ESCAPE TO LIFE: THE ERIKA AND KLAUS MANN STORY

1/2

THE documentary about German writer Thomas Mann’s two oldest children has a split personality.

One is a conventional, TV-style doc, mostly in black and white; the other, color narratives from plays written by Klaus Mann.

Separately, each is mildly interesting. Together they are jarring.

In any event, the question remains: Why make a documentary about these marginal historical figures? Wouldn’t one about their famous dad, author of “Death in Venice,” etc., be more valuable?

Running time: 85 minutes. Not rated. At the Quad, 13th Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues.