Buddenbrooks

Thomas Buddenbrook receives a license from the city senate to import grain from South America to Lübeck. But as he sees it, the only way to acquire the capital necessary to finance the venture is to marry Gerda, the daughter of a shipowner. That is the beginning of an unfortunate conflation of family and finances that continues when his sister Tony marries the rather dubious merchant Grünlich … Made in 1923, the year of Germany’s hyperinflation, and based on Thomas Mann’s novel, this film version focusses on the correlation between business and emotional crises in the Buddenbrook house. As Germany’s first film magazine, "Der Kinematograph", wrote in 1923, "the entire plot is presented in modern conditions, but framed by the luster and charming intimacy of Old Lübeck. That alone makes the Buddenbrooks film a vivid chapter in culture history of opulent allure. It is accessible to the simplest mind and satisfies the most discerning." -- Live musical accompaniment by the students of the Lübeck Academy of Music under the direction of Prof. Franz Danksagmüller.