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04/04/10
Forty Years Ago: RWF’s GODS OF THE PLAGUE
The World Premiere in Vienna Already Featured a Biberkopf
GODS OF THE PLAGUE received its world premiere at the Viennale 70 (i.e. the Wiener Filmfestwoche) on April 4, 1970. Fassbinder’s third cinefilm belonged to the period of his gangster movies. This work anticipates, thanks to the protagonist Franz, played by Harry Baer, RWF’s affinity for and his turning to the figure of Franz Biberkopf for the first time in his complete oeuvre. In her April 7, 1970 review for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Hilde Spiel wrote: “Certain quotes Fassbinder uses are indeed only comprehensible to insiders, among them the name ‘Schlöndorff’ at the apartment door, or the fact that Franz takes the name Biberkopf as his pseudonym, as though he had read Döblin.”
The five-week shoot took place in October and November 1969 in Munich and in the town of Dingolfing / Lower Bavaria. At 180.000 Deutschmarks, the production cost the same as the two previous ones together LOVE IS COLDER THAN DEATH and KATZELMACHER.
The German Film Evaluating Board (FBW) labeled the film “besonders wertvoll” (i.e. “especially valuable”). The official release was July 24, 1970.
RWFF Filmography about GODS OF THE PLAGUE
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