Wilhelm Bendow
Wanting a lavish production to mark the 25th anniversary of UFA, the German film studio, Joseph Goebbels, director of the Nazi propaganda machine, commissioned an adaptation of Baron von Münchhausen‘s “autobiographical” stories. Baron von Münchhausen (1720-97) was an eccentric figure in European history, whose tall tales about his adventures rival anything to be found in the legends of Paul Bunyan or classic figures like Odysseus. This film recounts some of the episodes from the Baron’s sensational stories, which are set in the world of the 18th century.
Caught at the window just before an air-raid warning (WWII) composer Paul tells how he met his wive Anni, a revue star and song writer, how he handled the courtship and the early years of his marriage, inspite of some professional conflicts - his operas were flops, while his wive had one success after the other - they finally found out how they could help each other.
On the afternoon of Christmas Eve, Sister Angelika bids her boss, Professor Reimers, farewell, for she has quit her post. Reimers doesn’t understand the reason for this and since she won’t say a word as to why she’s quit, he asks her to spend the evening with him and his son Konrad. Konrad, however, wanted to take advantage of the holiday to bring his divorced parents back together and sends Angelika packing as soon as she reaches the house. Disappointed and sad, she drives to the airport to meet Captain van Santen, who also invited her to spend the holiday.
The setting is Lugano (Switzerland), where an apparently very important world conference takes place. The film tells the story of the young Kitty (Hannelore Schroth), who works as a manicurist at the Eden Hotel, and who in the course of events gets to know both a young journalist (Christian Gollong) and the English minister of economics (Fritz Odemar). A lot of wild mix-ups, comic situations, a love story and occasional singing ensue, and in the end most of the VIPs have gained their share of laughter… There’s also a great performance by Paul Hörbiger as the hotel porter. For a 1939 film made in Germany, “Kitty” is remarkably irreverent and satirical about politics.
Cheeky Jette is a typical Berlin girl. Together with her mother, she performs couplets in a Berlin suburb theatre every night. Then, a young Austrian baron, who is worshipping Jette, enables her to audition for Königstädtisches Theater. Although she at first fails with an aria from an opera, Jette wins over the hearts of the board members with her fresh style when she performs a cheeky couplet that was written by Barsch, the stage manager of the suburb theater.
Here's one of the most notorious clashes between the Third Reich censorship and the artist's intentions. Director Schünzel who was half Jewish was allowed to work under special commission due to his success with the public (and because Hitler liked his films) which he used for veiled attacks, most famously in Amphitryon. But in 1937 he finally clashed with Goebbels who was furious about this film here which ended Schünzel's German career and by proxy the tradition of quality German musicals which was only shortly revived by Kurt Hoffmann in the 50s. The story is one of the usual operetta stories with a young princess being destined to marry a king which her mother (the delicious Valerie von Martens known as Curt Goetz' wife and acting partner) tries to enforce while the young woman tries to escape her destiny and meets a young writer who is almost a double of the king which launches a plot with fake assassinations, tangled love affairs and some subtle satire.
To take a revenge on countess Laura, who slapped him at his proposal, the Governor of the occupied Poland gets her fall in love with a poor student, and exposes him during wedding banquet.
For three difficult orphans living by her aunt the former employee of the family searches a new premouth; he releases with it a result of tumultuous involvements. - Humble-entertaining mistake farce, completely fitted on Hans Moser.
Two inspiration sources appear clearly: contemporary American gangster movies and Alfred Döblin’s novel Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929).
A series of stupid coincidences causes the young Munich painter Paul to convert his uncle's castle into a hotel for four weeks. But he can't complain: business is good and he has plenty of guests. For exmple, there's Theo Muller with his revue troupe. For reasons of "sound", Muller calls himself "Miller", which, of course, causes more confusion. His daughter, the beautiful Evelyn, is confused with Mabel Miller, who has come to the hotel on a mission for her filthy rich father ... namely, to estimate the worth of the castle.
Hokuspokus is a 1930 German comedy film directed by Gustav Ucicky and starring Lilian Harvey, Willy Fritsch and Oskar Homolka. It was an adaptation of the play Hokuspokus by Curt Goetz.
"Der Herr auf Bestellung" has the Weimar dream team of Walter Reisch as scriptwriter, Geza von Bolvary as director and most importantly, the incomparable Willi Forst as main actor. This 'musical burlesque' tells about a stylish young gentleman (Willi Forst) who works as a so-called 'Festredner'; an untranslatable term, it indicates a person who makes speeches at important events like marriages etc. for people who don't feel able to do it themselves. Willi lends his voice to a speech-impaired professor (Paul Hörbiger), but the baroness (Trude Lieske) who falls in love with Hörbiger only does so because of Willi's voice, and you can guess that this leads to all sorts of complications…
A scientist, Professor Jakob ten Brinken, interested in the laws of heredity, impregnates a prostitute in a laboratory with the semen of a hanged murderer. The prostitute conceives a female child who has no concept of love, whom the professor adopts. The girl, Alraune, suffers from obsessive sexuality and perverse relationships throughout her life. She learns of her unnatural origins and she avenges herself against the professor.
Naughty Susanne leads an exciting double life between her hometown and Paris: in the provincial nest she is considered the ever virtuous and down to earth girl, while in the cosmopolitan city she always escapes to, she is the queen of the night, sophisticated and seductive. In Paris, she meets René and begins to recruit him, but she has a noble competitor: Jacqueline. A spirited love triangle begins, complicated by the interventions of uncomprehending moral preachers. Their befitting final finds the story in the Moulin Rouge.
Based on the novella Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte by Adelbert von Chamisso.
