Ida Wuest Movies
- 1937
The World's in Love is one of several film versions of Franz Lehar's operetta Clo Clo. Marta Eggerth is cast as musical-comedy favorite Ilona Ratkay, who has made the mistake of hiring ambitious press agent Anton (Hans Moser). Figuring that any publicity is good publicity, Anton insists upon spreading rumors of Ilona's alleged sexual peccadilloes. Her career in tatters, our heroine wonders if anyone will ever truly fall in love with her. She doesn't have to wonder long -- not with handsome farmer Peter von Waldenau (Rolf Wanka). But even this moment of bliss is exploited by Anton, who plants a newspaper story claiming that Ilona is the illegitimate daughter of Peter's wealthy father! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marta Eggerth, Leo Slezak, (more)
- 1936
Axel Nielsen's stage play Kontuschowska was the basis for the German comedy Ein Hoczeitstraum (A Wedding Dream). Ida List plays heroine Vera, who is railroaded by her title-chasing mother into a marriage with "Prince Narishkin" (Heinz Salfner). Turns out, however, that the Prince is a phony; the real monarch (Ferdinand Marian) has gone incognito, taking a job as a chauffeur to escape his responsibilities. While honeymooning with the false prince, Vera falls in love with the real Narishkin, never suspecting that she's actually married to the Prince's valet! Things can only get more complicated from here on in, and they do. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ida Wuest, Ferdinand Marian, (more)
- 1936
This German film was originally released as Frauen um den Sonnenking, but was retitled to capitalize on the success of the British Private Life of Henry VIII. In keeping with the current German party line in the mid-1930s, French King Louis XIV (Michael Bohnen) is depicted in the most villainous terms possible. According to this film, the misbegotten monarch was responsible for all the woes in 20th-century Europe. Louis is at his most despotic when dealing with the Germans, who are characterized as the next best thing to saints. Thank heaven that his bride Liselotte (Renato Mueller), Princess of Palatinate, realizes what a louse she's married to. Loyal to the edicts of propaganda minister Goebbels, The Private Life of Louis XIV is thinly disguised Nazi propaganda -- and there were far less-subtle films to come. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1936
Annette (Ursula Grabley) finds herself an overnight millionairess when she inherits a thriving factory town. Rather than assume ownership by right of blood, Annette elects to learn the factory's business from the ground up, thus she takes a job as typist for chairman-of-the-board Bertuch (Max Guelstorff). The remainder of the story is a romantic tug of war as Annette is courted by both Bertuch and humble employee Siebert (Hans Soenker). The musical numbers seem to have been put together on an assembly line and accordingly are performed in the most perfunctory manner possible. Not one of the better German tunefests of the 1930s, Annette Im Paradies still managed to turn a neat profit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ursula Grabley, Hans Söhnker, (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)
- 1935
Die Csardasfurstin (Czardas Princess) was adapted from the Emmerich Kalmann operetta of the same name. Marta Eggerth essays the title role, a regal-looking lass named Sylva Varescu. Not technically a princess, Sylva is a music-hall singer whose beauty attracts the attention of handsome prince Weylersheim (Hans Soehnker) and playboy Count Boni Kansianu (Paul Kemp). Weylersheim is anxious to wed Sylva, but he is already engaged to a young countess (Ida Wuest). This last-named character provides a handy plot solution when she falls for the Count, leaving Weylersheim free to marry our heroine. Because of the Third Reich's "racial purity" policy, the Jewish Emmerich Kalman was unmentioned in the UFA press release for Die Csardasfurstin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marta Eggerth, Hans Söhnker, (more)
- 1933
The story of a military officer during the Weimar Republik who runs away to China, gets involved with some Volga Germans. They get a train, repair the rails and head back to Germany. German language only. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1932
Schoen ist die Maneoverzeit (Beautiful Maneuver Time) is the sort of military comedy that bred like minks in the early-talkie German cinema. A bunch of handsome soldiers who sing and joke a lot, fall for a bunch of beautiful girls, who sing and joke a lot. By film's end, practically everyone has proposed to everyone else. In the midst of all this youth, charm and beauty, Ida Wuerst offers some welcome "ugly relief" in the role of a dour old Baroness. If there was a single cliché left unturned in Schoen ist die Manoeverzeit, the critics in 1932 couldn't find it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ida Wuest, Gretl Theimer, (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
Czikos Baroness was adapted from the stage play by Fritz Greenbaum and Ida Jenbach. Set in Hungary, it's all about Terka Von Marocisz (Greti Theimer), a headstrong noblewoman who prefers the company of the "Czikos," or Hungarian cowboys. Turning down a marriage proposal from Count Ruttkai (Paul Vincenti), one of her own kind, Terka disguises herself as a Cziko maiden and blends into a provincial festival. Not wishing to lose the girl, Ruttkai himself adopts native garb to prove his worthiness amongst the rough-and-ready Cziko men. A climactic horse race brings this musical romance to a rousing conclusion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gretl Theimer, Paul Vincenti, (more)
- 1932
Mein Leopold was based on the long-running play by A. L'Arronge, originally written in the 1870s. Max Adelbert plays a wealthy old Berlin shoe manufacturer who sacrifices all for the sake of his son Leopold (Harald Paulsen). The boy repays his father's devotion by behaving like a thorough bounder, though he eventually redeems himself through the simple expedient of honest hard work. Meanwhile, a trio of subplots involving three young couples are adroitly woven into the central narrative. A delicate blend of comedy, sentimentality and pathos, Mein Leopold proved to be a box-office bonanza. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Max Adalbert, Gustav Froehlich, (more)
- 1932
Telegraph operator Hans Albers wins a fortune at the racetrack, immediately shooting his wad on a new wardrobe. It is Albers' hope to impress Kaethe Von Nagy, the daughter of a wealthy American banker. Even when he's lost all his money, our hero contrives to stay near the girl by hiring himself out as a gigolo in the hotel where she is staying. He ends up back where he started, manning the telegraph board -- and in this capacity he wins the girl by saving her father from financial ruin. Is it any surprise that the film's title translates as The Winner? (Incidentally, the film was ultimately released as Liebe ist Liebe). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hans Albers, Kaethe von Nagy, (more)
- 1932
Music, drama and comedy are neatly integrated in this low-key backstage romance. After a lengthy spell of unemployment, leading man Paul Hartwig (Willy Forst) and leading lady Lisa Brandes (Dolly Haas) prepare to open in a big-time stage musical. Is it any surprise that Paul and Lisa also manage to fall in love? Their story is but one of several leading to the inevitable "big opening"; other subplots involve the director, the composer, the supporting players, the chorus and the technical crew. So Ein Maedel Vergisst Man Nicht is one of the few "putting on a show" endeavors in which it appears that a real show is actually being put on. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dolly Haas, Willi Forst, (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
Die Firma Heiratet (The Firm Weds) is based on a stage comedy by Walter Turczinsky and Jacques Berg. The plot concerns a pompous Baron (Ralph A. Roberts) who is obliged to marry for business reasons. The subsequent in-name-only marriage experiences some rocky moments when both husband and wife fall in love with others. Filmed at the dawn of the talkie era, Die Firma Heiratet didn't make it to the U.S. until 1932. By that time, its primitive sound quality was all the more obvious than it had been some two to three years earlier. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Arthur Roberts, Ida Wuest, (more)
