Heidi (1968 film)

The film altered the plot of the novel considerably, primarily by redefining the relationships of characters to one another. Heidi, instead of being the orphan of Grandfather's late son, becomes the orphan of the Grandfather's late daughter and her late husband; Dete becomes Heidi's aunt as the living but estranged daughter of the Grandfather. In addition, Heidi is further recast as Herr Sesemann's niece because of his late brother's marriage to Grandfather's late daughter. As Sesemann's niece, Heidi becomes cousin rather than simply companion to Klara, who early in the film is negatively portrayed as a hateful and spoiled child. By casting Simmons as Fräulein Rottenmeier, governess for both Heidi and Klara, the film remakes Rottenmeier as an extremely sympathetic character; she becomes almost a surrogate mother to Heidi. This drastic character transformation removes the antagonism between the two, thus removing the tension which dominates and enlivens the novel. Rottenmeier's personality is changed and she falls in love with Sesemann, and he with her, a situation not included in the novel. The film also added a subplot in which Heidi's grandfather, a church organist in this version, has long been unable to play because of a family tragedy, which is shown to be his daughter's marriage to Sesemann's brother and her subsequent death. At the end of the film, he regains his confidence, mounts the steps to the organ, and begins to play. Another difference between the book and the film occurs during Klara's attempts at walking after Sesemann has accepted the Grandfather's invitation for Klara to visit Heidi in his home. In the novel, Sesemann's kindly and strong-willed mother teaches Heidi to read and to pray; she visits the girls on the Alp. Her character is cut completely from the film. In the novel, Peter becomes jealous of Heidi's attentions to Klara and deliberately destroys Klara's wheelchair so that the crippled girl will have to return home; the chain of events resulting from that destruction ends in Klara's taking her first successful steps on the Alp while leaning on Peter and Heidi. In the film, Fräulein Rottenmeier and Herr Sesemann visit the girls, and Grandfather deliberately leaves Klara alone on the mountains, knowing that she actually can walk but has been afraid to try. Klara struggles to get out of her wheelchair, knocking it over and falling down in the process. As she tries to get up, she sees her father, Herr Sesemann, looking at her encouragingly, and haltingly walks towards him. The film ends with a significant glance between Fraulein Rottenmeier and Herr Sesemann, a glance which promises a future for them together. ==Cast==

• Jennifer Edwards as Heidi • Michael Redgrave as Grandfather • Maximilian Schell as Richard Sessemann • Jean Simmons as Frl. Rottenmeier • Walter Slezak as Father Richter • Peter van Eyck as Dr. Bernd Reboux • Zuleika Robson as Klara • John Moulder-Brown as Peter (as John M. Brown) • Karl Lieffen as Sebastian • Elisabeth Neumann-Viertel as Grandmother (as Elisabeth Neumann) • Miriam Spoerri as Aunt Dete ==Production==

The film was shot on location in the Swiss and German Alps. The exterior shots depicting Dörfli were filmed in the villages of Guarda and Ardez in the Engadine valley, canton Graubunden (Grisons) in Switzerland. The church where Father Richter serves is the Katholische Kirche in Ardez. The exterior shots of historic Frankfurt were in fact filmed in Lübeck; Heidi and the boy with the monkey walk past the Salzspeicher buildings and eventually reach St Peter's Church, Lübeck, described as the fictional "St. Michael's" in the film. The scene in the church tower where Heidi looks for the mountains was also filmed there. ==Broadcast==

On November 17, 1968, the film's premiere on NBC unexpectedly became one of the most notorious moments in American broadcasting because it interrupted the conclusion of a game between the American Football League's two top teams—the Oakland Raiders and New York Jets at 1968 AFL season. NBC's network management had taken the decision to show the entire game until its completion even though it was contractually obligated to begin the broadcast of Heidi on the East Coast at 7:00 p.m. ET; the film's premiere would be delayed by the overrunning game. The number of East Coast viewers calling NBC asking for confirmation that the game would be shown to the end caused all 26 phone lines at NBC's switchboard to fuse. Nevertheless, the film was the highest viewed television program of the week and most watched television movie of all time with a Nielsen rating of 31.8 rating and an audience share of 47%. It was surpassed as the most watched television film of all time by 1971's ''Brian's Song''. ==References==