Friday 20 September 2024

ALLMEN UND DAS GEHEIMNIS DES KOI (DAS ERSTE)

The vacations of the dandy art detective Allmen turn into business as usual (i.e. troubles) when he must find a stolen Koi fish.

The flamboyant Johann Friedrich von Allmen and his loyal though sarcastic Guatemalan valet Carlos first appeared in Allmen and the Dragonflies (Allmen und die Libellen, 2011), a novel written by bestselling Swiss author Martin Suter and followed by five more books. Four Allmen TV movies based on the novels were aired by pubcaster Das Erste between 2017 and 2021: Allmen und das Geheimnis der Libellen, Allmen und das Geheimnis des rosa Diamanten, Allmen und das Geheimnis der Dahlien and Allmen und das Geheimnis der Erotik. Allmen und das Geheimnis des Koi, the fifth one, was filmed in 2023 and shown last month in Germany and Austria.

Those movies star Heino Ferch (Nordholm, Anatomy of Evil) as Johann Friedrich von Allmen and Samuel Finzi (Flemming) as Carlos. Andrea Osvárt (Tranporter: The Series) plays Joelle "Jojo" Hirt, the daughter of one of the richest men in Switzerland and Allmen's love interest. From the second film, Isabella Parkinson joined the cast as Carlos' Colombian girlfriend Maria Moreno. Adapted by scriptwriter Martin Rauhaus (Hotel Heidelberg) from the book Allmen und der Koi, Allmen und das Geheimnis des Koi is directed by Sinje Köhler. Far from his money issues and the attention of the Zurich tax office, Allmen is on holiday in Tenerife with Jojo and Carlos.
 
Film mogul Steve Garrett uses music producer Freddie Turnbill, a friend of Johann, to get the services of the detective but not for a missing work of art. He wants him to find "Boy", his $1,5 million Japanese Koi fish which vanished from the pond in his garden. Garrett won't take a no for an answer so he forces Johann to accept. Garrett's girlfriend Dr. Akina de la Vega happens to be a Koi expert, author of a book called Miracle of the Koi. Allmen meets English photographer Helen Lifehouse and Italian gangster Vittorio Giunninazzi. Freddie is murdered and Jojo decides to investigate too. No Prague doubling as Zurich this time but the beautiful scenery of Tenerife, which suits our quatuor very well.
 
The excellent cast also includes Uwe Kockisch (Donna Leon) as Steve Garrett, Falilou Seck (Freddie), Alejandro Barrios (Bajrush), Edita Malovčić (Dr. Akina de la Vega), Jörg Witte (Vale), Michaela Rosen (Helen Lifehouse), David Lifschitz (Der König von Palma) as Vittorio Giunninazzi, etc. Produced by UFA Fiction  (a Fremantle company) with SunnySideUp Productions (Balko Teneriffa) for ARD Degeto and Das Erste. Produced by Alena Gößling and Sinah Swyter. Karsten Kilian and Bettina Höfke are the production managers. Holger Krenz is the line producer. Music by Fabian Römer and Mathias Hillebrand-Gonzalez. Thomas Franz is the production designer. Cinematography by Frank Küpper. Editing by David Kuruc.
 
Production services in Spain by Rolf Wappenschmitt (SunnySideUp), carried out in the Canary Islands. Allmen und das Geheimnis des Koi has benefited from the Spanish Tax Rebate in collaboration with the Spanish Government and the Tenerife Film Commission. We're not finished with the adventures of Johann Friedrich von Allmen, Carlos and their lady friends because there's a seventh Allmen book called Allmen und Herr Weynfeldt, released in March 2024. This "Herr Weynfeldt" is in fact Adrian Weynfeldt, the main character of Martin Suter's novel Der letzte Weynfeldt (2008).
 

Monday 16 September 2024

MONSIEUR PARIZOT (TF1)

Christian Parizot (Patrick Paroux) is the most popular character of French private channel TF1's hit Camping Paradis. Now the camper becomes an amateur sleuth in Monsieur Parizot.
 
This 2 x 45-minute pilot is a welcome addition to TF1's crime/comedy line-up.
 
The bottom line: Les petits meurtres de Monsieur Parizot.
 
Aired since 2006, Camping Paradis is produced by Jean Luc Azoulay's JLA Productions with TF1. This comedy series was created by Michel Alexandre, Ludovic Pion-Dumas & Anne Badel. It is centered on the everyday life and problems of Tom Delormes (Laurent Ournac), who runs a campsite in the south of France, and his team. The extraordinary Patrick Paroux (Around the world in 80 days, Amelie) plays the grouchy Christian Parizot, the most faithful client of the Camping Paradis where he has been going every summer for 35 years. Parizot first appeared in the fourth episode, written by Jérôme Michaud-Larivière and Thomas Perrier, as "M. Parizot".
 
Monsieur Parizot takes Patrick Paroux to Colmar, where Christian Parizot lives. This retiree divides his time between watching detective dramas with the eye of an expert (he read all Agatha Christie three times!) and amateur cycling, his great passion. One day, his cycling companion dies in an apparent accident before joining him. Christian immediately notices very specific details that make him suspect a murder. Lieutenant Alexandra Bauer, of the Gendarmerie, decides to investigate against her hierarchy. As the wealthy family of his friend wants to meet Parizot, Bauer prompts him to accept the invitation.

« Non mais dites donc, j'suis pas à vos ordres! Qu'est-ce que j'irais faire au milieu d'un panier de crabes de nobles alsaciens? »

Directed by Camping Paradis' regular helmer Nicolas Copin, Monsieur Parizot was penned by Laurent Mondy. Frequent writer of Camping Paradis, the latter is the creator of another production from JLA: Magellan (Commissaire Magellan, 2009-2021). Parizot watches an episode of the much-missed mystery drama (1) written by Mondy and complains about "ces tocards de scénaristes"... right before jumping into the tropes of Commissaire Magellan. It's quite enjoyable to watch Patrick Paroux as a comedy Poirot version of the beloved Camping Paradis character. Parizot drives an old Peugeot 405 and wears plaid sweaters over his famous floral shirts. He likes to ride his bike or smoke a pipe to think things through.
 
Of course, there are charming references to Camping Paradis. Lieutenant Bauer, Parizot's "Watson", is played by Clémence Lassalas (Demain nous appartient). Philippe Caroit (Perfect Murders, Borderland) guest stars as Jean-Dominique de Saint-Ulrich. The other actors of this "petit meurtre en famille" are Carole Richert (Astrid de Saint Ulrich), Firmine Richard (Josiane Kopp), Olivier Sitruk (Sainclair Vandeuil), Piérick Tournier (Vianney de Saint Ulrich), Sören Prévost (Hans), Diane Dassigny (Plus belle la vie, encore plus belle) as Faustine de Saint Ulrich, Charlie Joirkin (Jennifer Maillard), Charlotte Lacoste (Camille de Saint Ulrich), Bruno Dreyfürst (Captain Brunet) and Houaria Kaidari (Maître Klein).
 
Produced by JLA Productions and TF1 with the participation of RTL-TVI and RTS Radio Télévision Suisse. Made with the support of Région Grand Est, Colmar Agglomération (Réseau Plato) and Bureau des images Grand Est. Olivier Guedj exec produces. Produced by Richard Berkowitz and Mathieu Delarive. Emmanuel Libermann is the production manager. Music by Frédéric Porte (Camping Paradis, Magellan). Cinematography by Olivier Guarguir. Editing by Jean-Luc Thomas. Filmed between November and December 2023 in Alsace, Monsieur Parizot aired in Switzerland and Belgium this month but not yet in France.

(1) Première Ballerine, directed by Étienne Dhaene.
 

Wednesday 4 September 2024

JOLLY JOKER - THE COMPLETE SERIES ON DVD (FERNSEHJUWELEN)

Special thanks to Marco Serafini, Stephan Bechtle, Nathalie Attard and Amandine Attard.

Jolly Joker, the excellent 1991-1992 German adventure-comedy series, is available since last month on DVD thanks to Fernsehjuwelen.

Christian Borg is a jet-setting playboy who enjoys the pleasures of life to the point of regularly going broke. He often risks his Jaguar E-Type in silly bets to pay his latest extravagance until his old uncle, the wealthy Artur Brecht, appears to cancel his debt. Although Brecht is one of the ten richest men in the world, he's also stingy and he always asks his nephew to pay him back with various assignments all over the globe. The billionaire runs his empire from a high-tech office in his countryside house, whose gatekeeper is a moody electronic lion named Hugo

Artur's assistant Anette, an expert in science and weaponry, provides Borg with the intel he needs and all sorts of gadgets that explode, smoke or emit a laser beam. Brecht cannot use his computers without Anette and he has no grip on Erich, a food and drink dispenser robot in charge of his diet. The missions may not seem impossible for a young man as resourceful as Christian Borg. He must check on the condition of a Greek minister wounded by a model helicopter, find a stolen truck full of food for Africa, buy a collection of rare wines in Tuscany, investigate the disappearance of a  samba dancer,  visit a French scientist who can make gold, etc. The places (and the girls) are beautiful, except that with Artur Brecht there's always a catch

Produced by the venerable German production company Bavaria Film for the early evening schedule of the ARD network, the  22 x 52-minute episodes of Jolly Joker (one pilot + 21 episodes) ran from January 1991 to September 1992. The series was developed by scriptwriter Thomas Kubisch and Bavaria Film producer Stephan Bechtle as a parody of James Bond, hence the « Mein Name ist Borg, Christian Borg » catchphrase, the gadgets and Anette as the equivalent of 007's Q. Austrian actor Stefan Fleming (Familie Merian) plays Borg. Paul Hubschmid (Funeral in Berlin, Fritz Lang's diptych The Tiger of Eschnapur and The Indian Tomb) is Artur Brecht. Anette is played by Maja Maranow, noticed by German viewers in Rivalen der Rennbahn (1989) (1).

Luxembourg-born director and screenwriter Marco Serafini (Schwarz Rot Gold) was chosen by Stephan Bechtle to helm all the episodes of Jolly Joker. Both were students at the Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film (HFF) in Munich. The series was penned by Stephan Kubisch, Stephan Cipriano, Klaus Fröba, Claus-Michael Rohne, Alexander Stever, Fabienne Paklepa and Stephan Kirste. Marco Serafini and the production team prepared Christian Borg's eventful travels by looking for foreign locations and did the casting on-site. Then, they gave their specifications to the scriptwriters who wrote on this basis. Jolly Joker was filmed in Greece (Rhodes), Tuscany (Trequanda), Naples, Chili (Santiago, the Humberstone ghost town, Antofagasta, the Vergara Pier...), Brazil, Morocco (Tangier, Fez), France (Camargue, Corsica), Luxembourg, Portugal and Austria

An international cast worked on the series: Mimi Denissi (2), Giorgos Kotanidis, Leonard Lansink (best known today for Wilsberg), Corinna Drews, Walter Buschhoff, Ludger Pistor (who gained fame with Balko), Lino Salemme (Demons), Miroslav Nemec, Anouschka Renzi, Isaac Bardavid (Escrava Isaura), Alexa Wiegandt, John Knuckey (La Quintrala), Desirée Nosbuch, Natacha Amal, Irene Hubschmid-Schiesser, Nicolas Vogel, Florence Geanty (Marc et Sophie), Ana Padrão, Georges Claisse, Nadia Fares, Will Danin, Michel Voletti and many others. Borg's crazy gambles and the scenes in Brecht's house were shot in and around Munich and in the Bavaria Film Studios. An episode (Münzpoker) was shot entirely in Germany and Marco Serafini even used the set from the film Das Boot in the Bavaria Studios.

The episode Schwere Erbschaft, made in Luxembourg with tax credit money, was an idea of the director who co-produced it via his own company LFP. A chase in the Jean-Monnet Building at Luxembourg-Kirchberg was filmed for the occasion. Despite shooting abroad and some special effects, production costs looked reasonable for series commissionner Westdeutsches Werbefernsehen (WWF) Köln. They considered them close to those of the crime drama Der Fahnder (1981-2005) (3). The pilot of Jolly Joker (Tod am hoher See) was filmed in 1988, essentially in Rhodes. The shooting actually began in Bavaria with Peter Pasetti as Brecht but the actor had to be replaced by Paul Hubschmid due to health issues. Five more episodes were produced that year.

There was a press screening in October 1988, six episodes were filmed in 1989 and ten in 1990. The making of Jolly Joker was long and the network wanted a substantial number of episodes to show the series. The pilot was finally presented in primetime on January 6, 1991. Then, twelve episodes aired from January 8 to March 26, 1991. When Jolly Joker returned on March 10, 1992, "nine new episodes" were announced but ARD axed it because of the ratings (4) after the episode shown on April 7, 1992 (Der Schatz von Lissabon). The series arrived in France on M6 as Le Joker (July 19, 1992) and ended its run in Germany from August to September 1992. The soundtrack of Jolly Joker was composed by  Harald Kloser and Thomas Schobel. English singer Chris Thompson performed the title song Playground of the Joker, written by Harald Kloser, Benny Bilgeri and Chris Thompson (5).

Stefan Fleming pursued a versatile career as an actor, presenter, author, scriptwriter and voice artist. From 1994 to 1997, he wrote and hosted the children programme Raus mit Stefan for Austrian television ORF. Fleming co-starred in Der Winzerkönig (2006-2010) and worked extensively on stage. Maja Maranow guest starred in numerous TV series, played in Der König von St. Pauli (1998) and had a regular role in the long-running crime drama Ein Starkes Team, aired by ZDF since 1994. Sadly, the actress died on January 4, 2016, aged 54. Marco Serafini established himself as one of the most important television directors in Europe. His filmography includes episodes of In Namen des Gesetses (1994-2008), Zwei Brüder (1997-1999), Polizeiruf 110 (6) or Il Commissario Rex (2008-2015). He helmed several TV movies based on the novels by Rosamunde Pilcher and the books of Inga Lindström (Inga Lindström is produced by Stephan Bechtle for Bavaria Fiction).

The globe-trotting adventures of Christian Borg are vividly remembered by viewers who watched Jolly Joker at the time. As well as Borg' Scrooge MacDuck/Donald Duck relationship with Brecht, the inventions of the genius Anette, the extraordinary locations, the stunts, the humour (Hugo and Erich demand the 35-hour week!) and Playground of the Joker. Lead by a brilliant cast and competently done, Jolly Joker is an ambitious production which doesn't take itself seriously. The 6-disc DVD boxset by Fernsehjuwelen contains the 22 episodes (in German). Bonus material is comprised of a digital booklet written by Oliver Bayan, a trailer of Jolly Joker, a reversible cover and the trailers of a few gems from Film- und Fernsehjuwelen (Jerry Cotton, Kommissar X, Fu Manchu, the BBC/ZDF series Paul Temple, Poppy Is Also a Flower and Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die).

(1) Created by Ted Willis, Eric Paice and Anita Mally.
(2) Eminent Greek theatre actress and personality.
(3)
https://taz.de/Gluecksritter-Borg-in-Aktion/!1738731/
(4)
https://taz.de/!1673343/
(5)
The soundtrack of Jolly Joker, containing Playground of the Joker and other songs, was released in 1991. The same year, a tie-in novel by Klaus Killian was published.
(6) Polizeiruf 110 began in 1971 as the answer of East Germany to Tatort, the crime drama collection of ARD launched in 1970. Both are still aired today.

https://www.fernsehjuwelen.de/Jolly-Joker-Gesamtedition-Alle-22-Folgen-6-DVDs/6424104
http://marcoserafini.com/
https://www.bavaria-fiction.de/person/stephan-bechtle
https://www.fleming.at/ (Stefan Fleming)

See also:

https://www.funke-stertz.de/wp-content/uploads/Thomas-Kubisch-%E2%80%93-Funke-Stertz.pdf (Thomas Kubisch)