Willy Fritsch Movies

Willy Fritsch and his son Thomas co-star in this Austrian comedy directed by Axel Von Ambesser. Clemens Andermann (Willy) is a successful businessman and ladies man whose son Andreas (Thomas) is equally unsuccessful in love and the business world. Andreas does score big in the theater before moving onto motion picture stardom. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

This is a German language film in which mistaken identity leads to laughter as musicians pretend to be artists. ~ Rovi

This German presentation tells the story of a businessman who takes his son and his governess on a business trip. The father flirts with the governess and the boy runs away. ~ Rovi

In this German language film, a doctor obsesses over her career to the exclusion of all else, including a potential suitor. ~ Rovi

Par Ordre du Tsar (At the Order of the Czar) is liberally based on an incident in the life of famed composer -- and notorious lover -- Franz Liszt. The story concerns the romance between Liszt (Jacques Francois) and the beautiful Russian princess Caroline (Colette Marchand). Alas, Caroline is married to a gross, vengeful prince (Michel Simon) who has no intention of letting her go. The disconsolate composer enters a monastery, setting the stage for the film's bittersweet finale. Throughout the film, the 19th-century Hungarian Revolution rages on, though the audience is treated only to glimpses of this epochal upheaval. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Die Wunderschoene Galathee restages the legend of Pygmalion in turn-of-the-century Vienna. Amorous sculptor Victor (Viktor de Kowa) selects shopgirl Leni (Hannelore Schroth) as his model. Once his masterpiece is completed, Victor abandons Leni--only to find himself romantically attached to the statue made in her likeness. Giving up such delectable romantic partners as a countess (Margarete Haagen) and actress Victoria (Gisela Schmidting), Victor seeks out and rediscovers Leni, whom he now realizes is the true love of his life. Slow going during the "serious" scenes, Die Wunderschoene Galathee truly comes to life during its musical highlights, especially those involving third-billed Willy Fritsch. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The reminiscences of a maid provide the basis for this German drama. The story is told via flashback. The maid recalls the affair between she and the employer who fell in love with her. They are separated, but then they come back together. All of this is from the imagination of the screenwriter who while sauntering about looking for inspiration, sees a couple walking on the street. His resulting story is interspliced with an actor who interprets the story. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Though made in Germany, this film version of Johann Strauss' comic opera Die Fledermaus was distributed in the U.S. by the Russian firm of Artkino. Such full-throated singing personalities as Marte Harell, Johannes Heesters, Willi Dohm and Haus Brauseweiter go through the time-honored paces of the opera's libretto, wherein an upper-class Viennese gentleman simultaneously tries to avoid arrest and to prove his wife's fidelity. Because of running-time restrictions, the audience is denied the pleasure of the original opera's third-act highlight, wherein the participants are invited to sing their favorite operatic arias, whether written by Strauss or not. Happily, the lengthy, largely ad-libbed scene with Frosch the jailer remains intact, with Willi Fritsch bringing down the house as the bibulous Frosch. The Afgacolor process is cleverly deployed throughout, especially in the scene wherein Rosalind (Marte Harell) dyes her hair a flaming red. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi