740:, the playwright and composer of the stage play that the film is based on, were originally hired to adapt the play for film, but Brecht quit in the middle of production, while Weill continued working on the film until he was fired. The two each sued Warner Bros. and the German production company on the basis that sale of the rights stipulated that nothing in the stage production could be changed for the film. Brecht and Weill intended the piece as a satire on capitalism, and claimed that the ideological basis of the story was softened by director
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police enraging the new queen. Jenny visits the prison and, by distracting the jailer with her feminine wiles, allows Mackie to escape. He makes his way to the bank, where he discovers his new status as director. Peachum and Brown, whose careers are both ruined by the beggar demonstration, also come to the bank and agree to join forces with Mackie. Banking, after all, is a safer and more lucrative form of stealing. In a final shot we see the protesting beggars fading from sight into darkness.
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509:. On first meeting Polly Peachum, however, he persuades her to marry him. His gang steals the props required for a mock wedding in a dockside warehouse in the dead of night. The celebration is attended by Jackie “Tiger” Brown, Mackie's old comrade-in-arms from their army days in India who is now Chief of Police and about to oversee a procession through the city for the queen’s coronation.
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Meanwhile, Polly, who has been left in charge of the gang, takes over a bank and runs it with Mackie's henchmen. This impresses her parents who have a change of heart. Peachum tries to stop the protest march at the last minute but fails, and the procession escalates into a battle between beggars and
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Polly's father, Mr
Peachum, who runs a protection racket for the city's beggars, outfitting each with an appropriate costume, is furious at losing his daughter to a rival criminal. Visiting Brown, he denounces Mackie as a murderer and threatens to disrupt the queen's procession with a protest march
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of beggars if Mackie is not incarcerated. Tipped off by Brown to lie low, Mackie goes to the brothel, where the jealous Jenny betrays his presence to Mrs
Peachum and the police. After a dramatic rooftop escape, he is arrested and imprisoned.
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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.
475:, 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
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The versions of the film released in the United States and the United
Kingdom were shorter than the 110 minutes of the original German version.
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903:"From Stanley Kubrick to Martin Scorsese: Akira Kurosawa once named his top 100 favourite films of all time"
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Not all the songs from the stage production were used in the film. Songs that were used include "
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was the first film presented at Warner
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reprised their roles from the stage production. Neher later died in a
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whose former lover is Jenny, a prostitute in a brothel on
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447:, Berlin, the film is loosely based on the 1928
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994:The Threepenny Opera: Doubles and Duplicities
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53:introducing citations to additional sources
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773:The Ballad of the Ship with Fifty Cannons
656:in 1942 where she was sent to during the
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43:Relevant discussion may be found on the
1582:Films based on works by Bertolt Brecht
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130:Promotional art in German film program
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901:Thomas-Mason, Lee (12 January 2021).
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398:German- and French-language versions
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1622:Films produced by Seymour Nebenzal
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185:(stage play with music, 1928) by
628:Krafft Raschig as member of gang
64:"The Threepenny Opera" film
36:relies largely or entirely on a
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1627:German historical musical films
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1632:1930s historical musical films
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547:(The Threepenny Opera) in 1931
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1592:Films of the Weimar Republic
1572:German black-and-white films
1567:Banned films in Nazi Germany
955:AFI Catalog of Feature Films
838:AFI Catalog of Feature Films
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700:Lucy de Matha as Mrs Peachum
463:. As was usual in the early
7:
1607:1930s German-language films
1143:The White Hell of Pitz Palu
1093:One Does Not Play with Love
769:The Ballad of Mackie Messer
755:with the assistance of the
467:era, Pabst also directed a
10:
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1662:Films scored by Kurt Weill
1612:German musical drama films
1343:The Confession of Ina Kahr
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445:Warner Bros. Pictures GmbH
347:19 February 1931
331:Warner Bros. Pictures GmbH
305:Warner Bros. Pictures GmbH
1617:German multilingual films
1562:1930s musical drama films
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1517:What Keeps Mankind Alive?
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543:) during the filming of
477:The Criterion Collection
1642:1931 multilingual films
1577:Films based on musicals
797:The Japanese filmmaker
665:French-language version
554:German-language version
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1103:The Love of Jeanne Ney
877:"Die Dreigroschenoper"
851:"The Threepenny Opera"
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300:Gemeinschaft mit Tobis
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471:version of the film,
1476:The Threepenny Opera
1437:The Threepenny Opera
1173:The Threepenny Opera
1133:Diary of a Lost Girl
1003:Criterion Collection
978:The Threepenny Opera
962:The Threepenny Opera
949:The Threepenny Opera
932:The Threepenny Opera
832:The Threepenny Opera
784:The Threepenny Opera
757:Museum of Modern Art
604:as the street singer
545:L'Opéra de quat'sous
483:The Threepenny Opera
473:L'Opéra de quat'sous
406:The Threepenny Opera
182:Die Dreigroschenoper
136:Die Dreigroschenoper
119:The Threepenny Opera
49:improve this article
1597:Films set in London
533:Georg Wilhelm Pabst
437:Tonbild-Syndikat AG
419:) is a 1931 German
416:Die 3 Groschen-Oper
1652:1930s German films
1458:The Beggar's Opera
1303:Mysterious Shadows
1243:The Shanghai Drama
1038:Films directed by
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535:(right) and actor
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1353:The Last Ten Days
1313:Call Over the Air
1283:Der Fall Molander
1253:Girls in Distress
1233:Street of Shadows
1083:Secrets of a Soul
695:Vladimir Sokoloff
622:as member of gang
616:as member of gang
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370:110 minutes
363:Running time
340:Release date
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1203:Don Quixote
1193:L'Atlantide
1040:G. W. Pabst
886:20 December
860:20 December
742:G. W. Pabst
658:Great Purge
650:Lotte Lenya
602:Ernst Busch
590:Lotte Lenya
425:G. W. Pabst
229:Lotte Lenya
197:Produced by
158:Béla Balázs
145:G. W. Pabst
141:Directed by
1557:1931 films
1551:Categories
1432:Kurt Weill
1273:Paracelsus
999:Tony Rayns
912:23 January
805:References
738:Kurt Weill
729:Production
689:Margo Lion
685:as Peachum
636:Cast notes
580:as Peachum
578:Fritz Rasp
503:crime lord
465:sound film
461:Kurt Weill
351:1931-02-19
289:Production
283:Kurt Weill
268:Henri Rust
219:Margo Lion
191:Kurt Weill
151:Written by
75:newspapers
1373:Ballerina
1293:The Trial
793:Reception
718:as beggar
712:as parson
679:as Mackie
614:Paul Kemp
610:as jailer
433:Nero-Film
395:Languages
322:Nero-Film
291:companies
260:Hans Oser
253:Edited by
163:Leo Lania
45:talk page
16:1931 film
1453:John Gay
983:AllMovie
691:as Jenny
671:Florelle
592:as Jenny
451:success
280:Music by
207:Starring
177:Based on
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1430:'s and
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390:Germany
387:Country
349: (
89:scholar
1487:(1989)
1479:(1931)
1446:Source
1440:(1928)
1386:(1956)
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