"Die Dreigroschenoper" or "The Threepenny Opera" is a West German/French co-production from 1963, so this mostly German-language movie has its 55th anniversary this year and of course it is another take on the famous Mackie Messer story wtitten by Bertolt Brecht, who was already dead when this came out. It runs for almost 2 hours and the writer and director is Wolfgang Staudte, one of the country's most influential filmmakers at that point already for quite a whoile. So nobody can be surprised that the stars were lining up: Jürgens, Knef and Giller are just some of the names and then we have Gert Fröbe of course too who got a German Film Award nomination for his portrayal here and this was made shortly before his career-defining turn as Goldfinger, but lets talk about that one on another occasion. This one here is in colir too, which makes it a slightly better watch I guess, but still I wasn't impressed at all with any of the key components like the story (or lets say the adaptation), the characters and acting and also the music, which is a bit of a pity because I usually like musicals, but perhaps German ones not so much.

Anyway, the sets were perhaps not too bad, but otherwise I struggled caring for any of the characters, especially Mackie (not too great a Curd Jürgens fan probably) or the female protagonist (hey that's what you get for wanting a career criminal, no feeling sorry there for sure). The final execution scene felt really opulent and I wonder what Brecht would have thought of it. The best moment for me was perhaps the very final scene when we have one character sing to the audience about those in darkness vs. those in the light and that was the only musical moment I really liked. But it is definitely not worth to sit through all the lengths and mediocrity before that for that final rendition only as like I said it is a really long movie. Cannot see this overlong film to be defining whatsoever from the crime perspective either. I see the ratings and reception it got weren't too favorable and I have to agree. The cast list sure offered the potential of a far better film in my opinion and every German film buff will agree. Still Fröbe's singing wasn't too shabby and better than expected I guess. Cannot say the same about Jürgens and there's a reason he has so little singing here despite playing the man in the center of it all, perhaps not the best casting decision. So it is many minor flaws that turn this film into a disappointment overall, the sum of all these. My recommendation is to skip the watch here and go for something else instead.

This movie is the classic story of Mack the Knife. The version I saw was in the original German, and subtitled in English. It was filmed as a barb towards Nazi Germany, however, since anti-Gov't were forbidden the film takes places in London England. Our Hero, is a Thief. The Head of the Thieves guild. He and his crownies continually steal from the One bank in town. Mackie, likes to visit the Women of Ill Repute and they all know him, and the cops are all bought so they can't touch him. He has intentions of Marrying the Daughter of the King of the Beggars guild, and all is going well. Until the Police chief gets aspirations of Arresting Mackie, and the bank they rob goes bankrupt. Fortunately Mackie has enough money to buy the defunct bank and his crownies can become the Tellers. This is an excellent old film, and I recommend it to anyone.