When Germans hear the name "Adlon", they immediately know what this thing is about. It is a hotel that is still extremely famous and popular today here in Berlin and still among the elite of hotels world-wide as they are chosen by independent bodies. "Das Adlon. Eine Familiensaga" is a mini-series from 2013, so still fairly recent and it is a television production that will have its 5th anniversary two years from now. It consists of three episodes of over 90 minutes each, so quite a challenge if you decide to watch it in one sitting. You will be rewarded with many famous German actors at least who may help you sit through this one without getting bored. But they can't do it on their own either. Apart from that, I believe that the cast list here includes many names that may be well-known, but I also think that this is not because of them having great range or talent or so, but having good recognition value and being fairly charismatic, two important factors that can be enough for long careers, like in Heino Ferch's case for example. I want to say though that the likes of Thieme and Klaußner (and maybe others in here) are very talented actors who just may not have been given the right material here to shine.
The man who made this is Uli Edel, somebody with a very strange career. While he worked on films that received Oscar-nominations, he also has quite some stinkers in his body of work. Yet, thanks to the positive, he is one of the German filmmakers who also made it to Hollywood and recently worked on some productions that received a lot of (awards) attention in the United States. His work about the Adlon history and clan rarely impressed me though. this may have partially to do with the acting, but in general I felt that the script was not a success and not good enough for almost 5 hours. I am not sure if I would blame Edel here for uninspired writing or the Adlon clan for just not being interesting enough.. In any case, maybe Edel is also to blame because he made this mini-series at all. I thought all three parts were fairly bland and forgettable and there is little in here beyond the sets and costumes that I would describe as a success. The stories all feel very generic beyond the economical aspects and this includes love relationships, power struggles, the Nazi years (of course!) and just conflicts within the family about all kinds of aspects. But it is also a troubling watch for the audience, not an engaging one. I give this one a thumbs-down. Not recommended.
The man who made this is Uli Edel, somebody with a very strange career. While he worked on films that received Oscar-nominations, he also has quite some stinkers in his body of work. Yet, thanks to the positive, he is one of the German filmmakers who also made it to Hollywood and recently worked on some productions that received a lot of (awards) attention in the United States. His work about the Adlon history and clan rarely impressed me though. this may have partially to do with the acting, but in general I felt that the script was not a success and not good enough for almost 5 hours. I am not sure if I would blame Edel here for uninspired writing or the Adlon clan for just not being interesting enough.. In any case, maybe Edel is also to blame because he made this mini-series at all. I thought all three parts were fairly bland and forgettable and there is little in here beyond the sets and costumes that I would describe as a success. The stories all feel very generic beyond the economical aspects and this includes love relationships, power struggles, the Nazi years (of course!) and just conflicts within the family about all kinds of aspects. But it is also a troubling watch for the audience, not an engaging one. I give this one a thumbs-down. Not recommended.