Joachim Herz
Der fliegende Holländer
(THE FLYING DUTCHMAN)
- Production Year 1964
- color / Durationb/w / 101 min.
- IN Number IN 3537
The DEFA film version of Wagner's opera embeds the well-known saga in a real-life plot: A shipowner's daughter meets a cursed sailor - the "Flying Dutchman" - in her dreams.
The film version of Wagner's well-known opera, directed by opera director Joachim Herz, embeds the saga of the cursed captain in a real-life plot. Senta, the daughter of a rich shipowner, escapes from her restricted and monotonous everyday life into a fantasy and dream world. There she meets the legendary seafarer whose thirst for action becomes so excessive that he is finally fated to wander restlessly across the seas as the "Flying Dutchman."
THE FLYING DUTCHMAN is not only the first Wagner opera ever to be filmed, but also an attempt to stage the opera with cinematic means instead of simply filming it from the stage. It would remain the only feature film by Joachim Herz, who had previously worked exclusively in opera. His joy in experimenting with the cinematic medium is also formally evident in the way that Herz combines different formats: The film begins in the narrow, normal format of silent film until the first appearance of the Flying Dutchman, when it switches to widescreen Totalvision. In this format, Herz finds the vastness of the fantasy world into which the protagonist plunges. At the same time, THE FLYING DUTCHMAN is the only DEFA film to use elements of horror and vampire films.
(31.05.2023)
- Production Period
- 1964
- Production Year
- 1964
- color
- b/w
- Aspect Ratio
- Totalvision
- Duration
- Feature-Length Film (61+ Min.)
- Type
- Feature Film
- Genre
- Musical
- Topic
- GDR, Film History, Dance / Theatre, Music
- Scope of Rights
- Nichtexklusive nichtkommerzielle öffentliche Aufführung (nonexclusive, noncommercial public screening),Keine TV-Rechte (no TV rights)
- Notes to the Licence
- DEFA
- Licence Period
- 31.12.2025
- Permanently Restricted Areas
- Germany (DE), Austria (AT), Switzerland (CH)
- Available Media
- DVD
- Original Version
- German (de)
DVD
- Subtitles
- English (en)
- Note on the Format
- DEFA Film Library