This is my second time viewing this movie. I watched the original German version first and this time I went back and watched the concurrently-filmed French version. Of the two, I found the French to be much more preferable. I'm not 100% convinced I should keep this movie, even though it's a Criterion Collection. It's interesting to watch but I'm just not sure I like it.Mackie Messer (Albert Prejean in the French version) is a gangster in London who has risen to the top of the Soho heap. He wants to marry Polly Peachum (Florelle) but her father, the King of Beggars, doesn't approve. So they get married anyway. Her father threatens the Chief of Police that if something isn't done about Mack the Knife (yes, that's where the song comes from) he and his beggars will disrupt the planned coronation ceremony of a queen who is unnamed in the film but is probably Queen Victoria.
The character of Mackie is supremely unlikable. He's an asshole to all his subordinates, marries Polly and then immediately goes back to the brothels, and doesn't have a single kind word for anyone. Despite this, people fall over themselves to help him out. I find that baffling. It is billed as a musical but most of the music has nothing to do with the plot, it's just a way for characters to sing.
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