Review: Old Shatterhand (1964)

 

I would love to say that Old Shatterhand (1964), the first movie included in Eureka's Karl May at CCC box set, is a classic. For me, it falls in line with most other Euro Westerns in having beautiful cinematography and good characters, but not a lot for those characters to do. 

Old Shatterhand slightly predates Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars by about six months. As such, it lacks all of the pop opera sensibilities that would very soon come to dominate the Euro Western format. Instead, this film seems to be chasing big Hollywood spectacle in the tradition of earlier 1960s westerns like The Magnificent Seven, with widescreen vistas and an emotional orchestral score. 

The problem is that the characters don't really have anything to do. Trying to summarize what the movie is actually about is a challenge. It follows the relationship between a German traveler who has befriended an Indian Chief, Winnetou, in the American West. There are some bad guys who hurt people, but nothing significant really happens until the last part of the movie when Winnetou's son is captured and held prisoner in a nearby Cavalry fort and Old Shatterhand goes to rescue him. There is a heavy emphasis on the relationship between the two leads, but both men are stoic and keep their thoughts to themselves. 

You know how people criticize Star Trek: The Motion Picture for those long, languishing shots of The Enterprise? This movie does the same thing with its Yugoslavian vistas, lingering for too long on a scene of a guy walking, or a group of people riding horses. The movie is two hours, but it did not need to be. Thirty minutes could easily have been trimmed to make for a better pace, but that obviously wasn't a priority for audiences in 1964...nor was anyone complaining, apparently, since these Winnetou movies were HUGE in Germany, Scandinavia, and other parts of Europe. Thanks to a lengthy introduction by Sir Christopher Frayling, I now know that these films were a staple of the Christmas holiday season every year, and that the cycle that had begun in 1962 was perhaps the most popular cinematic thing in Germany at the time. Comparisons to James Bond in the UK are not unfounded. 

I like parts of Old Shatterhand. It has some good elements, such as a focus on the mutual respect between the white German traveler (played by Lex Barker) and the Apache chief (played by French actor Pierre Brice), not to mention a reverence for nature and the land itself--both of which are relatively uncommon in American westerns at that point and wouldn't really become prominent until the "revisionist" movement took hold later in the 1960s. But American westerns of the era were often brimming with themes (man against nature, man against self) and the Italian westerns that were right around the corner had comic book sensibilities with twangy guitars and bright, contemporary graphics. Old Shatterhand has none of this. There's no real subtext to speak of and no particular style behind the camera. It feels generic, which is unfortunate. Worse, it feels lethargic. I found myself becoming painfully aware of the running time. At the 75-minute mark, I felt like the movie should be wrapping up, but it still had 45 minutes to go. The lack of any feeling of urgency until the finale holds the story back. 

That being said, these movies are a massive cultural touchstone of Germany and parts of Europe, so it is high time that the English-speaking world discovered them--warts and all. I'm looking forward to exploring the rest of the Blu-ray box set.