Balalaika

The 1941 Reinhold Schunzel biographical musical composer melodrama based on the life of composer Franz Schubert.

It is partly set in the spa town of Karlsbad in Czechoslovakia

The film starts in the fashionable seaside resort on the Baltic, Heringsdorf, where Renate Müller spends a secret weekend away from her husband with her bosom friend Ida Wüst. The husband meanwhile has a flirtation while traveling by night train from Frankfurt to Berlin, nice atmospheric shots of sleeper and dining car in the morning. The action continues in the luxury villas and apartments of Berlin, Renate Müller wears a string of very elegant outfits. Misunderstandings, jealousies, temporary separation of husband and wife, a few songs, wicked humour.

Käthe von Nagy plays Ronny, who designs the costumes for the upcoming premiere of an opera written by the young prince of Perusa (Willy Fritsch) and has to deliver them personally due to the urgency of the commission. Arriving there, the prince not only is charmed by the young lady (who wouldn't?), but also mistakenly believes her to be the famous singer who is to be the female lead in the opera. What Willy does not know yet is that the real singer has cancelled her appearance, and as the state ministers hope to distract him from politics with the performance of the opera, they indeed want Ronny to appear in the show….

Comedy with an Egyptian backdrop: Businessman Tobby and the Countess Stafanie wish to take all the fun away from their single parents and make them marry each other. Their parents have the same plan, too ... but with regards to their nosy kids. And so it happens, that Tobby wants to surprise the parents with the announcement of their -- the parents' -- engagement at a party (so nice to let them know), but is one-upped by Stefanie's father, the old Count, who announces the engagement of the kids. To avoid a scandal, they have to get married, but will divorce later.

A woman (Lil Dagover) who has lost her husband falls in love again, but is bitterly opposed by her daughters especially the title figure who can't stand the thought of seeing her mother going into a relationship with another man. Those who want to see if Schünzel can pull of drama as easily as he does comedy should give it a try.