Friedl Haerlin Movies

Released in English-speaking countries as The Man Who Murdered, this German melodrama was based on a play by Pierre Frondale (itself inspired by a novel by Claude Farere). Set in pre-WWI Constantinople, the story concerns French diplomatic attache Conrad Veidt, who seduces Trude von Molo, the wife of British aristocrat Heinrich George. Confronted by George, Veidt kills the man, then turns himself into the authorities. But because George was known to be a sadist and a wife-beater, a compassionate Turkish official allows Veidt to return to Paris -- and the arms of Molo -- without fear of arrest or repercussions. Director Kurt Bernhardt regarded Der Mann der den Mord Beging as one of his best films, not so much because of what happens in the film, but because of the omnipresent atmosphere of tension over what might happen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Oscar Karlweis enacts the title role in the German operetta Der Tanzhusar (The Dancing Hussar). The hero is a none-too-bright military man who wriggles in and out of one scrape after another. He also pitches woo in the general direction of the film's two leading ladies, Friedl Haerlin and Gretl Theimer. Ernst Verebes and Oscar Sims provide comic relief, though they're not quite as funny as the corpulent Karlweis' efforts to portray The Great Lover. The inherent humor of Der Tanzhusar can be summed up in a sentence: Everything the hero and his fellow Hussars do, they do wrong. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide