The Threepenny Opera ( German : Die 3 Groschen-Oper) is a 1931 German musical film directed by G. W. Pabst . Produced by Seymour Nebenzal 's Nero-Film for Tonbild-Syndikat AG ( Tobis ), Berlin and Warner Bros. Pictures GmbH , Berlin, the film is loosely based on the 1928 musical theatre success of the same name by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill . As was usual in the early sound film era, Pabst also directed a French-language version of the film, L'Opéra de quat'sous, with some variation of plot details (the French title literally translates as "the fourpenny opera"). A planned English version went unproduced. The two existing versions were released on home video by The Criterion Collection . The Threepenny Opera differs in significant respects from the play and the internal timeline is somewhat vague. The whole of society is presented as corrupt in one form or another. Only some of the songs from the play are used, in a different order.