Adlon started his professional career as an actor, became interested in radio work, was a narrator and editor of literature series and a presenter and voice-over actor in television for 10 years. In 1970, Adlon made his first short film for Bavarian television, followed by more than 150 documentary films about art and the human condition.[6] His first was a one-hour portrait of French artist and writer Tomi Ungerer, entitled Tomi Ungerer's Landleben. Adlon became fascinated by Ungerer after meeting at an exhibition in Munich and spending time at his home in Nova Scotia, so decided to make him the subject of his first film.[7]
In 1987 he directed Bagdad Cafe, starring Marianne Sägebrecht as a German tourist, CCH Pounder as a motel and truck stop cafe owner in the Mojave Desert, and Jack Palance. Critically acclaimed,[9][10][11][12]Roger Ebert awarded the film 3½ out of 4 stars in his review, stating that "[Percy Adlon] is saying something in this movie about Europe and America, about the old and the new, about the edge of the desert as the edge of the American Dream" and that the charm of Bagdad Cafe is that "every character and every moment is unanticipated, obscurely motivated, of uncertain meaning and vibrating with life".[11] The Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa cited Bagdad Cafe as one of his 100 favorite films.[13]
In 1991, Adlon directed Salmonberries, a picture starring k.d. lang as Kotzebue, an orphaned Eskimo and young woman of androgynous appearance who has a lesbian relationship with an East German widowed librarian. The film was generally well-received,[17] with Kevin Thomas of the L.A. Times describing it as "endearing, remarkably assured and stunning-looking" and noted that Adlon with sensitivity "raises crucial questions of cultural and sexual identity",[18] though Janet Maslin of The New York Times called it a "halting, awkward effort" with "stilted direction" and "sharp camera angles, arty editing".[19]
In 1993, Adlon directed the film Younger and Younger, starring Donald Sutherland, Brendan Fraser and Lolita Davidovich. The film won Adlon the Silver Raven Award at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival.[20] Leonard Klady of Variety considered it to be an "unusual human comedy", a family yarn which "spins out from its simple premise into fantasy, music, black comedy and innumerable offbeat digressions." Klady further noted that the film illustrated "Adlon's unique method of tackling everyday life", which has "ironically been the greatest strength and most problematic aspect to his commercial appeal".[21]
Adlon co-directed his final picture, Mahler on the Couch (2010) with his son Felix, a period film about an affair between Alma Mahler and Walter Gropius, and the subsequent psychoanalysis of Mahler's husband Gustav Mahler by Sigmund Freud. In a review for The Hollywood Reporter, Kirk Honeycutt wrote that the film "manages to pose a serious, intimate study in obsessive jealousy while, like a gaga celebrity hunter, bumping into just about everybody who's anybody in Viennese society circa 1910... The film's great gift, though, is Romaner... She fully inhabits the role of this complex personality whose passion for love and art collides with her role of wife and mother."[23]
Personal life
Percy Adlon was the great-grandson of Lorenz Adlon, the founder of the Hotel Adlon. He was the grandson of Louis Adlon Sr.,[24] and the son of opera tenor Rudolf Laubenthal [de].[25] His son, Felix, also a film director, is the former husband of American actress Pamela Adlon and the father of her three daughters, including actresses Odessa and Gideon Adlon.[26]
Out of Rosenheim a.k.a. Bagdad Cafe (US) (1987) director, writer, producer[20] (Grand Prix IFF Rio de Janeiro, César, Best Foreign Film (French Film Award),[33] Ernst Lubitsch Award (director),[33] Swedish[42] and Danish Film Academies, Bavarian Film Award (original screenplay),[33] Prix Humanum, Belgium.)
Salmonberries (1991) director, writer[17] a.k.a. Percy Adlon's Salmonberries (Germany: poster title)[34] (Grand Prix des Ameriques, Montreal. Bavarian Film Awards for director P.A. and for Rosel Zech, Best Actress.)
Younger and Younger (1993) director, writer, producer[21][34] (Silver Raven, Brussels.[20] Best Actress IFF Tokyo Lolita Davidovich)
In der glanzvollen Welt des Hotel Adlon (1996, TV film) director, a.k.a. The Glamorous World of the Adlon Hotel (Bavarian Television Award)[34]
Bock, Hans-Michael; Bergfelder, Tim, eds. (2009). The Concise Cinegraph: Encyclopaedia of German Cinema. New York: Berghahn Books. pp. 3–4. ISBN978-1-57181-655-9.
Milicia, Joseph (2000). "Percy Adlon". In Pendergast, Tom; Pendergast, Sara (eds.). International Dictionary of Film and Filmmakers. Vol. 2 (4 ed.). St. James Press. ISBN978-1-55862-449-8. OCLC611728059. Retrieved 21 July 2022. he has still achieved a handful of works which remain important and distinctive, particularly for their mixture of cool detachment and genuine compassion for lonely eccentrics.
^Forde, John (2006). "Percy Adlon". In Gerstner, David A. (ed.). Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer Culture (1 ed.). Routledge. p. 7. ISBN9780415306515. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
^Gershon, Joel (26 October 2007). "Japan's 'Khan' opens Thai fest". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 18 March 2024. There is also a retrospective on the career of German director Percy Adlon, who will be on hand. His 1987 "Bagdad Cafe," which earned him awards and high accolades, will be shown along with his recent documentary, "Orbela's People."
