Georg Jacoby Movies
- 1959
This fictional story tells of a South American dancer and her daughter who wants to marry a man from Hamburg. Mom decided to intervene and gets mixed up with drug smugglers. This is in German only. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1959
The dancing talent of Marika Roekk allows this otherwise routine musical to rise above its limited storyline and banal dialogue. Marika (Roekk) is divorced from a popular composer (Johannes Heesters) and is determined to show him she can make a name for herself without riding his coattails. Her idea is to keep at it until she achieves well-deserved recognition in a musical and dance revue. Since Marika Roekk herself came back from semi-obscurity with her preceding film, At Green Cockatoo, most Germans would easily make the connection to her role in this film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marika Rökk, Johannes Heesters, (more)
- 1957
This saucy Austrian comedy-drama is based on the venerable stage play by Gustav Kadelburg. Helga Martin stars as Hedwig, the rebellious adoptive daughter of the Schimek clan. Hedwig rises to fame in fin-de-siecle Vienna by becoming a cabaret star, gaining notoreity by revealing more of her lovely legs than was acceptable at the time. Her outraged stepfather inaugurates legal action to end Hedwige's stage career, with lively results. Enhancing the charm of Famile Schimek is its utilization of vintage drinking songs and ballads as background music. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Theo Lingen
- 1957
Nachts im Gruenen Kakadu translates roughly to At Green Cockatoo at Night. The titular bird isn't a "who" but a "what": the Green Cockatoo is a fancy nightclub, inherited by a "Miss Manners" type named Irene Wagner (Marika Roekk). Unfortunately, Irene has also inherited the nightclub's mounting debts. Unable to hire entertainment, our heroine is obliged to do all the singing and dancing herself. All of which was just fine for the many fans of veteran German-Hungarian musical comedy star Marika Roekk, for whom Nachts im Gruenen Kakadu was a long-awaited comeback. The film was directed by Frau Roekk's husband, George Jacoby. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marika Rökk, Dieter Borsche, (more)
- 1950
Popular Austrian operetta star Marika Rockk does not disappoint her fans in Das Kind der Donau. Though a bit long in tooth for her role, Rockk is reasonably convincing as Marika, the daughter of Danube boatmaster Christof Josef Egger. While singing to herself one day, Marika is discovered by a journalist Karl Straup who is so entranced by her beauty and talent that he puts up his own money to build an opera company around her. A few minor complications later, Marika and the journalist head for the altar. It was still possible to pull off a hackneyed plot like this one in 1950, especially with the stunning Marika Rockk in the lead. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Liewehr, Josef Egger, (more)
- 1937
Ein Stelldichein im Schwarwald (Rendezvous in the Black Forest) is a curious amalgam of music, romance and slapstick farce. Anticipating many a Hollywood musical of the 1940s, the story is motivated by a "battle" between popular tunes and the classics. Two young composers, Paul (Harald Paulsen) and Peter (Hugo Schrader), try to peddle their tunes to an old-fashioned song publisher named Kuehlmann (Theo Lingen). One of the boys also attempts to woo and win the publisher's pretty daughter Lenox (Magda Schneider). What plot there is merely serves as an excuse to parade a series of lavish musical highlights across the screen. Incidentally, leading lady Magda Schneider was the mother of 1960s film favorite Romy Schneider. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Magda Schneider, Harald Paulsen, (more)
- 1937
Xavier Rossmair (Joe Stockel) is a ruddy-faced, good-hearted rural innkeeper who hopes to improve the local tourist trade. With several of his rustic friends, Xavier organizes a theatrical troupe, intending to put on plays for the entertainment and edification of big-city visitors. Alas, the members of the troupe become hopelessly stage-struck, and before long all of them are drawing up plans to leave the community and head to Berlin for fame and fortune. The would-be actors are finally convinced to stay put by a series of unexpected romances and an even more unexpected "mass marriage." Though German through-and-through in conception and execution, Spiel auf der Tenne (The Play on the Tenne) contains enough recognizable truths to appeal to an American audience. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kurt Meisel, Fritz Kampers, (more)
- 1937
Gasparone was one of several George Jacoby-directed movies designed to promote the film career of musical-comedy star Maria Rokk. Although the casting of Fraulein Rokk was at first opposed by German propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, he eventually and mysteriously relented, though it certainly wouldn't be the last time that movie casting decisions would be made by the mercurial Goebbels. The story concerns a nationwide manhunt for a robber and woman-abductor called "Gasparone". In fact, there is no such person: Gasparone has been invented to keep the cops busy whenever restauranteur Massacio (Oskar Sima) is receiving his latest shipment of contraband coffee. Helping Massacio pull off this subterfuge is his pretty niece Ita (Rokk). The plot thickens when a handsome stranger (Johanne Heesters) is accused of being the elusive Gasparone. Appearing as Maria Rokk's screen partner is Leo Slezak, the opera-star father of Walter Slezak. Gasparone proved to be yet another hit for Rokk and Jacoby, who would later solidify their collaboration via marriage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Slezak, Oska Sima, (more)
- 1937
In keeping with its title, which translates as Tales from the Vienna Woods, this German operetta spotlights the lilting three-quarter-time tunes of Johann Strauss. It all begins when humble mechanic Rudi Walheim (Wolf Albach-Retty) inherits a title and a castle. Unfortunately, his new domicile is mortgaged to the hilt, forcing Rudi to cook up a few get-rich-quick schemes. He is helped along by Millie (Magda Schneider), a poor girl pretending to be rich, and Mary (Truus von Aalten), a rich girl pretending to be poor. It's anybody's guess as to which girl our hero will marry at film's end. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Magda Schneider, Wolf Albach-Retty, (more)
- 1936
"Ist Mein Mann Nicht Fabelhaft?" ("Isn't My Husband Wonderful?") coos adoring wife Lu Brandt (Lien Deyers). Lu's hubby Victor (Georg Alexander) may indeed be wonderful, but rich he's not. A lowly employee in a record-player factory, Victor discovers that his wife has told their neighbors that he's actually the company's supervisor. Rather than embarrass Lu, Victor tries to live up to his reputation -- and nearly goes broke in the process. But the worst is still to come when Victor's neighbors, each of them laboring under the misapprehension that they're musically talented, descend upon the Victrola factory en masse demanding auditions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Georg Alexander, Lien Deyers, (more)
- 1936
Madonna, Wo Bist Du? (Madonna, Where Are You?) is a vehicle for Liane Haid, and as such is virtually indistinguishable from her earlier films. Haid is cast as young opera diva Gilda Garden, engaged to marry her elderly mentor. While attending a masquerade ball, Gilda makes the acquaintance of a handsome young man, who of course has no idea who she is. After the ball, the lovestruck lad searches for Gilda by broadcasting a plaintive "Madonna, Where Are You?" over the radio. The question soon becomes a national catchphrase, and then a song, bringing overnight fame to the young man. But Gilda never suspects that she is the selfsame Madonna until she chances to meet her mystery suitor at a dinner party -- whereupon her aged fiancé, sizing up the situation, nobly steps out of her life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liane Haid, Fritz Schulz, (more)
- 1936
Heisses Blut (Hot Blood) is a vehicle for musical-comedy favorite Marika Roekk, who always did better with the public than she did with critics. Set in Hungary, the story centers on a once-wealthy family, now on their uppers. Heroine Marika von Koeroessy (Roekk) is willing to give up almost everything she has to keep her loved ones out of debtor's prison. But Marika draws the line at selling her beloved horse Satan, and it is this refusal that motivates the rest of the plot. Most of the songs in Heisses Blut are traditional Gypsy tunes, of a sort that would soon be banned by the racist Hitler regime. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marika Rökk, Paul Kemp, (more)
- 1936
Der Bettelstudent (The Beggar Student) was based on the same-named operetta by Carl Miloecker. The plot is implicit in the title, as a seemingly impoverished scholar triumphs over his wealthier rivals and claims the girl of his dreams. Such German film favorites as Fritz Kampers, Ida Wuest and Marika Roekk do not disappoint their fans as they go through their customary musical paces. There's also room for some traditional comedy relief, handled in traditional fashion by Ernst Behmer. The highlight of Der Bettlestudent is the second-act ballet, splendiferously photographed by a full cadre of UFA cameramen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marika Rökk, Fritz Kampers, (more)
