Otto Wallburg Movies
- 1938
Crossroads is the English title for Carrefour, directed in France by German-born Kurt (later Curtis) Bernhardt. Suzy Prin and Jules Berry star in this master blend of amnesia, romance and deceit. A respected French diplomat is blackmailed by criminals, who insist that the diplomat, who'd once suffered a loss of memory, had been a crook in his previous "life". When Kurt Bernhardt emigrated to the US, he was signed by Warner Bros., thus had no opportunity to work on MGM's remake of Carrefour (again titled Crossroads) starring William Powell, Hedy Lamarr and Basil Rathbone. The story would be adapted a third time for the 1950 British melodrama Dead Man's Shoes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jules Berry, Charles Vanel, (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
In deference to the film's title, private secretary Dolly Haas does marry her boss Max Hansen in the final scene. Before this happens, however, Haas is repeatedly fired by Hansen, only to be rehired time and again through one subterfuge after another. The film reaches a dizzy comic highpoint when Hansen is rescued by his faithful secretary from a compromising situation involving two enraged females. Filmed just before Hitler's ascension to power, Privat-Sekretarin Heiratet spotlights the talents of several artists who would be forced to flee from Germany for political or religious reasons. One of these was director Herman Kosterlitz, who soon changed his base of operation to Hollywood -- and simultaneously changed his name to Henry Koster. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dolly Haas, Max Hansen, (more)
- 1935
Producer Joe Pasternak was making "Deanna Durbin pictures" long before he'd discovered Durbin -- and indeed, long before he'd left Hungary. Pasternak's 1935 musical Peter stars Franciska Gaal as Eva, a 17-year-old gamine who ekes out a living as a street singer. While wandering past an open courtyard, Eva confronts a young burglar, who orders her to change clothes with him so he can make a quick getaway. With nothing but her newfound male garb to her name, our heroine poses as a boy named Peter so that she can obtain a job selling newspapers. In this guise, she experiences all manner of hilarious misadventures, and even finds true love in the form of a handsome doctor (Hans Jaray). Peter was directed by Herman Kosterlitz, who as "Henry Koster" would later helm several of Joe Pasternak's Hollywood musicals. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Franziska Gaal, Hans Jaray, (more)
- 1933
In this pre-WWII German mystery-comedy, a lovely klepto with a taste for fine jewelry is unable to resist temptation. Strangely, every time she steals something, a mysterious man pays for it. A clumsy detective begins investigating and finds a crucial clue: a strongly scented woman's glove. The perfume is an expensive scent and the detective's pal realizes that it belongs to a popular nightclub singer. The friend quickly becomes enamored of the girl, but then so does her mystery man, a notorious international criminal. Eventually he gets arrested, leaving the detective's pal to move in on the singer. Only one copy of this film exists and it is locked away in a Swiss vault. It is primarily of interest because the screenplay was written by Billy Wilder and it stars Peter Lorre, both of whom later emigrated to the US to become major Hollywood players the year the Nazis took over Germany. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gustav Froehlich, Nora Gregor, (more)
- 1933
Love and Kisses, Veronika is the English-language title for this farcical Hungarian romance. Franziska Gaal stars as Veronika, a pretty flower-store clerk who's in love with her boss Paul Rainer (Paul Hoerbiger). Trouble brews when married insurance agent Max Becker (Otto Wallburg) orders a bouquet of roses for his wife. The flowers arrive with an accompanying card, reading "Love and Kisses, Veronika." It's all a mistake, of course, but try telling that to Becker's wife (Hilde Hildebrandt) -- or to Paul. Everything is straightened out to everyone's satisfaction just in time for the "End" title to appear. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Franziska Gaal, Paul Hoerbiger, (more)
- 1932
Writer Emeric Pressburger is best known for his 1940s British film collaborations with producer/director Michael Powell. In a previous life, however, Pressburger toiled away in the German film industry. Beautiful Adventure was adapted by Pressburger and director Reinhold Schuenzel from a French stage play by Etienne Rey and Robert DeFlers. Ida Wuest stars as a lovely fraulein engaged to a corpulent man of wealth. She runs off on the day of her wedding with the man she really loves, sparking a merry chase throughout Europe. This was the sort of frothily foolish fare that German film fans ate up both before and after the advent of Hitler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alfred Abel, Kurt Vespermann, (more)
- 1932
This German flag-waver recounts the life and career of famed 19th-century Prussian military leader General Yorck. Werner Krauss, who 13 years earlier had starred in Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, plays the title role. The film's dramatic high-water mark is the moment in 1812 that Yorck refuses to obey his wrong-minded King, whereupon he is branded a rebel. Within a few years, the German film industry would be nationalized by the Nazi party, whereupon any film in which a courageous general dared to stand up to his country's leader would be rejected out of hand. Ironically, by that time the fervently patriotic Werner Krauss would be designated an "Actor of the State." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Werner Krauss, Grete Mosheim, (more)
- 1932
Zwei Herzen in Ein Schlag (Two Hearts in One Beat) is a tailor-made vehicle for popular musical star Lillian Harvey. Usually cast opposite Willy Fritsch, Harvey is here co-starred with a new screen partner, newcomer Wolfgang Albach-Retty. The story concerns Jenny (Harvey), a cabaret performer who aspires to an operatic career, and her husband, waiter Victor (Albach-Retty). Achieving success on stage, Jenny decides to divorce Victor and marry a nobleman, but her husband refuses to consider such a thing. Jenny then sets about to goad Victor into treating her with cruelty, thereby giving her grounds for divorce. By the time he responds to her efforts, however, she's fallen in love with him all over again. Star Lillian Harvey and director William Thiele also collaborated on the French-language version, La Fille et le Garcon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lilian Harvey, Wolf Albach-Retty, (more)
- 1932
He was known as Anatole Litvak during his Hollywood directorial career, but he was still Anatole Litwak when he helmed the German musical Das Lied Einer Nacht (The Song of Night). Famed Polish tenor Jan Kiepura stars as famed Italian tenor Ferraro. Escaping from his tyrannical manager, Ferraro switches identities with a young tourist (Fritz Schulz) and goes off on an unscheduled Swiss holiday. Still travelling incognito, our hero falls in love with a winsome mountain girl (Magda Schneider). Alas, both his romance -- and his freedom -- are placed in jeopardy when it turns out that the charming young fellow with whom Ferraro traded identities was actually a notorious swindler. Anatole Litvak also directed the English-language version of Das Lied Einer Nacht, Be Mine Tonight. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jan Kiepura, Magda Schneider, (more)
- 1932
E.A.Dupont's Trapeze was originally released in 1931 as Salto Morale (aka Circus of Sin). A rehash of Dupont's silent classic Variety, the film stars Anna Sten and Adolph Wohlbruch. A huband-and-wife pair of circus performers. Deeply in love, the couple is rent asunder by the intrusion of another man. Things end on a tragic note when the husband wreaks what he thinks is a clever vengeance -- but isn't. The film that made Anna Sten a star in Europe, Trapeze's 1934 American release coincided with the appearance of Sten's first Hollywood picture, Nana. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Sten, Reinhold Bernt, (more)
- 1931
The queen wants to take a vacation, and she wants passage aboard a ship whose crew is waiting for their pay. The captain has a winning streak and acquires enough money to pay the crew, but he doesn't know when to stop and loses all of the cash. He demands that the casinos of Monte Carlo refund his money or claims he will bomb the city. The queen, who has remained aboard, orders his arrest. Unwilling to be taken captive, he jumps ship and is saved by the crew of a ship which is going to Honolulu. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1931
Ihre Majestaet die Liebe (Her Majesty, Love) stars Kaethe von Nagy as a charming Berlin barmaid, in love with aristocratic Franz Lederer. The hero's stuffy businessman brother disapproves of the romance and tries to buy the girl off, while her ex-vaudevillian father Szoeke Sakall (later known as S. Z. Sakall) does his best to marry the girl off to a wealthy baron. Thanks to a series of unfortunate misunderstandings, the heroine ends up as the baron's bride, but the couple comes to the mutual agreement that the marriage is a mistake, and the baron gives the girl a divorce -- making her a baroness in the process and thus a suitably "high born" bride for the faithful Lederer. Ihre Majestaet die Liebe was remade in Hollywood as Her Majesty Love, with Marilyn Miller as the heroine and W. C. Fields as her father. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kaethe von Nagy, Francis Lederer, (more)
- 1931
The "Weekend in Paradise" of the title is predicated on an extended case of mistaken identity. Some of the gags and comic situations date back as far as Plautus, but this doesn't make them any less funny. It helps that the cast is filled to the brim with talented farceurs, from Julius Falkenstein on down. The direction is by Robert Land, who always managed to improve his material with above-average cinematography (courtesy of cameraman Willy Goldberger and Robert Lach) and sound recording (Carlo Paganini). Week-End im Paradies was adapted from the stage play of the same name by the original author, Ernst Neubach. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julius Falkenstein, Walter Steinbeck, (more)
- 1931
The title of this carefree German comedy translates as Who Takes Love Seriously. It isn't easy at first to see what this title has to do with the plot, which involves a pair of small-time swindlers. Our heroes' latest scam is to steal dogs then return them to their owners for a hefty reward. Along the way, the two rapscallions get mixed up with the heroine (Jenny Jugo), who's smarter than both of them put together. The films of Jenny Jugo could always be counted upon to make the turnstiles click in Germany, and the immensely profitable Wer Nimmt Liebe Ernst is no exception. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Max Hansen, Jenny Jugo, (more)
