Harald Paulsen Movies

Die Klein Stadt Will Schlafen Gehn translates literally to Little Town Will Go to Sleep. The town in question is a "respectable" German community, thrown into an uproar when a mail bag is stolen. It seems that the bag contained several compromising letters, which, if discovered, will result in a lot of trouble for a lot of local citizens. Somehow or other, the populace comes to the conclusion that the town's "black sheep," a hedonistic sculptor, is in possession of the letters, and that's where the fun begins. The fact that the film manages to squeeze in a bit of nudity enhanced its salability in America. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Brieftrager Mueller translates as Mailman Mueller; no matter what the language, the title character is essayed by Heinz Ruehmann. Resigned to an uneventful existence, mailman Mueller undergoes quite a few changes when he suddenly comes into possession of untold wealth. At base, however, he's still the same plodding, accident-prone fellow he was at the beginning of the film. Most of the picture is devoted to the slapstick consequences of unexpected riches, with clever dialogue used sparingly. Brieftrager Mueller represented the 5th anniversary celebration of the successful German film firm of Bersolina. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Der Herrscher (The Sovereign) was based on Before Sunset, a play by Gerhart Hauptmann. The great Emil Jannings stars as Mathias Clausen, a self-made businessman who is forced to do a great deal of soul-searching when his wife unexpectedly dies. Determining to start life anew, he falls in love with his secretary Inken (Marianne Hoppe) and impulsively takes a vacation to Italy. Clausen's selfish grown children, not wishing to share their father's affections -- nor his money -- with his new wife-to-be, go to court demanding that Clausen be declared mentally incompetent. Upon finding this out, Clausen flies into a rage, leaving the audience to wonder whether or not he really as gone off his trolley. Der Herrscher was directed by Veit Harlan, more famous (or notorious) for his viciously anti-Semitic Jud Suess (1940). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

By accident or design, two pre-Hitler efforts from German filmmaker Carl Boese were distributed to the U.S. during the same week of 1937, roughly five years after both were completed. The first was The Gentleman from Maxims; the second was Die Klein Schiwindlerin -- or, as it was known in the U.S., The Little Schemer. Pixieish Dolly Haas plays the title character, a flirtatious cutie named Annette. Our heroine causes all sorts of mischief for handsome young man-about-town Bob (Harald Paulsen), ultimately winning his love. She also saves him from the machinations of a group of con artists. Though Dolly Haas was unable to sustain her acting career in Hollywood, she remained in close contact with the Performing Arts through her long and lasting marriage to caricature artist Al Hirschfield. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Wenn Wir Alle Engel Waeren (Were We All Angels) is a satirical fable about morality -- or the lack of it. In town on business, prudish family man Christian (Heinz Ruhmann) decides to attend a nightclub, strictly for the purposes of finding out how "wicked" life can be. Drinking a bit too much champagne, Christian convinces himself that, so long as he gets home on time, he's done nothing wrong. Alas, on his way to the railroad station he is distracted by a pretty streetwalker, and ends up spending the night with her. As luck would have it, Christian arrives home a few moments before his wife Hedwig (Leni Marenbach), who'd missed her train after taking her music lesson. In high dudgeon, Christian chastises his spouse for her tardiness, accusing her of "playing around." No doubt about it: someone is about to be hoist on his own petard -- but good! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Professor Niemeyer (Emil Jannings) is known to his students as "Traumulus," or "The Dreamer," in referring to his easygoing nature. Hoping to cushion his charges from the harsh realities of life, Niemeyer allows them to run roughshod over him, refusing to impose any sort of discipline in his classroom. But when his best student commits suicide after getting mixed up in a local scandal, Niemeyer realizes that he's done a disservice to his boys by letting them get away with murder. Without sacrificing his essential decency or humanity, Niemeyer vows to be a stricter taskmaster from this day forward. Keeping his tendency to overact in check, Emil Jannings delivers one of his best and subtlest performances in this film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ave Maria was the second film-starring vehicle for legendary operatic tenor Beniamino Gigli. Mourning the loss of the only woman he ever loved, concert singer Tino Dossi (Gigli) is temporarily shaken from his doldrums by vivacious Montmartre entertainer Claudette (Kaethe Von Nagy). Dossi doesn't realize that Claudette is merely using him to advance her own singing career. Ultimately won over by Dossi's sincerity and courtesy, Claudette falls in love with him for real, only to suffer the pangs of conscience as a result. About to kill herself, she decides instead to return to Dossi's arms, vowing never to confess her original mercenary intentions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Also known as Unholy Tales, the German-made Tales of the Uncanny is a talking-picture homage to the impressionistic "nightmare" films of the German silent cinema. In the manner of the later British Dead of Night, several horror stories are linked together with a central set of characters. Paul Wegener stars as a mad doctor who murders his wife and walls her up in the basement, a la Poe's The Black Cat. He runs from the authorities with a reporter in pursuit; their flight leads them to a brace of additional gory episodes. A brief sojourn in a mental institution develops into an update of Poe's The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Feather, as Wegener locks up the real doctors and permits the lunatics to run wild. After this escapade, the reporter catches up with Wegener at a curious club where the members murder one another--a variation on Robert Louis Stevenson's The Suicide Club. Tales of the Uncanny was released in the US eight years after its completion, then sliced and diced into an inferior version titled The Living Dead (what living dead?). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A sedentary little German town is thrown into a tizzy when several trunks show up from Cairo, Egypt, all marked "O.F." This is followed by a telegram announcing that "O.F." is arriving soon and will expect accommodations. A newspaper reporter tells everyone that the mystery man is a millionaire. In preparation for his arrival, the town goes into a frenzy of construction, building a cinema, an opera house, a casino and several other moneymaking enterprises. It turns out that the reporter has no more idea of who "O.F." is than anyone else; he was simply tired of the village's backward attitude and wanted to improve its economy. Coda: An actress named Ola Fallon vents her anger upon discovering that her staff has inadvertently sent her luggage to the wrong town. A warmhearted German satire, Trunks of Mr. O.F. was fortunately completed just before the burgeoning Nazi movement declared such films as "inessential." The film served to introduce a young ingenue by the name of Hedi Keisler, who went on to Hollywood fame and fortune as Hedy Lamarr, and was also the third film of a wide-eyed stage comedian who was born Laszlo Lowenstein, but who billed himself as Peter Lorre. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

H.H. Evers' best-selling science fiction novel Alraune was the source for this chilling German fantasy. The story is set in motion by a misguided scientist (Albert Basserman) who artificially inseminates a prostitute (Agnes Straub) with the sperm of a convicted murderer. The baby grows up to be a beautiful young woman (Brigitte Helm) with absolutely no sense of right or wrong. Dancing sensuously for the benefit of her admirers, the sociopathic "heroine" leads several otherwise decent men to their ruin. Alraune was remade in 1952 with Erich Von Stroheim and Hildegarde Knef; this version was released to the U.S. as Unnatural. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide