| re: SOM's Rolf: His Behavior at the End | |
| Posted by: | Michael_212 01:36 am EST 12/06/13 |
| In reply to: | re: SOM's Rolf: His Behavior at the End - JayBee 12:27 am EST 12/06/13 |
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| I imagine the movie people may have thought it would be too controversial to have a young nazi display compassion. | |
| URL: | Corner Table |
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| re: SOM's Rolf: His Behavior at the End | |
| Posted by: | Michael_Portantiere 11:00 am EST 12/06/13 |
| In reply to: | re: SOM's Rolf: His Behavior at the End - Michael_212 01:36 am EST 12/06/13 |
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| To be 100 percent accurate, Rolf also displays compassion in the scene in question in the film, at least initially. He confronts the family and threatens to shoot Captain Von Trapp, but then is unable to do so. I'm sure the meaning is supposed to be that he still hasn't lost his humanity. But then, after taking Rolf's gun, the Captain says to him, "You'll never be one of them" -- meaning the Nazis. The Captain means this as praise, but it's like a slap in the face to Rolf, who desperately wants to be "one of them." So he snaps, starts blowing his whistle, and calling for the other Nazis. Fortunately, the Captain and the family escape with the aid of those thieving nuns ;-) | |
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| re: SOM's Rolf: His Behavior at the End | |
| Posted by: | JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 11:33 am EST 12/06/13 |
| In reply to: | re: SOM's Rolf: His Behavior at the End - Michael_Portantiere 11:00 am EST 12/06/13 |
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| I've always found this moment in the film to be so interesting. As you say, the line itself could be taken as high praise and Plummer could have chosen to play it that way and give Rolf some of the compassion and understanding that he has lately re-learned to give his own children. But that would not have motivated Rolf's next action. So Plummer needed to take a sympathic line and play it in such a way that it causes such offense to Rolf that Rolf changes his mind about helping the family in an instant. And, boy, does he. The icy way that Plummer says the line is completely out of character with the man we've seen since Maria melted his cold heart and it's difficult to think that the character we've grown to love could be that tone-deaf and blind to the reaction he'd get. Frankly, I've always been surprised that Plummer didn't find himself shot at point blank range, after all. Plummer's Captain has basically insulted Rolf's manhood and gives him no choice, but to assert himself in the only way he can. I would love to have been on the spot and seen how Plummer worked all this out. I wonder if there was any discussion about how this was going to work. Clearly, Lehman had taken the scene in the opposite direction from the stage script, because he wanted a more dramatic ending, but I wonder if he actually thought it through to this moment and the almost-impossible acting assignment he was handing his leading man. | |
| URL: | Jere-Rigged |
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| re: SOM's Rolf: His Behavior at the End | |
| Posted by: | Michael_Portantiere 12:18 pm EST 12/06/13 |
| In reply to: | re: SOM's Rolf: His Behavior at the End - JereNYC 11:33 am EST 12/06/13 |
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| That's fascinating, JereNYC, and of course I've noticed that about Plummer's very cold line reading. Still, I can't imagine that insulting Rolf's manhood was Plummer's intention with that line reading. I've always interpreted the contempt we hear in his voice as being aimed towards the Nazis, as in, "You'll never be one of those evil swine." I wonder if the moment would have worked if Plummer had given the line an entirely praiseworthy inflection, as in "You're a good man, and you'll never be one of them," and if Rolf had had the same slap-in-face reaction because he so desperately wanted to be one of them. Do you think that might have worked? | |
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| re: SOM's Rolf: His Behavior at the End | |
| Posted by: | JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 12:45 pm EST 12/06/13 |
| In reply to: | re: SOM's Rolf: His Behavior at the End - Michael_Portantiere 12:18 pm EST 12/06/13 |
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| I don't think Rolf's slap-in-the-face reaction would have worked in that instance, but we would have to then see Rolf make the decision that he DOES want to be one of them. It would pass the acting assignment difficulty to the actor playing Rolf, who would have to deliver a much more complex moment without a single line to help him. If that could have happened, I think that would have been better. But it's possible that Lehman designed the entire scene around that slap-in-face moment because it's very dramatic and the underscoring that is cued on Rolf's line just forces the viewer to attention in a way that a subtler, more truthful version may not have. | |
| URL: | Jere-Rigged |
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| re: SOM's Rolf: His Behavior at the End | |
| Posted by: | Michael_Portantiere 02:39 pm EST 12/06/13 |
| In reply to: | re: SOM's Rolf: His Behavior at the End - JereNYC 12:45 pm EST 12/06/13 |
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| Yes, and I'm sure Lehman felt it necessary to have Rolf blow the whistle on the family so that the film could have the "frantic escape" moment that's not in the show. | |
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| re: SOM's Rolf: His Behavior at the End | |
| Posted by: | LegitOnce 05:52 pm EST 12/06/13 |
| In reply to: | re: SOM's Rolf: His Behavior at the End - Michael_Portantiere 02:39 pm EST 12/06/13 |
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| Bingo. The chase is a cinematic moment that would be pointless in stage production. | |
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