of the members' personal lives, including a melodramatic romantic triangle that develops between two of the singers and a beautiful young Jewish student (Meret Becker).
Director Joseph Vilsmaier otherwise handles the complicated subject matter in excellent fashion, providing a vivid sense of the period and the cultural milieu in which the Harmonists thrived. Particularly entertaining is the segment detailing the group's trip to America, where they achieved great success in New York (depicted through a combination of location shooting and period footage). One of the more moving moments comes when the group argues over whether they should stay in America or return to Germany; sadly, they made the wrong decision.
"The Harmonists", unlike the Broadway treatment, skillfully delineates the character of each of the singers in the group. Particular credit must go to the performers, who handle their own singing. Besides providing evocative portrayals, they replicate the sound of the original Harmonists with elegant precision.
THE HARMONISTS
Miramax Films
Director/executive producer: Joseph Vilsmaier
Screenwriter: Klaus Richter
Producers: Hanno Huth, Reinhard Kloos, Danny Krausz
Director of photography: Joseph Vilsmaier
Editor: Peter R. Adam
Original score: Harald Kloser
Production designer: Rolf Zehetbauer
Color/stereo
Cast:
Robert Biberti: Ben Becker
Roman Cycowski: Heino Ferch
Harry Frommermann: Ulrich Noethen
Erich A. Collin: Heinrich Schafmeister
Ari Leschnikoff: Max Tidof
Erwin Bootz: Kai Wiesinger
Erna Eggstein: Meret Becker
Running time -- 114 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 3/10/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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