Sara Maritza Movies
A star, it was often stated, of international renown, the deliberately enigmatic Sari Maritza had gained her first notoriety performing a lurid tango with Charles Chaplin at the 1931 London premiere of City Lights. It was widely assumed that she was to become the comedian's newest leading lady, onscreen as well as off, but their ways soon parted. Instead, she starred in several low-budget British productions and enjoyed some success opposite Germany's Hans Albers in UFA's Monte Carlo Madness (1932). Arriving in Hollywood under contract to Paramount soon after, Maritza explained that her last name was derived from the operetta The Countess Maritza.In reality, she was Dora Patricia Deering-Nathan, the daughter of a British industrialist and his Viennese wife. She had apparently played up her Austrian background to the point where British filmmakers begged her to "lose the accent." "I 'learned' to speak perfect English in a week and was considered a very clever girl," she later admitted. Paramount rather obviously saw another Marlene Dietrich in the newcomer and attempted to hide her true ancestry. Unfortunately, Forgotten Commandments (1932), in which she plays a rather ridiculous femme fatale and a failure of some magnitude, made all the secrecy moot, and she was later completely upstaged by W.C. Fields (and who wouldn't be?) and real-life social butterfly Peggy Hopkins Joyce in the anarchic International House (1933), her only film with any lasting impact.
Maritza married MGM producer Sam Katz in October of 1934 and later that year appeared in her final film, Mascot's Crimson Romance, in which she played a Red Cross nurse struggling through a very low-budget version of WWI. Her co-star in this odd melodrama was none other than silent screen maestro Erich Von Stroheim, who later confessed to have accepted the part "in order to bring home the shekels -- and there were very few at that."
Sari Maritza once rather candidly told a reporter that she couldn't act. None of her surviving films contradicts that statement although she seems to have been a colorful personality offscreen, typical of the many Continental "vamps" struggling in the slipstream from Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich. But she always fought the label of "mystery woman," explaining, "There is no use trying to be something you aren't." Perhaps she should have stayed Patricia Nathan. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- 1934
Often written off as just another Poverty Row effort featuring a fallen-from-grace Erich Von Stroheim, Mascot Pictures' Crimson Romance is actually a slick, entertaining little drama about broken dreams and dashed ideals. When World War I breaks out, a pair of German/American lads (Ben Lyon and Hardie Albright) return to their parents' homeland to sign up with the Kaiser's air force. Complications ensue when America enters the conflict. Lyon cannot reconcile himself with killing his own countrymen and joins the American side, while Albright remains loyal to Germany. After Albright is shot down, Lyon consoles the fallen aviator's girl friend Sari Maritza. The relationship blossoms into love, and soon Lyon and Maritza are wed. They attend the funeral of Albright, where the dead boy's mother delivers an impassioned anti-war speech. And where is Erich Von Stroheim? He's typecast as a brutal German commandant, albeit one with a mordant sense of humor. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ben Lyon, Sara Maritza, (more)
- 1933
Hollywood responded to the exigencies of the Depression with such glorious nonsense as International House. The plot is motivated by a revolutionary television device called the Radioscope, which its Chinese inventor (Edmund Breese) is offering to the highest bidder. All interested parties are obliged to converge at International House, an ultra-modern hotel in the bustling Chinese community of Wu Hu. Among those parties is American envoy Stu Erwin, Russian general Bela Lugosi (a hilarious, pratfalling performance), the general's ex-wife Peggy Hopkins Joyce (a much-married showgirl of the era, who like Zsa Zsa Gabor was famous for being famous), and that celebrated aviator Professor Quail, better known as W.C. Fields. The lunacy begins even before Fields arrives, thanks to the antics of the hotel's doctor George Burns and nurse Gracie Allen. When Erwin comes down with the measles (he is always struck down by a childhood disease whenever he's about to marry his fiancee Sari Maritza), the hotel is quarantined. The guests make the most of their enforced stay by watching the many variety acts broadcast over the radioscope device: Rudy Vallee, singing a love song to his megaphone; Baby Rose Marie (the same), belying her 11 years by belting forth a hotcha jazz number; radio humorists Stoopnagle and Budd, showing off their own goofy inventions; and Cab Calloway, singing a paean to marijuana titled "Reefer Man" (only in recent years has this peppy number been seen with any regularity on television). There's also an elaborate production number on the dance floor of the hotel, featuring Sterling Holloway and a bevy of beauties dressed as cups and saucers. Once Fields drops in via his art-deco autogyro, the film is firmly in his pudgy hands. Erwin outbids the others for the radioscope, while Fields escapes in his aircraft with Peggy Hopkins Joyce in tow (she keeps insisting that she's sitting on something, whereupon Fields replies "I lost mine in the stock market"). A truly unique filmgoing experience, International House is a must-see for any aficionado of 1930s musical comedies. PS: The film's now-famous "outtake," showing Fields calmly advising the cast and crew not to panic while the set is rocked by a California earthquake, was actually staged several days after the genuine quake. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peggy Hopkins Joyce, W.C. Fields, (more)
- 1933
A couple of down-and-out British aristocrats buy an American roadhouse in this uproarious farce from Paramount. Naming the establishment after their estate in the old country, Twicket-on-Topping, Lady Beulah (Alison Skipworth) and her brother Sir Reginald (Roland Young) run afoul of American gangsters and when an attempt to sell the place to unsuspecting capitalist Mr. Stephens (DeWitt Jennings) comes to naught, Lady Beulah turns the roadhouse into an upscale café, the Boots and Saddles. The stout Englishwoman, however, staunchly refuses to provide liquor from bootlegger Nutty Bolton (Warren Hymer) and the latter attempts to ruin the establishment's recent goodwill by spiking the drinks. In the end, Lady Beulah is rescued by her niece Cecily (Sari Maritza), whose American boyfriend finally cons Stephens into buying the place right before it is raided by the police. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- Starring:
- Alison Skipworth, Roland Young, (more)
- 1933
Produced in Arizona by theater legend Oliver Morosco's wife Helen Mitchell, Her Secret told the sordid story of Waffles (Sari Maritza, a waitress accused by Tucson bluenoses of "contributing to the delinquency of minors." One "minor" in particular is Johnny Norton (Buster Collier), the exiled son of a Chicago industrialist (Alan Mowbray), in Tucson after having served a jail term for drunk driving. Johnny falls for Waffles, the pretty waitress, but is disturbed when the girl visits a remote cabin with a male friend, Tex (Rex Armond). Unbeknownst to all and sundry, Waffles is actually visiting her dying mother, but rumors fly and the students from a local college are soon prohibited from frequenting her café. Her Secret was banned in many locations but after a few incendiary scenes had been deleted, the film enjoyed a wide release in 1936 under a new title, The Girl from Georgia. According to some reports, the production was financed by a local Tucson businessmen, one of whom was the father of supporting player Tex Armond. Despite her exotic name, leading lady Sari Miritza actually hailed from Great Britain. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sara Maritza, Alan Mowbray, (more)
- 1933
Overworked and fearing that life is passing her by, eminent plastic surgeon Margaret "Peggy" Simmons (Ann Harding) takes an impromptu trip to California in this lifeless romance from RKO. She meets and falls in love with playboy Bobby Preble (Robert Young), who seems to sustain himself by little more than the ability to party and fly an airplane. Much to the consternation of fellow physician Dr. Heppling (Nils Asther), Peggy accepts Bobby's impulsive proposal. But life among the young elite does not prove as fulfilling as Peggy had hoped for, especially when flighty debutante Lee Joyce (Sari Maritza) reenters the picture. "I let myself forget that I was grown up," our heroine sighs before falling into the arms of the always-accommodating Dr. Heppling. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ann Harding, Robert Young, (more)
- 1932
In this romance, an impoverished Viennese aristocrat becomes a gigolo. While on the job, he encounters a Yankee widow who is terribly impressed by titled men. They get involved and she helps him start afresh. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Herbert Marshall, Sara Maritza, (more)
- 1932
This realistic British drama chronicles the lives of gypsies who live in barges on the Thames. The story begins when a beautiful young gypsy finds herself becoming attracted to a luxurious life after she is hired as a famous artist's mode. To ensure she can stay, the woman makes romantic overtures toward the painter. The man's fiancee is most displeased by this and romantic conflict ensues, culminating in the drowning of the hapless fiancee. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ann Todd, Sara Maritza, (more)
- 1932
Forgotten Commandments is a well-meaning but clumsy attempt to explore the consequences of communism. The story takes place at a Russian university where religious discussion is forbidden. A priest risks his life to espouse the Ten Commandments, but he is killed by a hedonistic scientist (Irving Pichel) who writes up his own set of "pagan" commandments--which leads to an overall loosening of morals at the university. The scientist comes to grief when his own mistress (Sari Maritza) takes the "new" commandments to heart and begins an affair with a married man (Gene Raymond). The sole highlight of Forgotten Commandments is a "flashback" sequences to Moses' flight from Egypt, lifted bodily from the Cecil B. DeMille silent epic The Ten Commandments. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sara Maritza, Gene Raymond, (more)
- 1931
Celebrated British music-hall entertainer Lupino Lane was both star and director of No Lady. Lane plays a henpecked husband who gets more than he bargained for when he goes on holiday in Blackpool. Before he can even get his bearings, our hero is mixed up with nest of foreign spies, determined to sabotage a British air show. Virtually every gag in the film was lifted from one of Lane's old 2-reelers, including the ancient wheeze about a Scotchman's purse yielding a moth. Is it any wonder that Lupino Lane eventually abandoned films in favor of "live" performances before large and appreciative crowds? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sara Maritza, Renee Clama, (more)
- 1930
Cafe owner Freshman loses his singer, Maritza, to nightclub owner Lewis who provides the singer with stardom and an elegant apartment. The film ends happily when Freshman and Maritza find each other again. ~ Rovi
- 1930
No, Bed and Breakfast isn't about a New England motel. It is about a British married couple (Sari Maritza and Richard Cooper) who've just had a rather nasty quarrel. To get even with one another, the husband and wife take up with new lovers. Nothing really untoward happens, though there's plenty of "Third Act" scurrying about at a roadside inn involving various couples, a burglar, and the bobbies. You may recognize leading lady Sari Maritza as Stu Erwin's girlfriend in the 1933 Hollywood musical farce International House. Bed and Breakfast was based on a play by Frederick Whitney. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Cooper, Jane Baxter, (more)
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