Curt J. Braun Movies

Starring the peripatetic Eddie Constantine as Eddie Petersen ("Hoppla Eddie"), this amusing crime parody pokes at the foibles of gangster movies. Eddie is a seaman working out of Hamburg who has been given the enviable job of watching over a group of pretty South American women. While this seems like a better assignment than putting out to sea for six months, he soon finds himself in more limited, but very hot water. One of the women may hold the key to a secret uncovered by her famous scientist-father, now deceased. He apparently discovered something cheap to power the automobile and a notorious international gang is after his invention. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Nachts im Gruenen Kakadu translates roughly to At Green Cockatoo at Night. The titular bird isn't a "who" but a "what": the Green Cockatoo is a fancy nightclub, inherited by a "Miss Manners" type named Irene Wagner (Marika Roekk). Unfortunately, Irene has also inherited the nightclub's mounting debts. Unable to hire entertainment, our heroine is obliged to do all the singing and dancing herself. All of which was just fine for the many fans of veteran German-Hungarian musical comedy star Marika Roekk, for whom Nachts im Gruenen Kakadu was a long-awaited comeback. The film was directed by Frau Roekk's husband, George Jacoby. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Swiss actress Signe Hasso, who'd previously toted up several respectable Hollywood credits, improved the international marketability of Die Sonne von St. Moritz (The Sun of St. Moritz). Hasso plays Gertie Selle, the wife of a seriously ill older man. Tending to the husband's needs is Dr. Robert Frank (Karlheinz Boehm, later billed as Karl Boehm), who falls in love with Gertie. When the wife administers a fatal overdose of medicine to her husband, Dr. Frank -- correctly suspecting that she has committed murder -- elects not to report the particulars of the death. This turns out to be a big mistake later on, when Gertie attempts to blackmail the doctor. The crisis seems to end with the death of one of the principals, but in fact it's only the beginning. Die Sonne von St. Moritz is based on a novel by P. O. Hoecker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Stimme des Blutes (Blood Bonds) bears faint traces of the silent German classic Variety. Albert Matterstock and Attila Horberger play Robert and Thomas Arlen, a fraternal team of trapeze artists. Though the two brothers have despised one another since Thomas stole Robert's wife, they are compelled to professionally remain co-workers. When a killing occurs and it seems as though Robert is responsible, Thomas takes the blame, hoping thereby to atone for his sin against his brother. The film was directed by Karl Julis Fritzche, future manager of Germany's Tobis Studios. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The title of this German murder mystery translates literally as Stronger Than Paragraphs. Paul Hartmann stars as criminal attorney Dr. Birk, at present defending an accused killer. In the course of the trial, another person is arrested for the crime on circumstantial evidence and subsequently sentenced to death. It is at this point that Birk discovers the surprising truth and is forced into a most difficult dilemma. Should Birk betray his attorney-client confidence in order to save an innocent man from execution? Staerker als Paragraphen was based on a novel by Curt I. Braun. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "Castle in Flanders" of the title is where six aristocratic British officers are billeted during WWI. To pass the time, they play a scratchy old record on a ramshackle gramophone, eventually falling in love with the female voice heard on the recording. Meanwhile, the selfsame girl, a Parisian revue artiste named Gloria Delamare (Marta Eggarth) must fend off the attentions of her many ardent suitors. When she finally falls in love, it is of course with one of those six British officers, a man who has gone broke and is now a "suitable" beau for the low-born Gloria. The lucky swain is played by Paul Hartmann, one of Germany's most popular leading men of the 1930s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

There was nothing sly or subtle about the German S.A.-Mann Brand: The film set out to "glorify" the Third Reich, and succeeded spectacularly so far as pro-Hitlerites were concerned. S. A. stands for "Sturm-Abeling," or "Storm Troopers," the Nazi elite who are depicted as gods on earth in this 85-minute political tract. Opposing the heroic, clean-limned storm troopers are a band of scurrilous communists, every one of them a rat or a louse or both. The film's climax finds a 14-year-old Hitler Jugend nobly taking a bullet to save a comrade, thereby providing the story with a "Horst Wessel"-style martyr. For American consumption, the more virulent anti-Semitic sequences in S.A.-Mann Brand were removed, but the bitter taste still remained. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The title translates literally as I'll Never Believe in Women Again, thereby neatly giving away the entire plot. Ostensibly a vehicle for popular operatic tenor Richard Tauber, the film consigns Tauber to a secondary "bemused observer" role. The basic story focuses on sailor Jochem (Paul Hoerbiger), who hopes to settle down in small port town. Falling in love with local prostitute Katja (Maria Solveg), Jochem sets about to reform her -- only to discover that the girl is his own long-lost sister. Disillusioned, Jochem returns to the sea, but not before making the titular vow to himself. Previously released in New York in a truncated version in 1932, the original, uncut Ich Glaub Nie Mehr an Eine Frau was distributed stateside a year later, and while it the complete version isn't much of an improvement, at least Richard Tauber was permitted a few extra songs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

No Ceremony With a Mayor is the English-language title of this provincial German farce. Siegfried Arno is typecast as Siegmund Meyer, the owner of a combination marriage bureau and divorce service. Hoping to impress his future father-in-law, Siegmund adopts the pose of a millionaire. Meanwhile, he nearly loses his sweetheart by inadvertently matching her up with his best friend. All of this sounds a lot like Bachelor Bait, a Stu Erwin comedy filmed in 1934 by RKO Radio. Chances are, however, that neither RKO nor director George Stevens were aware of the existence of Kein Feier Ohne Meier. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Paunchy, balding, and middle-aged, Richard Tauber was hardly a likely candidate for film stardom. But Tauber's indescribably beautiful tenor voice was all his fans cared about, thus he continued to be top-billed in such vehicles as Die Grosse Attraktion (The Big Attraction) throughout the 1930s. In this one, Tauber is not called upon to act; that responsibility falls to Margo Lion and Siegfried Arno, cast as a seriocomic vaudeville dance team. Little more than a filmed variety show, Die Grosse Attraktion includes specialties by several talented revue artists, as well as tunes written by composers as diverse as Franz Lehar and Bronsilaw Kaper. In the final analysis, however, it was the presence of Richard Tauber which drew the crowds to this film like a magnet. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Das Land des Lachelins (The Land of Smiles) exists solely as a showcase for that splendid Austrian tenor Richard Tauber. The plot is so minimal as to be nonexistent: Tauber essays his usual role as carefree interlocutor and last-minute problem-solver, singing merrily at the drop of a hat (and carrying his own hat). Though his heart is periodically broken, our hero goes on singing, which is really all his fans could ever ask for. The film was based on a stage operetta by Curt I. Braun, Leo Lasko and Anton Kuh. Richard Tauber also served as producer of this, his third starring vehicle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide