The Bartered Bride - Film and Other Adaptations

Film and Other Adaptations

A silent film of The Bartered Bride was made in 1913 by the Czech film production studio Kinofa. It was produced by Max Urban and starred his wife Andula Sedláčková. A German language version of the opera, Die verkaufte Braut, was filmed in 1932 by Max Ophüls (1902–57), the celebrated German director then at the beginning of his film-making career. The screenplay was drawn from Sabina's libretto by Curt Alexander, and Smetana's music was adapted by the German composer of film music, Theo Mackeben. The film starred the leading Czech opera singer Jarmila Novotná in the role of Mařenka ("Marie" in the film), and the German baritone Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender as Jeník ("Hans"). The veteran comedy film actor Max Schreck also appeared in the film, in the small role of "Muff", the circus comedian.

Ophuls constructed an entire Czech village in the studio to provide an authentic background. Following the film's US release in 1934, The New York Times (NYT) commented that it "carr most of the comedy of the original" but was "rather weak on the musical side", despite the presence of stars such as Novotná. Opera-lovers, the NYT reviewer suggested, should not expect too much, but the work nevertheless gave an attractive portrait of Bohemian village life in the mid-19th century. The reviewer found most of the acting first-rate, but commented that "the photography and sound reproduction are none too clear at times." Other film adaptations of the opera were made in 1922 directed by Oldrich Kminek (Atropos), in 1933, directed by Jaroslav Kvapil, Svatopluk Innemann and Emil Pollert (Espofilm), and in 1976, directed by Václav Kašlík (Barrandov).

In addition to film treatments, parts of The Bartered Bride have been incorporated into a new modern text by Václav Havel, The Pig, or Václav Havel's Hunt for a Pig, which has been performed both in the Czech Republic and in New York City.