Just like "M"(1931, Fritz Lang) and "On the Waterfront" (1954, Elia Kazan), "Die 3 Groschen Oper" shows us the triangle between underworld, authorities and the so called representatives of the poor.
In "On the Waterfront" the "representatives" of the poor were the trade unions. In "Die 3 Groschen Oper" it is the beglar-king. This already indicates that "Die 3 Groschen Oper" is much more theatrical than the other two films and is very much like a parable.
What stays the same however is the fact that the poor stays poor and only their representatives earn a profit from their misery. "Und die einen sind im dunkel, und die andern sind im licht. Und man siehet die im lichte, die im dunkel sieht man nicht".
Theatrical as it is "Die 3 Groschen Oper is mainly such a great film because of the collaboration of various great talents such as the playwriter Bertold Brecht, the composer Kurt Weill, the singer actor Lotte Lenya (as the prostitute Jenny), the cinematographer Fritz Arno Wagner and last but not least director Georg Wilhelm Pabst. Together they have made a real "Gesamtkunstwerk".
In "On the Waterfront" the "representatives" of the poor were the trade unions. In "Die 3 Groschen Oper" it is the beglar-king. This already indicates that "Die 3 Groschen Oper" is much more theatrical than the other two films and is very much like a parable.
What stays the same however is the fact that the poor stays poor and only their representatives earn a profit from their misery. "Und die einen sind im dunkel, und die andern sind im licht. Und man siehet die im lichte, die im dunkel sieht man nicht".
Theatrical as it is "Die 3 Groschen Oper is mainly such a great film because of the collaboration of various great talents such as the playwriter Bertold Brecht, the composer Kurt Weill, the singer actor Lotte Lenya (as the prostitute Jenny), the cinematographer Fritz Arno Wagner and last but not least director Georg Wilhelm Pabst. Together they have made a real "Gesamtkunstwerk".