G. W. Pabst's 1931 film version of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's 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. Pabst filmed two versions in parallel, one in German Die 3 Groschen-Oper, the other in French (L'Opéra de quat'sous, with different leads and notably different approaches, consistent with the respective target audiences.
The German version of the film was released in New York on May 17, 1931.