cynthiahost This film was made during the first years of the Reich. When it was was first released, Goebbels had it banned, Popular demand had it reissued but having the Jewish artist ,who contribute it, names removed. This is the first time I ever saw Paul Horbinger, playing a serious role, since The third man.He portrays Wayring, a musician who work in the orchestra pit of the theater he works for. Magda Schneider, who's is very lean for this role, portray his daughter ,Christine, who aspires to be an opera singer.Luise Ullrich,who would appear in a romantic comedy with Paul Horbinger and Heinz Ruhmann in Heimker in Gluck that same year, portrays Her Friend ,very mischievous Mizzi. Wolfgang Liebeniener, who would become a film director under the Nazi's rule at the moment an actor, plays Fritz ,a Lieutenant in the military. Willy Eichberger, who would later be known as Carl Esmond in the United Stated ,portrays Fritz Friend Theo, also a lieutenant.At first I thought Esmond was Gustave Frolic but I rechecked his name. Gustave Grugens portrays a count that I can't really take seriously.Russian Actress Olga Tschechowa , who played in Bellami and three men and a Gas station, Plays His wife the Countess. The thing is that Theo and Mizzi and Christine meet after the opera,when Mizze dropped some opera glasses from the balcony almost hitting Fritz. But Fritz is not their cause he is having an Affair with the countess.He shows up late to the coffee house, where Mizzie and Christine And Theo were having fun , late taking Chrisitne home , while Mizzie and Theo fools around at his apartment. The thing is that Frits and Chrisitne fall in live with each other. She does not know that he had an affair with the countess,Whom he baby sits while the count is on business. The count is a bit suspicious too of his wife cheating on him.Well fritz has to tell the countess that it's off but then the countesses husbands brother goes to his place and tells him whats going on. Chrisitne is auditioning for the chorus at the opera, very poorly, Mizzi and Fritz and Theo are getting ready for what looks like a Christmas party but he's waiting for Christine to show up . Instead Grugens makes a surprise show up demanding a dual. Later Theo demand his commanding officer, portrayed by Paul Otto who would commit suicide with his wife once his Jewish heritage was found out by Goebbels, to call off his friends dual cause he has a girl friend, who does not know about this situation. His demand of the dual be stopped gets him kick out. Mizzie and Fritz now a civilian try's to go up and stop the dual but they can't .Fritz gets killed. Everyone has to break it to Christine, Her father they get from the theater, as well as Mizzie and Theo as Chrtisne goes to Fritz apartment to wait. Once she finds out she acts calm about this .But she surprises everyone and jump out of the second story window,the same way Rene Mueller would do or the Gestapos would push her out in 1937.The way the editing is done is that you never see the duel.You never see the count revealing to Fritz that he knows about the affair and demand a duel or see Madga jump out of the window. It's all suggestive. You may never see this on Turner classic movies,Cause they are denying the past of Max Ophuls and Carl Esmond out of fear of offending some of their target with Hitlers legacy. The upper middle class target. But you can get it at www.riechskino.com This has no politics in it

zolaaar The camera of Franz Planer follows the protagonists in long tracking shots, observes precisely the development of an affection and later deep love between Fritz (Wolfgang Liebeneiner) and Christine (Magda Schneider) during the nightly walk through the sleeping city and their endless swings of waltzing through the empty coffee bar. It is also great how Ophüls exemplarily trusts in the viewer's imagination to make things visible. The couple has forgotten the world around them, being only close together, overwhelmed by the feelings, which suddenly arise in them. The slow waltz resembles a soft hug, but the melancholy in this dance is perceptible and especially Fritz, who has a secret tête-à-tête with a bored baroness, seems to fear, that the love for Christine might not have a happy ending.And last but not least some words about Gustaf Gründgens who plays the cheated baron: In the scenes, he is acting mainly only with looks, with stringent, frigid looks, that whoosh across the room like bullets. The precision of his performance is masterful and probably the best in this film.

Michael Pichlmair Concerning Spaces, Ophuls' film is mainly focused upon camera movement. Some of the longer shots are especially remarkable. For example, in the scene when the Baron comes home for the first time and the lieutenant has great luck that he had left and hides behind a column from the Baron, who suspiciously and hesitatingly walks up the stairways, a circular shot is used. This same circular shot is repeated again in a later scene when the Baron runs up the stairway when he wants to condemn his wife. Shots like this always have significance in Ophuls' films. The reason for the Baron's special movement on his way upstairs, and the fact that his wife was deceiving him, was the same in both scenes, although he did not yet know the truth in the first scene. In the second scene, he knows for certain and is therefore running with all of his might, fueled with hate and anger.Ophuls films contain a myriad of details that one would not recognize when seeing the film just once. In the first scene, the opera scene, one might find the film-technique of 'enunciation.' Before the performance starts, one can see an eye-pair hiding behind a mask in the wall, followed by long shots over the auditorium. This makes the spectator feel that this masked figure, which is actually the opera director, is the camera and the enunciator, and therefore is identified with him. A remarkable long shot is also present in the gorgeous love scene of Christl and Fritz, as they glide in a sleigh through the snow-covered wood in the winter-landscape. As they talk about eternity, variation is created with some full shots of the couple. The same feeling is transmitted in the last scene, after Christl's death, where one can only see the marvelous picture of the snow-covered trees and only hear the off text saying: 'I swear that I love you. for all eternity', on that place where happiness once seemed to be assured. It makes the spectator re-live the first scene and be aware of the dramatic fact, that all of these beautiful feelings are gone, and in addition, Christl passed away believing that Fritz had cheated her the entire time. On the surface, Liebelei seems to be a really nice love story about two people meeting and fancying each other, but due to circumstances outside of their relationship, the love story ends in tragedy. But the main idea of the film is about something deeper. Arthur Schnitzler, who wrote 'Liebelei,' enjoyed great success with this theatre-play. Schnitzler's work was sometimes seen as another 'bourgeois sorry affair' (ger. Bürgerliches Trauerspiel), which always has the main theme of a love affair between people of different social classes. Although Vienna had very rigid rules in 1900 and Fritz is obviously from a higher class than Christl, this was not the main focus of the story. The actual theme is timeless and universal: misplaced male honor. The duel in the end was just the tip of the iceberg. It was a common occurrence, especially among officers, to fight a duel whenever this 'honor' was damaged, even though it has always been illegal, of course. Theo, the victim's best friend tries to change the course of destiny as he goes to his superior, the colonel. This is the scene where you see the conflict between two worlds colliding. On the one hand you have the militarily strict world, but on the other hand, there exists a humane world. In the humane perspective, humans can err, can love, and also forgive. The Baron's position is clear. Everyone expects him to act in a certain way in this situation. Despite this, the Baron is the evilest in having misplaced honor. Theo is the one caught in the middle, the only one who understands this madness, and this position is the reason for his desperation.Gestures are often seen in Ophuls' film as well, where he tries to replace words by body movement, gestures, faces, camera movement, lightning, etc. For example, there was never a cigarette smoked as by Gustav Gründgens (the Baron), concentrating all his hate and anger in his smoking.One of the obviously greatest sequences is the final one, where Theo (Eichberger), Mizzi (Ullrich) and Christl's father (Hörbiger) sit opposite of Christl (Schneider) at the entrance of her chamber and try to tell her about her lover's (Liebeneiner) death. The Camera is mainly on Christl showing in a long extreme close up her realization about what has happened. She doubts that Fritz ever loved her since he lost his life on a duel over another woman. Her face shows pure desolation and desperation as she stammers out her thoughts. One must have a heart of stone to not shed some tears or at least have a lump in the throat when seeing this scene, which wouldn't have had half of this effect if it were filmed from a medium long shot perspective.See synopsis above as well

jan onderwater Some films cannot be sufficiently qualified by superlatives, and this superb, tranquil, poetic masterpiece is one of them. This film is not just to be watched and enjoyed, but to be felt with all the senses.Without ever becoming sentimental it tells a very moving love story, but there is a deeper meaning in it (of course already conceived by Arthur Schitzler). We see an artificial Vienna and rigid social rules, but what really is shown is a universal and timeless theme: misplaced (male) honour.This "misplaced honour" is shown through various male characters, but the most devilish of them is Gustaf Gründgens (absolutely brilliant): was there ever a cigarette smoked as by Gründgens, concentrating all his anger and hate in his smoking. And here we have only one example of Ophüls' idea of letting the image speak: not by dialogue alone (sometimes unintelligible, but this is on purpose!), but by body and camera movement, lightning, editing, sets, the meaning of a scene is told.This film is superb on all levels, but this is not the place to analyze further (and there are people who are much more capable to do that than I am). I just want to refer to the final sequence (starting with Beethoven's 5th): see how Ophüls, just by perfectly arranging Ullrich, Eichberger and Hörbiger opposite Schneider, gets an image that shows emotional desolation: the party is over, life is over (one must have seen the film to understand this remark) . This culminates in the long, extreme close up of Magda Schneider realizing and trying to come to terms with what has happened; one must have a heart of stone not to get tears into one's eyes or at least a lump in the throat, when seeing this scene. This scene was her moment of triumph; was she ever again as outstanding as in this scene?Liebelei premiered after the Nazi take-over; it was banned, then - by popular demand - quickly showing was allowed again but only after the names of the jewish contributors were removed. It amazes to know that in 1945 it was banned by the Allies.