Die Fledermaus 87 years old

The delightful Johann Strauss comic opera Die Fledermaus was mercilessly lampooned in this truly bizarre production. For starters, a framing device has been added: After appearing in 300 consecutive appearances of Fledermaus (which translates as The Bat) the lead tenor (Georg Alexander) imagines that he's seeing bats everywhere. Driven a bit over the edge by all this, he falls asleep and has a nightmare about the opera, with a group of non-singers cast in the leading roles. The original libretto about romantic assignations, political imprisonments and mistaken identity is burlesqued to the hilt: at one point, the hero finds out that his prison cell is surrounded by rubber tubes!

Credits

Die Fledermaus Cast

Name Character
Friedl Czepa She was 39, 74 years old when she died as Hanni / Adele
Hans Möser He was 31, 42 years old when he died as Hans Moser
Harald Paulsen He was 42, 58 years old when he died as Rechtsanwalt Dr. Rommel / Dr.Falke
Georg Alexander He was 49, 57 years old when he died as Staatsanwalt Wentin / Frank
Karel Štěpánek He was 38, 81 years old when he died as Attaché Baranoff / Orlovsky
Jola Jobst She was 21, 36 years old when she died as Berta / Ida
Hans Stiebner He was 39, 60 years old when he died as Kapellmeister
Albert Ihle as Präsident
Lída Baarová She was 23, 86 years old when she died as Maria Weigel / Rosalinde
Erwin Werner as Bühnenarbeiter
Robert Dorsay He was 33, 39 years old when he died as Chauffeur Franz / Alfred
Otto Graf He was 40, 80 years old when he died as Rundfunkreporter
Hans Söhnker He was 34, 77 years old when he died as Kammersänger Hans Weigel / Eisenstein
Arthur Kistenmacher He was 55, 83 years old when he died as Polizist

Die Fledermaus Crew

Name Department
Bruno Mondi as Cinematography. He was 34 (87) years old when He died Crew
Walter Wassermann as Writer. He was 54 (61) years old when He died Writing
Gerhard Staab as Producer. He was 43 (57) years old when He died Production
Paul Verhoeven as Director. He was 0 (36) years old when He died Directing
Die Fledermaus poster
Die Fledermaus (87 years)

  • Release day: Saturday, October 30, 1937
  • Runtime: 103 minutes