Three Penny Opera, the 1931 film by Berthold Brecht and Kurt Weil is now available on a newly restored DVD by the outstanding team at the Criterion Collection. The sound quality is amazing and the story keeps one's interest. There were many versions, scripts, and writers involved besides Berthold Brecht, though he gets most of the credit. His plot treatment is mostly what gets featured here, but a little less heavy-handed than he had in mind. You can read and hear about the infamous lawsuit between Brecht and the film producers. The documentaries are worth viewing if you like that sort of thing. My only disappointment is that the film omits a good deal of the music featured in the theatrical version, but otherwise, it's quite good and holds up.
The song below sung by Lotte Lenya does not appear in the film, but she does, singing instead "Pirate Jenny." Still, her delivery of the song is one of the best. It's a good tune- American lounge singers have made their fortunes with it translated as "Mack the Knife."
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