Kara Ben Nemsi Effendi
| Kara Ben Nemsi Effendi | |
|---|---|
| Genre | adventure |
| Created by | Günter Gräwert |
| Starring |
Karl Michael Vogler Heinz Schubert Jean-Pierre Zola Lina Carstens |
| Composer(s) | Martin Böttcher |
| Country of origin | Germany |
| Original language(s) | German |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Max Gierke |
| Camera setup |
Horst Schier Michael Thiele |
| Running time | 30 |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ZDF |
| Original run | October 1, 1973 – April 7, 1975 |
Kara Ben Nemsi Effendi is a German television series broadcast from 1973 through 1975 in 26 parts and two seasons. It featured an adventurer probably inspired by British explorers Richard Francis Burton (1821–1890)[1] and T. E. Lawrence. The scripts were faithful to Karl May's Orient novels and the score is from Martin Böttcher who previously had composed the music for ten very successful Karl May films in cinema and in 1998 also for the two parts of Winnetous Rückkehr, also being aired by the German station ZDF.
Protagonist
Kara Ben Nemsi (Karl Michael Vogler) has traveled the Wild West as Old Shatterhand and is now about to explore the Near East. For his traditional German first name Karl is difficult to pronounce for many non-Germans, his oriental sidekick Hadschi Halef Omar prefers to call him "Kara".
Kara Ben Nemsi, a German hero-adventurer of the 1880s, is actually a kind of superman (as later Doc Savage), not only speaking dozens of foreign tongues fluently but also he can knock out everybody by just one strike to the temples, rides with his famous black stallion Rih as well as Frank Hopkins and is that excellent as a marksman that he could work in Wild West Shows.
Hadschi Halef Omar (played by Heinz Schubert, best known from the German version of the British television series Till Death Us Do Part) is the hero's scout and his teacher when it comes to oriental conventions. He always shows solidarity although the very self-confident Kara Ben Nemsi is always prone to take risks.
Production
The 13 parts of the first season were filmed from August to September 1972 in the Carpathian Mountains and Bulgaria and from October to November 1972 in the deserts of Tunesia, the 13 parts of the second season were filmed from June to August 1974 in Spain around Almeria, mainly of financial reasons. The director enganged many popular guest stars, including Ferdy Mayne, Heinz Baumann, Dieter Hallervorden and Willy Semmelrogge.
More movies with Kara Ben Nemsi
Kara Ben Nemsi not only was to be seen in this TV-series, but also in the cinema productions of
- Auf den Trümmern des Paradieses (1920) with Carl de Vogt
- Die Todeskarawane (1920) with Carl de Vogt
- Die Teufelsanbeter (1921) with Carl de Vogt
- Durch die Wüste (1936) with Fred Raupach
- Die Sklavenkarawane (1958) with Viktor Staal
- Der Löwe von Babylon (1959) with Helmuth Schneider
- Der Schut (1964) with Lex Barker
- Durchs wilde Kurdistan (1965) with Lex Barker
- Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen (1965) with Lex Barker
DVD release
The complete series was released on DVD in 2006/2007. In the second DVD-Box a Soundtrack-CD with the music of Martin Böttcher is included.