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Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street (1973) at Spectrum Culture Online
Monday, February 13, 2012
My review of the Samuel Fuller made-for-TV movie Tote Taube in der Beethovenstraße, a.k.a. Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street (1973) is up over at Spectrum Culture Online. The review is for their Oeuvre segment, a running list of reviews for the entire work of a specific director, and Oeuvre's subject is Sam Fuller. Fuller had a notorious dead period during the 1970s where he was quite inactive, though he did manage to write and direct an episode of the German television show "Tatort." "Tatort," by the way, is still running on German television, broadcasting made-for-TV movies a few times a year. This particular hour and a half episode by Fuller was released as a feature film elsewhere in Europe and, briefly, in the U.S. It is available on a Spanish DVD which I think may be a bit edited from the original German version.
Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street is a strange bird, hard to classify and difficult to follow. Click here to read the entire review at Spectrum Culture Online.
Posted by Stacia at 7:19 PM 5 comments
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5 comments:
Less frequently in the last couple of years, but occasionally beforehand, TATORT episodes have been included in the small US public broadcasting network MHz Worldview's INTERNATIONAL MYSTERY wheel (along with MAIGRET, IRENE HUSS, and other usually European series). I work with a woman who was an extra in one episode...at this point, a sizable number of the citizens of Germany might've been such.
Congrats on an excellent reflection on this late bit of Fuller, who really did seem to embrace cliches as often as he tries to break away from them. It sounds odd and fascinating, and the along with STREET OF NO RETURN remains the only one of his films that I have never managed to see, so I'm glad to hear a version is available in Spain. Apparently Olive Films in the US is due to put it out on DVD later this year.
Cheers,
Sergio
Thanks for the info, Todd! I would like to see more of those episodes, they seem to be a lot like the ABC Mystery Movies we had back in the 1970s.
Thanks Sergio! Olive Films has been doing some great work releasing movies that I never thought would see legit releases. I just bought Skidoo from them, which I'll post about once I watch it.
I left a comment under your article, but it's in moderation limbo, so I'll repeat myself here, just in case it doesn't ultimately make it through Spectrum's baleen-like filter:
Despite being a Fuller fan, I’ve never felt the slightest curiosity about this film — maybe it was the cast, the period, the title — but something about it always put me off. Unfortunately, the problem with good writing, like good food, is it can tempt you to indulge in things you know are bad for you, and after reading this informative and entertaining exegesis of an obscure (I won’t say neglected) movie, I feel compelled to seek it out.
Oh well, Sam certainly deserves to have even his misfires seen, and at least now I know what I’m getting into.
Scott, it made it! And I knew what "baleen" was thanks to Bill Nye. Seriously, I learned more from his show when I was in my early 20s than I did in all the science classes I ever took in high school or college.
I... don't know if I can recommend Dead Pigeon. It had moments, and I liked Christa (played by Fuller's real life wife Christa, a successful actress) but all in all it just made me realize how much of an artistic rut Fuller was in for most of his career.
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