&sq=Google&lang=en&file=File:Question_book-new.svg){kind=small} | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (November 2018) |
| The Threepenny Opera | |
|---|---|
&sq=Google&lang=en&file=File:Threepennyopera1931.jpg) Promotional art in German film program | |
| Die Dreigroschenoper | |
| Directed by | G. W. Pabst |
| Written by | |
| Based on | Die Dreigroschenoper (stage play with music, 1928) by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill |
| Produced by | Seymour Nebenzal |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Fritz Arno Wagner |
| Edited by |
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| Music by | Kurt Weill |
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| Country | Germany |
| Languages | German- and French-language versions |
The Threepenny Opera (German: Die 3 Groschen-Oper) is a 1931 German musical film directed by G. W. Pabst. Produced by Seymour Nebenzal's Nero-Film for Tonbild-Syndikat AG (Tobis), Berlin and Warner Bros. Pictures GmbH, Berlin, the film is loosely based on the 1928 musical theatre success of the same name by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. As was usual in the early sound film era, Pabst also directed a French language version of the film, L'Opéra de quat'sous, with some variation of plot details (the French title literally translates as "the four penny opera"). A planned English version went unproduced. The two existing versions were released on home video by The Criterion Collection.
The Threepenny Opera differs in significant respects from the play and the internal timeline is somewhat vague. The whole of society is presented as corrupt in one form or another. Only some of the songs from the play are used, in a different order.