Karl May

Karl Friedrich May (Hohenstein-Ernstthal, February 25, 1842 - Radebeul, March 30, 1912) was the best selling German writer of all time, noted chiefly for wild west books set in the American West and similar books set in the Middle East; in addition, he also wrote some lesser-known stories set in his native Germany, some poetry, an autobiography, and a play. May also dabbled as a musical composer, writing two very famous romantic German songs, "Forget Me Not" and a version of "Ave Maria".

Filmed works

Between 1912 and 1968 German cinema has screened 23 movies made after novels by Karl May. Most of them only loosely connected to the stories of the respective novels. In thirteen of these movies American actor Lex Barker starred either as Old Shatterhand or as Kara ben Nemsi or as Doctor Sternau. Three movies have seen British actor Stewart Granger in the leading role as Old Surehand and one movie starred American actor Rod Cameron as Old Firehand. At the time of writing, Karl May considered the prefix "Old" to the names of several of his heroes as being typically American and illustrating the great experience of the heroes. Ten movies featured French actor Pierre Brice as the fictional Apache-chief "Winnetou".

Related Topics:
German cinema - Lex Barker - Stewart Granger - Rod Cameron - Pierre Brice - Apache - Winnetou

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The music for the movie "Der Schatz im Silbersee" (The Treasure of Silver Lake) (1962), composed by German Martin Böttcher, was a landmark in German film music. It was one ingredient of the great success of the Karl May movies of the 1960ies. And the success of these movies only made possible the later so called Spaghetti Western from Italy (with the famous compositions of Ennio Morricone). The star of some of the Spaghetti Westerns, Terence Hill, began his career in the German Karl May movies.

Related Topics:
Martin Böttcher - Spaghetti Western - Ennio Morricone - Terence Hill

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Most of the movies of the 1960ies were shot in former Yugoslavia (Not in the Alps, as stated in some online-databases), some in Spain, none in America.

Related Topics:
Yugoslavia - Alps - Spain

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Detailed information on the Karl May movies (in German) at German Wikipedia.

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Most of the 1960s Karl May films are typical popular productions of the time, and have not aged as well as Italian westerns of the same period.

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• Auf den Trümmern des Paradieses (1920), silent movie
• Die Todeskarawane (1920), silent movie
• Die Teufelsanbeter (1921), silent movie
• Durch die Wüste (1936), first sound-movie
• Die Sklavenkarawane (1958), first color-movie
• Der Löwe von Babylon (1959)
• Der Schatz im Silbersee (1962)
• Winnetou 1. Teil (1963)
• Old Shatterhand (1964)
• Der Schut (1964)
• Winnetou 2. Teil (1964)
• Unter Geiern (1964)
• Der Schatz der Azteken (1965)
• Die Pyramide des Sonnengottes (1965)
• Der Ölprinz (1965)
• Durchs wilde Kurdistan (1965)
• Winnetou 3. Teil (1965)
• Old Surehand 1. Teil (1965)
• Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen (1965)
• Das Vermächtnis des Inka (1965)
• Winnetou und das Halbblut Apanatschi (1966)
• Winnetou und sein Freund Old Firehand (1966)
• Winnetou und Shatterhand im Tal der Toten (1968)