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This episode is brought to you by Black Butler: 
Parody of the Phantomhives, a Black Butler 
abridged series/parody.

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And by Midnight Musicals. Welcome to the 
podcast 
   musical undergound, coming in 
early 2021. Thank you.

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Greetings, mortals. Welcome to another session
 
  of the Infernal Court in Musical Hell.

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I'm Diva, your judge, jury, executioner, 
and Victorian hussy.

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Many of you are by now familiar with the 
work of Golan and Globus,

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masters of the late-20th-century B-movie,

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whose work has appeared in such notable venues 
as

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Best of the Worst,

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Mystery Science Theater 3000,

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and this very court.

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The Golan-Globus catalog covers a wide variety 
of genres, 
but low budget tends to sum them 
up very nicely.

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But what happens when they tackle material 
that is
 low budget by design?

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To answer that question, we turn to our next 
offender: Mack the Knife.

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This 1989 film is an adaptation of Kurt Weill 
and Bertolt Brecht's

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1928 work, The Threepenny Opera.

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And since we're going *way* back

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into music theater history on this one,

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I think it best to call in an expert witness.

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[accordion music]

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EMILY CLARK: Greetings, Diva.

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I'm here to give you a little history lesson 
on 
The Threepenny Opera.

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[monocle clatters]

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So we have to start with The Beggar's Opera 

by John Gay, written in 1728.

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And it's one of the only surviving examples 

of what we call a ballad opera.

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It's basically like a great-great-grandparent 

to musical theater.

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In 1920, during a very successful year-long 
production,

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The Beggar's Opera caught the eye of 
German 
playwright Bertolt Brecht

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Now, if you're a theater kid of any kind
 
on the collegiate level,

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then you've probably heard the name Bertolt 
Brecht
 or the term Brechtian before.

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The works of Brecht are often defined by 
their
political commentary or the criticism 
of the bourgeoisie.

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Brecht wasn't about escapism.

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He was about presenting the audience with 
the facts in an unemotional way

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and utilizing transgressive theater tropes 
like
 breaking the fourth wall or minimalist 
aesthetics.

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So, Brecht sought to adapt this ballad opera 
into a musical play.

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So, he had the text translated from English 
to German,

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and he enlisted another big member of the 

German socialist theater scene,

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Kurt Weill, to write the music.

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The Beggar's Opera's original plot and characters 
would be sustained,

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but Brecht and Weill would write an entirely 
new score.

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The result was Die Dreigroschenoper,

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or as we call it in English, The Threepenny 
Opera.

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It was first produced in Berlin in 1928.

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And it was just as big a smash as
 The Beggar's 
Opera was before it.

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Weill's score was far more than the usual 

  Brechtian oompahs and accordions.

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He infused jazz, classical, cabaret, and 
Baroque influences

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for an orchestra of only seven musicians 
who were
 meant to play over 20 instruments.

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And of course Weill's greatest legacy
 from 
The Threepenny Opera

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would be the jazz standard "Mack the Knife,"

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which has been performed by Ella Fitzgerald 
and Bobby Darin

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and Robbie Williams and my husband and so 
many more.

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By the time Brecht and Weill left Germany 
by force

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when the Nazis seized power in 1933,

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The Threepenny Opera had been performed
 
thousands of times

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across Europe by numerous theater companies.

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The Threepenny Opera has been a staple of 
repertory theaters,

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opera companies, and experimental 
theater 
groups for almost 100 years.

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As long as there is a socialist need to 
critique 
the capitalist world,

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there will always be a place for Die Dreigroschenoper.

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Back to you, Diva.

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DARK HELMET: Everybody got that? Good!

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Whatever else, this particular adaptation 
didn't skimp on star power,

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featuring Richard Harris,

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Bill Nighy,

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Roger Daltrey – yes, the Who's Roger Daltrey 
–

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and Raúl Juliá, reprising his performance

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from the 1977 revival of the source material.

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As for what else Golan and Globus brought 
to the table,

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well, let's examine the case of "Mack the 
Knife" to find out.

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Speaking of Roger Daltrey, he leads us in 
over the credits

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singing the ballad of Mack the Knife

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to a bunch of street urchins like it's some

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twisted version of The Candy Man.

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ROGER DALTREY: [singing] When the shark bites
 
[growls] with his teeth, dear,

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scarlet billows start to spread.

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DIVA: The opening number is by far the most 
famous thing

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to come out of this score and it's also sin 
#1.

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The problem with "Mack the Knife" is 
that 
when you boil it down,

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it's the same eight bars over and over.

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So you have to sell it to make it work,
 
and I mean *really* sell it.

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Louis Armstrong and Bobby Darin both went 
hard on this song in their own ways and transformed 
it into a jazz standard.

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This movie never takes it farther than a 
vague mass of Victorian destitutes doing 
a little step-step-step-touch, and it falls 
flat.

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URCHINS: [singing] Just a jackknife / Has 
Macheath, dear /
And he keeps it / Out of 
sight.

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DIVA: Juliá stars as the nefarious Macheath,

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who takes a break from his usual murder-ballad-inspiring 

activities to elope with young Polly Peachum.

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Polly's parents consist of her shrewish, 
comically drunk mother

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and her father, who runs London's beggars' 
guild
 and comes down hard on any unlicensed 
panhandlers.

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MR. PEACHUM: You don't actually preach this 
blithering
 nonsense in public, do you? It's 
unprofessional.

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DIVA: Peachum has his hands full as 
Queen 
Victoria's coronation is coming up

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and business is expected to be brisk, 
what 
with the influx of tourism and all.

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But the news of his daughter's runaway marriage
 
is enough to pull him from business,

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as he's not keen on Polly marrying in general 
and especially 
not keen on her marrying 
Macheath specifically,

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with a side of general mistrust of female 
sexuality to round it out.

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MR. PEACHUM: He is a murderer, a thief. One 
of 
the most notorious crooks in all of London.

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KING ARTHUR (CAMELOT):  I demand a man's 
vengeance!

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DIVA: Elsewhere, Polly has changed into her 

wedding gown, or possibly the wedding cake.

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80's aesthetic, you gotta love it!

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She's a bit disappointed to realize a stable 
has been chosen 
as the venue for the ceremony 
and reception.

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But a few stolen goods and enough candelabra 
to decorate 
Liberace's house make the place 
suitably romantic.

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MACKHEATH: My dearest one, your tiny 
feet 
shall not touch this dirty floor.

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A royal red carpet shall be unrolled beneath 
you and 
the palatial furnishings will be 
here any minute.

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DIVA: Juliá's Macheath takes some getting 
used to.

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He's definitely less charming than you'd 
expect 
from a gentleman criminal character,

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especially when you consider this is Gomez
 
fucking Adams we're talking about.

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But I get the impression that this is deliberate.

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Mack is very firmly in anti-hero territory 
and Juliá never lets you forget this is an 
immoral cold-blooded killer you're looking 
at.

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It probably worked a lot better on stage 
than in this movie, 
but I can see what he's 
going for.

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A drunk priest is brought in to officiate.
 
Roger Daltrey is brought in to break the 
fourth wall.

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And the reception is attended by none other 

than Scotland Yard bigwig Tiger Brown.

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It's all good because despite nominally 
being 
on opposing sides of the law,

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Tiger and Mack served together in India, 
so the former 
has long been in the habit 
of winking at the latter’s criminal doings.

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And the two of them have a duet celebrating 
the
 questionable glories of military service.

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BROWN: We’ll meet a darker race.

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MACHEATH: We’ll fight them face to face.

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BROWN: Cause it is clear we’re better.

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MACHEATH: We kill them, it doesn’t matter.

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DIVA: This song illustrates the two main 
problems
 I have with the movie.

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First, the production in general is rather 
shoddy.

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That is not to say I expect it to be stylish 
and glamorous.

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The premise of The Threepenny Opera is that 
it is a
 work by, about, and for the lower 
classes,

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as opposed to the grand spectacle of traditional 
opera.

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A certain amount of grittiness is expected. 
Presenting this material in the manner of, 
say, “Moulin Rouge,” would defeat the purpose.

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But gritty is different from cheap or poorly 
done.

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“Cabaret,” for example, is a very well-choreographed 
movie 
that has all the grimy used aesthetic 
of a dive club

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populated by the outer edges of the social 
order.

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This movie features badly framed shots of 
clumsy dancing
 performed on a handful of 
drab, poorly lit sets.

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The B-movie aesthetic can be fun, cheesy, 
and 
even inventive. But it’s definitely 
not here.

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But more frustrating than the shabby visuals 
is the way the 
film glosses over the themes 
and subtext in the material.

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This is a work of social satire with a strong 

emphasis on moral hypocrisy

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and the lack of any meaningful difference
 
between the crimes society condemns

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and those it ignores or even sanctions.

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But there’s nothing in Menahem Golan’s 
direction 
that indicates he understands this.

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Take this song, which is an incisive attack 
on the glorification of war,

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particularly in the name of colonialism,

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but the presentation is stiff and disinterested.

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MACHEATH: Johnny is missing, Jimmy is dead.

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00:09:25,740 --> 00:09:27,340
TIGER BROWN: And George went crazy with the 
shooting.

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00:09:27,500 --> 00:09:29,800
MACHEATH: But blood is blood and red is bloody 
red.

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00:09:29,900 --> 00:09:32,310
TIGER BROWN: And the army goes on and on 
recruiting.

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00:09:32,310 --> 00:09:37,960
DIVA: Likewise, later on, we have an extended 
group 
number that’s mainly about the futility 
of existence

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00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:41,950
but comes off like a Les Misérables block 
party.

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00:09:41,950 --> 00:09:45,830
WORKING GIRL: [singing] We keep ourselves 
in shape / To draw the fellas in.

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They all enjoy themselves, the creeps, / 
And then they call it sin.

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DIVA: Tiger Brown can’t stay long, but he
 
assures Macheath that any attempts by Peachum

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to thwart Mack’s union with Polly are bound 
to fail,

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as there’s nothing in Scotland Yard’s files 

that can be brought against him.

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00:10:00,930 --> 00:10:07,460
Meanwhile, Polly goes back home to reckon 
with her parents and 
sing about the reasoning 
behind her choice in husband,

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00:10:07,460 --> 00:10:10,160
which is basically, “What can I say? I like 
bad boys.”

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00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:16,650
ROGER DALTREY: Oh, the way the moon kept 
shining on 
/ The night was nice for rowing 
and this girl was gone.

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00:10:16,650 --> 00:10:20,750
DIVA: That’s it. I am officially done with 
Roger Daltrey’s character.

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00:10:20,750 --> 00:10:27,710
His side commentary doesn’t add anything 
and he’s always popping up in scenes where 
he’s definitely not wanted or needed.

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00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:32,800
Between her dad’s slut-shaming and her mother’s 

“men only want one thing” rant,

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00:10:32,900 --> 00:10:38,200
it’s no wonder that Polly is eager to quit 
her parents’ house.
 In her absence, Mrs. 
Peachum,

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00:10:38,300 --> 00:10:41,800
played by Julie Walters as 
Molly Weasley’s 
reprobrate cousin,

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00:10:41,900 --> 00:10:44,800
declares that Macheath should have 
been 
hanged years ago.

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00:10:44,470 --> 00:10:49,420
This gives Peachum the bright idea of having
 
the law solve his problem for him,

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00:10:49,300 --> 00:10:52,930
So he goes to Scotland Yard to get the dirt 
on Mack,

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00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:55,200
while the missus goes round to the local 
pleasure houses

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00:10:55,300 --> 00:10:57,230
to see if any of the working girls will rat 
him out.

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00:10:57,230 --> 00:11:00,580
And there’s more existentialist singing.

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00:11:00,700 --> 00:11:04,400
SMALL GROUP: [singing] We do not like confessing 
/
 The whole thing is depressing

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00:11:04,500 --> 00:11:08,080
ALL: [singing] The world is bad / The men 
are 
glad / That there is nothing / More 
to add

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00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:12,460
DIVA: Sweet Lucifer, this is making “Urinetown”
 
look like “The Music Man.”

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00:11:12,460 --> 00:11:15,890
It turns out Mack does have a Scotland Yard 
file,

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00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:19,000
and Polly is shocked – shocked, I tell you 
–

165
00:11:19,100 --> 00:11:23,900
to discover her leader of the criminal underworld
 
husband has done criminal activities.

166
00:11:24,150 --> 00:11:29,520
But she decides to stand by her man, and 
Macheath
 decides it wouldn’t hurt to lay 
low for a bit.

167
00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:34,410
So he gives Polly a crash course in running 
the business
 and she proves to be a quick 
study.

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00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:41,800
[men muttering] I don't know about that. 

A woman? A woman? A woman!

169
00:11:41,900 --> 00:11:43,860
MACHEATH: What do you say to that, Polly?

170
00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:46,700
[man grunts in pain]

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00:11:48,100 --> 00:11:53,320
DIVA: Elsewhere, Mrs. Peachum has found a 
possible mole in Mack’s regular Thursday 
night girl, Jenny Diver.

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00:11:53,320 --> 00:12:01,760
Jenny tentatively agrees to help turn her 
lover in but is conflicted 
about it and 
comes into work all distressed and mascara-runny.

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00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:08,120
Her coworkers encourage her to spill her 
beans 
and she obliges via sin #5 – “Pirate 
Jenny.”

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00:12:08,900 --> 00:12:16,220
JENNY: [singing] By noontime the dock is 
all swarmin’ with men, / Comin’ off of that 
ghostly freighter.

175
00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:25,800
They're movin’ in the shadows where no one 
can see,
 And they're chainin’ up people 
and bringin’ ‘em to me.

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00:12:25,900 --> 00:12:29,310
DIVA: This is a fantastic song about a poor 
girls’ revenge fantasy,

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00:12:29,310 --> 00:12:34,790
but again it’s ruined by the staging,
 which 
is neither exciting nor horrifying,

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00:12:34,790 --> 00:12:38,150
simply dark – in terms of lighting, not mood.

179
00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:39,900
JENNY: Shoot ‘em all.

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00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:42,500
[gunshots]

181
00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:45,450
DIVA: Also, there’s machine guns. Just because.

182
00:12:45,450 --> 00:12:50,860
Though I do like how the other prostitutes
 
just kind of brush off Jenny’s rant.

183
00:12:50,860 --> 00:13:06,250
JENNY: [singing] And on it is me.

184
00:13:06,250 --> 00:13:09,220
DIVA: Cool story, Jenny. [too cheery] Anyway!

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00:13:09,220 --> 00:13:13,160
Macheath comes in, a bit behind his usual 
schedule,

186
00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:14,850
and he and Jenny have it out

187
00:13:14,490 --> 00:13:18,530
as he’s being denounced in the paper as a 
seducer of young girls

188
00:13:18,870 --> 00:13:23,270
– more than fair – and she’s been devoted 
to Mack 
since before he was The Knife.

189
00:13:23,270 --> 00:13:26,250
A bit of masochism tango ensues.

190
00:13:26,250 --> 00:13:36,370
[tango music]

191
00:13:36,370 --> 00:13:41,620
DIVA: Their fond reminisces are cut off by 
the noisy 
arrival of the police to take 
Mack into custody,

192
00:13:41,620 --> 00:13:46,780
Their efforts to do so quickly go south as
 
Macheath takes the commanding officer hostage,

193
00:13:46,780 --> 00:13:48,730
violently shoots himself through the window,

194
00:13:48,730 --> 00:13:52,060
and leads us on sin #6: the chase scene.

195
00:13:52,300 --> 00:13:58,700
[horses galloping and bright music]

196
00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:04,100
There is so much wrong here. It looks like 
it was
 shot by the light of a dying cell 
phone.

197
00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:06,700
The music thinks the whole thing is funnier 
than it is.

198
00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:10,200
The sped-up footage is ridiculous for all 
the wrong reasons.

199
00:14:10,300 --> 00:14:13,070
And I’m pretty sure they’re just running 
through
 the same two sets over and over 
again.

200
00:14:13,070 --> 00:14:17,040
And to top it all off, this is how the whole 
thing ends.

201
00:14:17,300 --> 00:14:22,000
[bright music]

202
00:14:22,100 --> 00:14:23,560
SLAPPY SQUIRREL: That was pointless.

203
00:14:23,560 --> 00:14:28,370
DIVA: So now Macheath is in jail, but the 
guard is
 amenable to bribery, so it’s not 
all bad.

204
00:14:28,370 --> 00:14:33,920
Also, he gets to lecture the other inmates 
on how
 life is much easier when you have 
money.

205
00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:37,180
MACHEATH: [singing] But since I’ve had it 
up to here, I’m through.

206
00:14:37,180 --> 00:14:44,630
There’s not a dog from here to Timbuktu / 

Would care to live that life a single day.

207
00:14:44,460 --> 00:14:47,420
DIVA: Yeah, Cell Block Tango this ain’t.

208
00:14:47,420 --> 00:14:55,380
Tiger Brown shows up and he’s all tormented 
that his bestie is
 behind bars, but Mack 
is not willing to listen to his apologies.

209
00:14:55,380 --> 00:15:01,060
MACHEATH: Just go away, Brown, before I 
smash 
your brains in right here.

210
00:15:01,060 --> 00:15:05,090
TIGER BROWN: Damn you, Macheath. Damn you!

211
00:15:05,700 --> 00:15:11,140
DIVA: We are so close to the tragic gay 
romance 
this movie needs to perk itself up.

212
00:15:11,140 --> 00:15:15,170
Alas, what we get is Tiger’s daughter, Lucy 
Brown,

213
00:15:15,170 --> 00:15:18,830
who it happens not only has a wedding ring 
from Macheath

214
00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:20,680
but a bun in the oven to go with it.

215
00:15:20,220 --> 00:15:24,120
LUCY: So where have you been for the last 
four months!

216
00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:30,960
MACHEATH: Look at me! Have you no tenderness, 
my dear Lucy, seeing your husband in such 
circumstances?

217
00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:35,200
[prisoners hoot]

218
00:15:35,300 --> 00:15:36,240
DIVA: Well, that was quick!

219
00:15:36,240 --> 00:15:41,270
But wife number two – and a half? – comes 
to join the party,

220
00:15:41,270 --> 00:15:44,980
and Lucy and Polly are both quite upset when 
they realize the situation.

221
00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:49,300
And now that they know their husband  
is 
a reprehensible, lying bigamist,

222
00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:52,300
the ladies do the sensible thing and fight 
with one another.

223
00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:55,100
[prisoners hoot]

224
00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:59,370
LUCY: [singing] I kind of make you, love! 
Who would want a stupid cow?

225
00:15:59,300 --> 00:16:05,100
POLLY: Me you call a stupid cow? [singing] 
Look at you! 
You are so pitiful, imagining 
you’re beautiful!

226
00:16:05,700 --> 00:16:10,310
DIVA: Honestly, I have less of an issue with 

the entire context of this particular number

227
00:16:10,310 --> 00:16:14,500
than I do with the fact that it was 
used 
as an excuse for a catfight.

228
00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:18,500
And the fact that the actresses’ voices do 
*not* blend well.

229
00:16:18,380 --> 00:16:24,660
LUCY and POLLY: [singing] Him leave me for 
a street girl.

230
00:16:24,660 --> 00:16:29,150
DIVA: Polly storms off, and Mack sweettalks 
Lucy
 into seducing the warden and getting 
his keys.

231
00:16:29,150 --> 00:16:36,760
Lucy agrees because she’s stupid in love 
and also because
 she needs him around to 
prove her child’s legitimacy.

232
00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:38,560
So Macheath is now a fugitive,

233
00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:42,640
so he does the sensible thing and goes right
 
back to the place he was caught last time

234
00:16:42,640 --> 00:16:44,170
and the woman who led the cops there,

235
00:16:44,340 --> 00:16:48,490
and informs Jenny that he’ll be hiding out 
in yet 
another love nest he has near the 
docks.

236
00:16:49,900 --> 00:16:55,300
JENNY: Men were born to lie. And women to 
believe ‘em.

237
00:16:55,400 --> 00:16:58,840
DIVA: Alternatively, Mack could just be an 
asshole.

238
00:16:58,400 --> 00:16:59,800
Just saying, Jenny.

239
00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:05,690
Having betrayed her lover into the hands 
of the law, Jenny 
goes over to the Peachums’ 
place to get her ransom.

240
00:17:05,690 --> 00:17:11,790
But Mrs. Peachum refuses to pay, as 
Macheath 
is very much not in prison right now.

241
00:17:11,790 --> 00:17:16,150
Another catfight seems about ready to break 
out before
 Mr. Peachum comes in and fires 
a warning shot.

242
00:17:17,600 --> 00:17:19,800
MRS. PEACHUM: But she heard a whistle outside 
our window.

243
00:17:19,900 --> 00:17:21,100
JENNY: It was Mackie.

244
00:17:21,840 --> 00:17:23,660
WORKING GIRL: Risking his life to comfort 
her.

245
00:17:23,660 --> 00:17:26,840
JENNY: Then he went straight to Sookie Tawdry’s 
to comfort her, too.

246
00:17:26,900 --> 00:17:32,300
DIVA: Before Peachum can act on this new 
piece 
of information, the police raid him 
instead.

247
00:17:32,400 --> 00:17:37,000
Tiger Brown is all set to arrest Peachum 
for –
 well, he’ll think of something

248
00:17:37,100 --> 00:17:42,500
– but Peachum counters by threatening to 
unleash his 
horde of beggars on tomorrow’s 
coronation festivities.

249
00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:46,000
MR. PEACHUM: There’ll be hundreds of thousands
 
just like ‘em, all with a different disease.

250
00:17:46,100 --> 00:17:49,230
Do you know what scrofula is? 
Do you know 
what syphilis does to people?

251
00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:55,200
Oh, you’re right, you’re right. It doesn’t 
seem fit
 the queen should be greeted by 
such creatures.

252
00:17:55,300 --> 00:18:01,560
DIVA: As forcing London’s citizens to confront 
the poverty in 
their midst would be the 
undoing of society as we know it,

253
00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:06,330
Tiger has little choice, and Mack gets 
arrested 
again during the scene transition.

254
00:18:06,330 --> 00:18:13,930
The next morning, he’s slated to be hung 
at 7 o’clock sharp, 
and the warden has set 
his bribery price at £1,000.

255
00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:17,260
Unfortunately, such a large sum is hard 
to 
come by at six in the morning,

256
00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:20,000
even for the leader of the criminal underworld,

257
00:18:20,100 --> 00:18:24,600
and Mack gets progressively more desperate
 
and Puerto Rican as his time runs out.

258
00:18:24,580 --> 00:18:28,530
MACK: *You’ve* got to live! Who’s getting 
hanged here, you or me?

259
00:18:28,500 --> 00:18:33,400
DIVA: But by the time 7 rolls around, Macheath 

has transitioned into the acceptance stage

260
00:18:33,500 --> 00:18:36,600
and is even flattered by the large crowd 

who has come to see him off

261
00:18:36,700 --> 00:18:38,800
before they head over to the coronation.

262
00:18:38,900 --> 00:18:41,200
Jenny and the Peachums get their gloat on.

263
00:18:41,300 --> 00:18:44,500
Mack bids a fond farwell to all three of 
his wives.

264
00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:47,000
Yes, Sookie Tawdry is one as well.

265
00:18:47,100 --> 00:18:50,800
And as the noose is put around his neck, 
he gives his swan song,

266
00:18:50,590 --> 00:18:54,900
which is basically an extended “Fuck you!” 
to the rest of the characters.

267
00:18:54,180 --> 00:19:03,240
MACHEATH: [sing-shouting] The crooks, the 
whores, 
the cathouse owners, that shoos 
by day and pimps by night, 
and yes those 
dogs in uniform!

268
00:19:04,900 --> 00:19:08,600
DIVA: But as it happens, Macheath is saved 
at the last minute.

269
00:19:08,700 --> 00:19:11,300
Unfortunately, by the most annoying character 
in the show.

270
00:19:11,730 --> 00:19:16,180
ROGER DALTREY: This is an opera, not life! 
Have you forgotten?

271
00:19:16,700 --> 00:19:22,000
ENSEMBLE: [singing] Who comes here? 
Who 
comes here? Who comes here?

272
00:19:22,300 --> 00:19:30,390
DIVA: Now, this twist ending, in which Macheath 
is suddenly pardoned by the newly-crowned 
Queen Victoria and granted a land and title,

273
00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:37,100
presumably so he can commit crimes against 
his fellow man in a socially acceptable fashion, 
is true to the source material.

274
00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:41,990
But the sudden leap into metafiction is a 
turn of the screw too far,

275
00:19:41,990 --> 00:19:44,940
making the whole thing awkward and distracting 
from the sung moral,

276
00:19:44,940 --> 00:19:50,250
which is – uh – life is hard, so be nice 
to poor people or something.

277
00:19:50,400 --> 00:20:07,300
[singing]

278
00:20:08,020 --> 00:20:11,850
[thunder]

279
00:20:11,850 --> 00:20:16,580
Bertolt Brecht firmly believed that theater 
should
 always hold the audience at arm’s 
length,

280
00:20:16,100 --> 00:20:20,400
as buying into the illusion would distract 

them from the message of the work.

281
00:20:20,500 --> 00:20:25,400
So it’s perhaps appropriate that Mack the 
Knife 
never lets you forget what you’re 
watching,

282
00:20:25,500 --> 00:20:29,100
namely a low-budget, poorly realized movie.

283
00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:33,800
Which, if you ask me, is even more distracting
 
than anything the story has to say.

284
00:20:33,900 --> 00:20:37,000
It’s a badly thought-out attempt at social 
commentary.

285
00:20:37,100 --> 00:20:44,400
So, the court of Musical Hell orders the 
team of Golan and
 Globus to spend an eternity 
reading the work of Ayn Rand.

286
00:20:44,500 --> 00:20:50,000
So let it be recorded. This session of the 
Infernal 
Court in Musical Hell is now adjourned.

287
00:20:50,100 --> 00:20:50,400
[gavel bangs]

288
00:20:50,500 --> 00:21:20,000
[Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns]