The years between the end of World War I and the rise of Hitler were tough times for the German people as they were recovering from a monstrous defeat. Still, aspects of German life were humming. 1919-1933 was a golden age for the arts.
In cinema, there were Expressionism and social realism styles, Bauhaus sets. Classic films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu, Metropolis, M, The Threepenny Opera, Pandora’s Box, Diary of a Lost Girl, the comedies of Ernst Lubitsch…
Now Flicker Alley has released a two-disc Blu-ray collection of four lesser-known Weimar features called “Champagne and Caviar, Four Weimar Comedies (1931-1932). They are examples of popular cinema of the period, not classics. What drew me to this set are not so much the films, entertaining as most of them are, but the legendary talent that created them. The titles mean little, but the names and faces of the casts include 1930s and 40s Hollywood favorites.
They were German, Austrian, Hungarian, and Russian-born Jews, and/or they were people politically opposed to Nazism. They left Germany in the early thirties for America and England and re-established themselves. These four features are not standout movies, yet they are among the last Weimar films of Peter Lorre, Hedy Lamarr, Felix Bressart, Dolly Haas, Fritz Kortner and others.
Of course, other talents in these four films stayed and worked in the Nazi film industry. Willy Fritch, Renate Muller, and Herman Thimig, for instance. Muller, who stars in one of these films, is of particular interest. She was on par with Marlene Dietrich, a beloved film star, so pretty and so talented. When Hitler came to power and placed Goebbels in charge of the film industry, she was problematic. She refused to give up her Jewish lover, and she didn’t adapt to Nazi policies. Still she remained in the Nazi-controlled industry. Finally, in 1937, her body was found on the sidewalk. She either was pushed from a high window, or she chose to jump rather than be arrested by Hitler’s officers.
Leading man Herman Thimig stars with Renate Muller in The Private Secretary, where he plays a bank director who hoodwinks a naïve typist into thinking he is a low-level colleague. Thimig was a favorite of Hitler’s, and near the end of World War II, Hitler declared him a national treasure, meaning he no longer had military duties.
The four features are: The Private Secretary (1931), The Upright Sinner (1931), The Trunks of Mr. O.F. (1931) and I By Day, You By Night (1932). With the exception of The Upright Sinner, they are entertaining. I laughed and fully enjoyed the lively presentations of comic romance, musical numbers, clever screen-writing, all with amusing touches. However, I found The Upright Sinner to be just plain silly. It’s a dismal comedy of two bankers on the road carrying a briefcase of cash.
Peter Lorre is marvelous as a shrewd conniver in The Trunks of Mr. O.F. I never saw him smile so much! The film begins in a sleepy town which cleverly ends up as a metropolis. Hedy Lamarr, then called Hedy Kiesler, was 16 when she appeared in this film. She looks like a sweet school girl, not yet the gorgeous glamour queen she would become.
The restorations by German archives are first-rate, and Flicker Alley has provided bonus audio commentaries and an informative booklet by Lucas Foerster.
Audrey Kupferberg is a film and video archivist and retired appraiser. She is lecturer emeritus and the former director of Film Studies at the University at Albany and co-authored several entertainment biographies with her late husband and creative partner, Rob Edelman.
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