Love is Forever ( 1954 ) aka Und Ewig Bleibt die Liebe

Some films have a way of drawing you into the story within the first ten minutes. Perhaps it is a practice that screenwriters learned from newspaper journalists who knew how to "hook" the audience with the first lead line. Hollywood productions had this act down pat. German productions were not so good at this technique, and it usually takes twenty minutes before you find yourself attached to the characters. But there were some exceptions. 

Une Ewig Bleibt die Liebe ( "Love is Forever" ) is one of those exceptions. The plot is rather simple and there is never anything exciting going on in the film and yet it has a lot of drama, and it is presented in such a soapy fashion to make it irresistible. 

The Swedish beauty, Ulla Jacobssen, who made a name for herself in Arne Mattsson's One Summer of Happiness ( 1951 ), stars as Marieke, a young woman who was adopted by the Vogelreuther family as a baby. She recently discovered that her birth mother is none other than "die Elster" - "the Magpie" - ( Hilde von Stolz ), the village thief and drunkard. She was recently released from prison after serving eight years in jail. This shames Marieke to no end. She loves her adopted parents and sister more than anyone else but feels she ought to publicly acknowledge her birth mother. 

This angst over her mother is ruining her love life, too. Georg ( Karlheinz Böhm ), her cousin, has loved her for years but she never returned his love because she knows he feels bound in gratitude to the Vogelreuther's as well and they want to see him marry Trude, Marieke's little sister. Georg does show affection for Trude ( Ingrid Andree ) and at the beginning of the film we learn they are to be wed in less than a week's time. Georg would still rather marry Marieke but she would never marry him now because she knows how much her sister loves him and her sister's happiness is more important to her than her own. So, as you can see, there is quite a bit of drama going on in the film.... And it is played out really well, especially by the principal leads. 

Paul Dahlke and Magda Schneider ( Romy Schneider's mother ) also star in the film as Marieke's adopted parents. 

Love is Forever was based on the play "Johannisfeuer/Fires of St. John" by Hermann Sudermann. In Germany, where the film takes place, the celebration of the midsummer solstice on St. John's Eve ( June 23/24 ) is extremely popular. People light huge bonfires which they dance around well into the night. The festival is featured in the film and also in Johannisnacht, released in 1956, which features this celebration near the climax.

The story of Und Ewig Bleibt die Liebe is a good example of how gratitude, when taken too far, can ruin people's lives. Instead of being honest with their feelings to those they love, both Marieke and George would rather sacrifice their own happiness for the family that raised them. 

Want to watch Und Ewig Bleibt die Liebe right now? It's available on Youtube...just click here. 

Das Doppelte Lottchen ( 1950 ) - The Original Parent Trap

If you ever read the credits to Walt Disney's The Parent Trap ( 1961 )  you would have noticed that the film was based upon a book by the popular German author Erich Kastner entitled "Das Doppelte Lottchen" which was written in 1949. As famous as The Parent Trap was in the States, few children or adults can claim to have read the book....ourselves included. But last week, we did see the original German film that Disney based The Parent Trap on, and it is absolutely delightful. 

Like the Americanized version, Das Doppelte Lottchen tells the story of twin sisters who were separated at birth by their parents, with the father and the mother each taking one of the girls. The children meet up by accident at a summer camp and, once they realize they are sisters, they decide to switch places so that they can have the opportunity of meeting the parent they never knew. Of course, they know that their parents will notice the switch in due time but that is a part of their scheme, too, because their parents will then have to reunite to un-switch them. Clever gals! 

Erich Kastner wrote the screenplay to and narrated this entertaining adaptation of his novel, which was directed by Josef von Báky, a Hungarian filmmaker best known for directing Munchausen ( 1943 ). Lotte and Luise, the twins, are portrayed by two real-life twins, actresses Jutta and Isa Gunther, and while they are not quite as appealing or as natural as Hayley Mills doubled-up, their performances are very good....and quite different.  

Hayley's Susan and Sharon got easily frustrated with their parents ( especially their father's plans to remarry ), but Lotte and Luise take things with a calmer and sadder attitude, which seems a bit more true-to-life. This makes their parents' separation all the more heartbreaking because the two gals lack the independent spunk needed to offset their single-parent upbringing. Each one is especially close to the parent who raised them and, once they meet the father and mother they never knew, they come to love them, too. However, they have no scheme in mind for foiling their father's plan to remarry, which is an interesting change to note. In American films, children are often shown outwitting their parents, or cleverly manipulating them for their own benefit, because this appeals to younger audiences but, in Germany, one doesn't often find that kind of plot line in films. 

The twins' father, Papa Ludwig ( Peter Mosbacher ) is a youthful good-natured man with a passion for music. He is a composer and conductor of opera and resides with Louise and their housekeeper in a large apartment in Vienna, Austria. Their mother, portrayed by Antje Weisgerber, works at a newspaper office. She is less formal, enjoys nature, and lives in a smaller apartment with Lotte in Munich. The differences between the children's upbringing are not as great as the screenwriters made it out to be in the 1961 Disney version, and so they are able to pull off the "switch" with greater ease. In fact, the parents have no inkling that their daughter is not the same girl who they dropped off at summer camp. 

Das Doppelte Lottchen lacks the beautiful setting ( especially that fabulous California ranch that Mitch Brennan owned ) and the humor of Walt Disney's remake but more than makes up for it in heart. The affection that the parents show their children is wonderful to see and Erich Kastner's commentary throughout the film is enjoyable to listen to as well - rarely do authors narrate a film based on their own book! 

Russian Ballet Films of the 1940s-1960s

Some of the most beautiful films ever made came out of Russia during the 1940s-1960s, so it is not surprising that a number of these films also featured that exquisite form of dance that has become associated with Mother Russia herself - ballet.

Even though ballet has long been considered a lovely export of Russian culture, it actually originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century where it later developed into a concert dance in France. During the late 17th century, Peter the Great, in an effort to create a new Russia which rivaled the society of the West allowed classical ballet to enter Russia....not as a form of dance, however, but to showcase the standard of physical comportment that the emperor hoped his people would emulate. Ballet was taught to the sons of nobility in military academies up until the early 19th century when state-supported theatres began to open offering tickets that the public could afford.

Prestigious ballet troupes sprung up from various cities across Russia, the oldest and most famous being the Bolshoi Ballet company, founded in Moscow in 1776. In the early 1900s, Russia's unique style of the ballet was introduced to the Parisian society where it was called Ballet Russe. 

For those who were unable to obtain a ticket to see a live Ballet Russe performance during the 20th century, there were several Russian film studios that brought this passionate form of dance to the silver screen. These films were distributed throughout Europe but were rarely seen in the United States. Fortunately, due to today's convenience of online streaming ( and thanks to some considerate uploaders ), ballet enthusiasts are able to watch such legends as Nureyev, Ulanova, and Dudinskaya performing in their most renowned roles while they were at the peak of their careers. 

Below we have gathered a selection of some of the most famous Russian films of the 1940s-1960s, along with links to where you can view these films online for yourself. Tickets are free, so enjoy! 

Russian Ballerina (1947) - 

This is a sweet story of a young singer ( Viktor Kazanovich ) who meets and falls in love with a student dancer ( Mira Redina ) at a music conservatory. It was directed by Aleksandr Ivanovsky for Lenfilm Studios, the studio that outputted some of the Soviet Union's best films. Redina was at the time a solo ballerina with the Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre, where she remained until 1965.

View the film here.

Swan Lake ( 1953 ) -

Galina Ulanova's most famous performance is undoubtedly that of Odette in Swan Lake, which she performs here alongside Konstantin Sergeyev as Prince Siegfried and Natalia Dudinskaya as Odile. This Kirov Ballet production is magnificently set and features some amazing special effects ( especially considering this was made in 1953 ). It is well worth watching! 

View the film here. 

Stars of the Russian Ballet ( 1954 ) - 

In any compendium of Russian ballet performances, you are bound to see Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake in the program. In this classic color production from 1954, it is none other than Galina Ulanova who performs as the White Swan Odette. Ulanova also appears in the second sequence with that other legend Maya Plisetskaya in a performance of B.V. Asafiev's ballet, The Fountain Of Bakhchisarai. This was the only time these two ballerinas shared the stage. And finally, B.V. Asafiev's The Flames Of Paris makes up the third sequence with Vakhtang Chabukiani flexing his muscles in some glorious dance moves. It's a visual feast for the eyes and ears.

View the film here.

Romeo & Juliet ( 1955 ) - 

Another very beautiful adaptation of Romeo and Juliet ( those Russians certainly know how to make lovely films! ). This was a typical big-budget epic production featuring Yuri Zhdanov as a very handsome Romeo and Galina Ulanova as Juliet. While Ulanova probably ranks as the most celebrated ballerina in the history of dance, at the age of 45 she looks a little old for the young lover. But who can critique the performance she gives? It's fabulous. 

View the film here. 

Giselle ( 1956 ) -

Once again Galina Ulanova takes center stage to impress audiences with her graceful dancing in this production of Giselle, filmed in 1956. This was one of Galina's most famous roles, and indeed, her performance is peerless. In 1974 Natalya Bessmertnova also did a beautiful performance of Giselle in a production that features some breathtaking sets. 

View the original film here.

Swan Lake ( 1957 ) -

Maya Plisetskaya is one of the most exquisite ballerinas of the 20th century and in 1957, at her artistic and technical peak, she was filmed in a color production of the Bolshoi Ballet's four-act Swan Lake in the dual roles of Odette and Odile. The ballet also starred Nicolai Fadeyechev and Yuri Fayer. While this was released as a film it is more like a television documentary interspersing the balletic performances with shots of the audience applauding. 

View the film here. 

Cinderella ( 1961 ) -

Prokofiev's Cinderella, first performed as a ballet in 1945, is a production that has been staged as many time as Sleeping Beauty, and yet never seems to tire audiences. In this 1961 classic, Raisa Struchkova takes on the leading role of the tender-hearted maiden who finds her Prince Charming ( Gennadi Lediakh ) with the aid of a fairy godmother. Lediakh had a late start in his career as a dancer, beginning at the ripe old age of 20, and yet what talent he possessed!

View the film here. 

The Little Humpbacked Horse ( 1962 ) - 

Maya Plisetskaya stars as the Queen Maiden in this made-for-TV children's production of Shchedrin's The Little Humpbacked Horse presented by the Bolshoi Ballet. This lovely coming-of-age fairy tale includes animation sequences for the wee ones, and features some stunning performances by Plisetskaya ( whose movements were always extremely fluid ), Vladimir Vasilev and Alla Shcherbinina, as the little horse.

View the film here. 

Bolshoi Ballet '67 ( 1965 )

This 75-minute film features an astounding array of beautiful performances along with many behind-the-scenes sequences of the dancers practicing prior to the shows, but not in an all-together structured way. In place of a plot, there is a narrator who is a dancer reflecting back on her decade spent with the Bolshoi Ballet, allowing for a showcase of talent. Some of the dancers you will see are Natalia Bessmertnova, Sergei Radchenko, Natalia Kasatkina, Yekaterina Maksimova, Mikhail Lavrovsky, Yelena Kholina, Anatoly Simachev, and Raisa Struchkova. Performances include Ravel Waltzes ( Maximova ) and Bolero, Giselle, Don Quixote, Swan Lake, The Stone Flower ( Kasatkina ), and Paganini ( Bessmertnova ).

View the film here. 

Sleeping Beauty ( 1965 ) -

Alla Sizoya stars in this classic color film adaptation of Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty performed by the Kirov Ballet. The New York Times considered this production to boast "some of the finest choreography ever produced", referring to the work of choreographer Marius Petipa. It was the role of Aurora that made Sizoya a legend among dancers. Yuri Solovyow and Natalie Dudinskaya are also in the company. 

View the film here. 

Swan Lake ( 1966 ) -

Rudolf Nureyev is probably the only ballet dancer whose name is familiar to American audiences ( at least, to those who are unacquainted with the world of ballet ). He performed, at one time or another, in productions of some of the most famous ballets ever written, including Swan Lake in 1966. Nureyev choreographed this ballet himself - naturally, giving his character ample opportunity to dance - while also showcasing the prima ballerina - Margot Fonteyn.

View the film here.

Swan Lake ( 1968 ) - 

If you weren't impressed with Nureyev's performance ( ! ) you can always compare it to this 1968 Kirov Ballet production that featured John Markovsky, Yelena Yevteyeva, and Valery Panov in the principal roles. And believe it or not, you'll probably walk away thinking this was a better version ( which it is! ). 

View the film here.

This post is our contribution to the En Pointe Blogathon, a three-day event hosted by Christina Wehner which celebrates ballet on film. Be sure to head on over to the master page to read more articles about ballet films!

The Death of the Swan : The Unfinished Dance ( 1947 ) and Ballerina ( 1937 )

This weekend Christina Wehner is hosting the En Pointe Blogathon, a three-day event celebrating films that spotlight that beautiful and centuries old form of dance known as ballet. One of the most overlooked Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films of the 1940s - The Unfinished Dance - just so happens to revolve around ballet, and so I have chosen to call attention to this rarity as well as to Ballerina ( 1937 ) which is based on the same story. 

Both pictures are about a ballet student who accidentally cripples a famous ballerina when she throws the switch to the onstage trap door, plummeting the dancer to her career-ending doom. 

"Is she dead?"
"She broke her leg..... For a dancer, it is worse than death"

In The Unfinished Dance ( 1947 ), Margaret O'Brien stars as Meg Merlin, the passionate little dancer who quickly becomes wracked with guilt for the dreadful deed she committed in haste. This orphaned child loves ballet and, particularly one ballerina - Ariane Bouchet ( Cyd Charisse ) whom she worships as an idol. When La Darina ( Karin Moore ), a guest ballerina, arrives to perform the lead in "Swan Lake" in place of Bouchet, Meg plans to humiliate the prima ballerina by turning off the lights during the performance, leaving Darina to grope in the dark. Instead, she - oops! - pulls the wrong switch causing Darina to literally perform her swan song. Meg, then, struggles with her conscience and attempts to muster the courage to confess her crime to La Darina, the woman she once hated but is quickly coming to love...especially when she discovers that Bouchet isn't the grand idol she thought she was. 

The Unfinished Dance was based on a novella by Paul Morand entitled "La Mort du Cygne" ( "The Death of the Swan" ). This intriguing story was first filmed in 1937 as La Mort du Cygne aka Ballerina, a French production directed by Jean Benoit-Levy and Marie Epstein. It was a box-office sensation in Europe, won the Grand Prix du Cinèma francais award, and earned equal critical acclaim in America. Over the years, a legendary aura has been cast around it, primarily because it was considered a lost classic; it was only in 2000 that a surviving print was discovered. 

While The Unfinished Dance bears some resemblance to the original film, it cannot - and should not - be compared to Ballerina as a remake. They are two separate films with marked differences. One major contrast between them is the underlying theme of the pictures. In Ballerina, it is all about the dance. To dance is to live; to dance is to breathe.

"The Dance is greater than all our personal troubles," remarks Karine in one scene. 

In The Unfinished Dance, Meg's guilt takes center stage. Ballet becomes Meg's redemption. Director Henry Koster did a wonderful job of creating a disquieting atmosphere of tension in all of the scenes featuring O'Brien. Meg is a hapless victim of a foolish and childish prank that she herself conceived and her guilt causes her to see the jail bars closing in on her. Every whisper is a personal threat to her safety. Every policeman an agent of Justice out to capture her. Margaret O'Brien plays out the psychological tension that Meg feels with great skill, especially considering she was only nine-years-old at the time of filming, while Koster treats these sequences as though it were Robert Mitchum on the screen, running from another thoughtless crime he committed in haste. 

However, audiences didn't appreciate this peek into the mind of a child criminal, and the film lost nearly $1,800,000 upon its release. It was the only Joe Pasternak production to ever lose money. This may have been due to false marketing. Posters displayed happy images of O'Brien and Charisse performing grand jetés while the subtitles heralded "Romance! Spectacle! Music!" Audiences were undoubtedly expecting a saccharine MGM musical featuring the always adorable Margaret O'Brien and, in the opening sequences, this is what they were treated to....but then, the real story of The Unfinished Dance begins to unfold and the film becomes a unique blend of a Technicolor family drama and a Columbia Pictures film noir. It was a mixture too heady for youngsters, and too juvenile for adult audiences. 

Ballerina, on the other hand, was marketed as a haunting melodrama, which indeed it was. Ballerina evokes, through long shadows and striking camera angles, the atmosphere of the Opera de Paris as the dancers saw it. It was not the glittering Parisian palace that came alive only at night, but a working studio where the dust of wood shavings and talcum powder filled the air. Blanche-Levy had the cast and crew live at the Palais Garnier for weeks prior to filming so that they could feel that majestic atmosphere that the ballerinas felt and convey it to the screen. The result is an engrossing peek at the all-consuming world of ballet. 

Throughout the film, we are given scenes of the backstage life: "flies" in their perches, crewmen setting a stage, and ballerinas in class and in their dressing rooms stretching, leaping, flexing their feet, and adjusting their shoes and tutus. In one scene we witness prima ballerina Yvonne Chauviré placing padding on her toes and then slowing tying her pointe shoes. 

Ballerina also contrasts against The Unfinished Dance by portraying the children as unsentimental little savages - which they are. In the tradition of the Opera de Paris, young student ballerinas are referred to as "rats", and Meg Merlin is here cleverly named Rose Souris ( souris meaning mouse in French ).

Rose is no mere child who accidentally moves a wrong lever. She is a twelve-year old girl who deliberately sets to put an end to the career of Karine ( the character of La Darina in The Unfinished Dance ), slowly moving the heavy wooden supports that keep the trap-door closed and then waiting to hear the music of the swan as Karine approaches the trap. After her deed is done she feels occasional pangs of guilt ( this is eerily conveyed to the audience through the sound of a violin-solo playing the Swan theme ), but she has no desire to confess her crime to her victim. It is only when Karine discovers what she did via an anonymous letter that Rose asks for her forgiveness. Seeing the grand ballerina hobble on her cane every day is her punishment. 

Perhaps in order to satisfy the Hayes Code, MGM made the lead character much younger and dampened her act of viciousness by making it an accident. The screenwriters also attempted to give reason to Meg's consuming adulation of Mademoiselle Bouchet by making her a motherless child. In the French film, Rose lives with her mother. Meg's only relation is her flighty aunt whom we glimpse just twice. To atone for this lack of parental guidance there is "Uncle" Paneros ( Danny Thomas in his screen debut ), a kindly Greek who operates a watch shop below Meg's apartment. He becomes a father figure for Meg while we are to assume that Mlle. Bouchet - and, later, La Darina - is the mother that Meg wishes she had. 

"In you, I'm going to dance again. You're not going to fail me, are you?" - La Darina

"I'd die first." - Meg

Danny Kaye was originally cast in the role of Mr. Paneros and indeed would have been ideal because he would have lent some comedy to the film, which it sorely needed. The dramatics are too heavy in certain scenes. In spite of the noir tone of the original Ballerina, that film's drama was interspersed with bits of typical French humor. Instead, Danny Thomas was given the opportunity to perform and he quickly steals every scene he is in, adding warmth to the picture if not comedy. He also boasts a fine singing voice. 

Most of the dancing in The Unfinished Dance focuses on O'Brien ( a merely adequate dancer ) and Cyd Charisse, a true ballerina turned actress. She displays her spectacular terpsichorean talent in six production numbers, including a performance of David Rose's "Holiday for Strings". Charisse's best dance is to the music of Bedrich Smetana's "The Bartered Bride", where, among a gold-and-purple corps de ballet, she makes a grand entrance in a gold costume pirouetting into the camera. 

Karin Booth was not a dancer and so, in her two ballet sequences, a professional dancer took her place for the long shots. La Darina's highlight performance is "Swan Lake" which was a pastiche of the second and fourth "white" acts of Tchaikovsky's classic staged to create an ethereally beautiful effect with a bevy of Cygnus-like ballerinas dancing atop a mirrored floor. David Lichine was the choreographer for all of the ballets in The Unfinished Dance. 

In Ballerina, the dance sequences are exceptional, which is not surprising considering all three principal characters were portrayed by celebrated ballerinas. Janine Charrat ( Rose ) was a child prodigy, choreographing her first ballet at age 14. She had a long career as a dancer and choreographer. Charrat was only 13 when Ballerina was made. 

Yvette Chauviré ( Mlle. Beaupre ) was a famed étoile of the Paris Opéra Ballet and still considered by many to be France's greatest classical ballerina. Mia Slavenska ( Karine ) was an international star and a renowned ballerina from the 1930s-1960s, after which time she became a much sought-after ballet instructor here in the States. In 2014, PBS aired Mia: A Dancer's Journey, a fascinating documentary by her daughter Maria Ramas, which is well worth viewing. 

Considering that these dancers had no formal acting training they are quite good in their roles in Ballerina. However, Benoit-Levy should have filmed them in a more natural continuous style of filming. Instead - like most pictures of the 1930s - he uses close-ups excessively. In many scenes, it is obvious that these close-ups were filmed separately from the medium-shots. These abrupt edits block the fluidity of the film. And, unfortunately, an additional twenty minutes was cut from the original print for the US release, so connecting elements of the story are missing. 

Nevertheless, Ballerina is a classic in its genre, noted for being one of the best ballet films of the 1930s. Ballet enthusiasts today are grateful to be able to see performances from Slavenska and Chauviré captured for posterity on camera. 

Both The Unfinished Dance and Ballerina showcase the art of ballet in a wonderful manner and hopefully have inspired audiences then and today to embrace this beautiful form of dance. Personally speaking, these two titles alone have elevated my appreciation of ballet to new heights and introduced me to dancers I was previously unaware of. 

Ready to explore more ballet films? Check out all the great posts at the headquarters of the En Pointe Blogathon being hosted by Christina Wehner. Also, take some time to watch the two films you just read about: The Unfinished Dance ( also available on DVD through Warner Archives ) and Ballerina aka La Mort du Cygne. 

Nugget Reviews - 23

Johannisnacht ( 1956 )  14k 

An opera singer divorces her husband shortly after an extended performing tour in America. Years later, she returns to Germany to see her daughter whom her husband hid away in a chalet in the valley. Willy Birgel, Hertha Feiler, Erik Schumann, Sonja Sutter, Wolfgang Grunner. MGM Pictures. Directed by Harald Reinl.

A sweet romance from Delos-Film studios. Austrian-born Hertha Feiler, who often starred in comedies with her husband Heinz Ruhmann, is given a decent dramatic part here and the location filming of this "Heimatfilm" is beautiful. There is also a nice sub-romance going on between Erik Schumann and Sonja Sutter. 

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A Royal Scandal ( 1945 ) Elect.

A young idealistic lieutenant warns Catherine the Great of treachery within her court. She finds his loyalty and good looks very appealing and makes him her boy-toy, much to the chagrin of his true love, Queen Catherine's lady-in-waiting, Anna. Tallulah Bankhead, Charles Coburn, Anne Baxter, William Eythe, Vincent Price, Mischa Auer. 20th Century Fox Pictures. Directed by Otto Preminger and Ernst Lubitsch.

Ernst Lubitsch was a master at creating frothy comedies. He reached his prime in the early 1930s with such classics as Monte Carlo, The Smiling Lieutenant, One Hour with You and Ninotchka, but even he couldn't save this film from Preminger's heavy-handed direction. While there were a few amusing sequences in A Royal Scandal, overall the comedy seemed force. Tallulah Bankhead gave a grand performance as Catherine the Great, with some excellent support from character actors Charles Coburn and Sig Ruman, in spite of the circumstances.

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King Richard and the Crusaders ( 1954 ) 14k.

While encamped in the Holy Land, two noblemen plot to murder Richard the Lionheart and make his death appear to be from a Saracen attack, but his loyal knight Sir Kenneth discovers the plan. Rex Harrison, Laurence Harvey, George Sanders, Virginia Mayo, Robert Douglas. Warner Brothers. Directed by David Butler. 

Rex Harrison and Laurence Harvey give engrossing performances in this otherwise run-of-the-mill Crusades adventure, based upon Sir Walter Scott's novel "The Talisman". George Sanders makes an unconvincing King Richard, and Virginia Mayo's presence serves merely as eye-candy, but the Technicolor is beautiful and it's fun watching Rex Harrison tackle an Arab role.

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Scaramouche ( 1923 ) Elect.

A quiet French lawyer becomes a revolutionary after a nobleman kills his friend in a duel. Ramon Navarro, Alice Terry, Lewis Stone, Julia Swayne Gordon. Metro Pictures. Directed by Rex Ingram.

Production standards were high in this Rex Ingram silent classic, but the film fails to capture the excitement of Rafael Sabatini's novel and lingers on a bit too long. The zest that Stewart Granger brought to the part of Andre Moreau in the 1952 remake was non-existent in Novarro's portrayal. Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford would have been ideal casting choices instead. However, the French Revolution sequences at the climax were truly hair-raising.

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The Toy Wife ( 1938 ) 14k

A flirtatious and frivolous Southern belle marries her sister's serious-minded fiancee. He later comes to regret not having found himself a more sensible wife. Luise Rainer, Melvyn Douglas, Barbara O'Neil, Robert Young, Alma Kruger. MGM Pictures. Directed by Richard Thorpe.

Luise Rainer was fresh from her Oscar-winning performance in The Good Earth when she starred in The Toy Wife, MGM's consolation project after losing the book rights to Margaret Mitchell's "Gone with the Wind". This southern belle story put the spotlight on Rainer, allowing her - as "Frou-Frou" - to swoosh her hoop skirts around New Orleans and playfully toy with the heart-strings of not one, but two, gentlemen. It makes for engrossing soap. Barbara O'Neil earned the role of Ellen ( Scarlett's mother ) in Gone with the Wind, thanks to her performance in this film as Frou-Frou's sister. 

Maedchen in Uniform ( 1931 )

"What you call evil, I call the great Spirit of Love, which has a thousand forms..."

Manuela ( Hertha Thiele ), a sensitive 14-year old child, is sent by her aunt to a strict boarding school for officer's daughters operated by headmistress Frau Oberin ( Emila Unda ), a stern Prussian who believes that discipline and hunger strengthens girls....girls who will one day become the mothers of soldiers. Fraulein von Bernburg ( Dorothea Wieck ), a young teacher at the school, differs. She believes it is important to befriend the children and gain their trust. Like the rest of her students, Manuela is drawn to the sympathetic von Bernburg and grows to love her. However, when the headmistress learns of Manuela's affection for this teacher, she determines to expel her, because displays of emotion, especially love, within the school are strictly verbotten.

Maedchen in Uniform, a German production from Deutsche Film-Gemeinschaft, is a deceptively simple and yet profoundly psychological film, demonstrating the intense love a young girl could have for her teacher, especially when that girl is a mother-less child. It cuts deep and offers some rich food for thought, leaving you with a compelling desire to revisit it - and analyze it closer.

Director Carl Froelich, who had seen the play it was based upon ( "Gestern und Heute" by Christina Winsloe ) during its Berlin run, was touched by the story and wanted to bring it to film. Realizing it needed a woman's intuition to successfully translate it to this medium, he asked the play's director, Leontine Sagan, if she would be willing to direct it under his supervision. Sagan initially had her doubts, but Froelich encouraged her, knowing that her experience as a stage director would bring a fresh style to the picture...which she certainly did accomplish.

Even though all of the scenes are framed very simply, Sagan staged each of them for maximum effect, using every opportunity to make them anything but stage bound. Dialogue is often spoken off-camera, over-the-shoulder shots are well utilized, and, in two key scenes, montages give us an insight into Fraulein von Bernburg's thoughts. 

It is not a perfect film, however, there are frayed edges and the cuts between shots are especially apparent, but it is through this rudimentary filming, and Sagan's staging, that Maedchen in Uniform makes its impact, primarily by riveting your attention on the actions and reactions of the characters. 

Von Bernburg is a particularly complex character and Dorothea Wieck gives an excellent portrayal of this aloof, stern, but strangely admirable teacher, shielding her character's inner emotions behind an impenetrable mask. It is clear why the students adore her so much. She cares about them in a way that none of the other teachers do. She champions love and justice in a prison environment guided by unmerciful authoritarian regulations that attempt to stifle individualism and natural affection. 

But von Bernburg is also a paradox. "You never know how to take her. She will be stern one moment and then so sweet the next. It's very strange...." shrewdly observes Ilsa, the student's playful ringleader. The very love and affection she desires to give to her students she suppresses out of respect for the school's regulations and her ingrained sense of equity. Manuela desires to draw nearer to von Bernburg but she is "always so distant". Even in private she will not return Manuela's affection. Favoritism will, and must, not be considered. 

"Pull yourself together, child! You know that I cannot make exceptions, otherwise the other children will be jealous."

Instead, she acknowledges their individuality ( Fraulein von Bernburg alone addresses the girls by their Christian names ) and strews hints of tenderness to them when she knows she will not be observed by her superior. One such act is bidding good night to the students in her dormitory with a kiss on their forehead. All of the students are starving for affection, which is evident in their eager anticipation of this nightly routine. It is when Manuela witnesses her teacher's empathy during that first night that she comes to love her. 

Budding passions are bound to erupt within the confines of the boarding school, and those who do not focus their infatuation on von Bernburg instead develop crushes among each other....but Manuela's love is different. Hers is not merely a passing infatuation for the young mistress. She wants the nurturing love of the mother who was torn from her and attention from someone who cares about her. Fraulein von Bernburg recognizes this, and she worries about Manuela. Unlike the other children who admire her, Manuela truly needs her. 

The photogenic Hertha Thiele, in her film debut, gives a compassionate performance of this deprived girl. While Maneula is among her fellow students she has a proud and independent spirit, befitting the daughter of an officer, but in her encounters with Fraulein von Bernburg she suddenly becomes child-like, shy, and emotional. This vulnerability that she brings to the character makes the audience understand the deep despair ( and suicidal inclination ) she later feels when the headmistress demands isolation as her punishment. By the film's gripping finale, we are as much concerned about Manuela's well-being as the other girls are, all of whom rally to her defense to save her from death. 

"Affection has no place here, it only arouses their emotions." - Frau Oberin

Maedchen in Uniform was made in the years just prior to the fall of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Nazi Germany. Because it was filmed during this tumultuous period, there is a strong anti-Fascist message throughout the picture... in fact, it forms the core of the film. The boarding school is not a place for the girls to learn and grow as individuals, but a place for them to dispel their emotionalism, freedom of thought, and rebellious inclinations. Germany demands tough women who will obey without question the demands society may make on them. This idea is reinforced throughout the film by frequent cuts to imposing statues of military leaders. Order and rule are Wichtigste! But there are severe dangers in a society that is dispassionate and without tolerance, as Frau Oberin comes to realize. 

Just two years later, when the Nazis came to power, Maedchen in Uniform would not have been permitted to be made. Many of the actresses in it were Jewish, and, those that did not flee Germany when they had the opportunity, died in concentration camps. "You were only first aware that they were Jewish when fascism was there and you lost your friends," said Thiele in a 1976 interview. The Nazis considered the film to be decadent and attempted to burn all copies of it, but due to its world-wide distribution it has become a surviving document to the anti-fascist sentiments of late Weimar-Germany.

The film was a great success throughout Europe upon its release and catapulted both Wieck and Thiele to international stardom. In America, the New York State Board of Censors initially wanted to ban it for its Sapphic implications, but First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who had seen a screening of it overseas, spoke up for its artistic merit, and they reconsidered their refusal to grant the film a license. 

Mordant Hall, a critic for The New York Times, praised Maedchen in Uniform as "a beautiful, tender, and really artistic cinematic work". It was truly groundbreaking at the time for featuring an all-female cast and a woman director at the helm ( Leontine Sagan earned a Venice Film Festival award for her effort ), and today, it remains a landmark in German cinema. 

What makes Maedchen in Uniform so compelling is the ambiguity of its overall theme. It suggests much but reveals very little. One thing is clear, it is a deeply humanist film with a simple story that was vividly brought to life through its exemplary filming and the outstanding performances of the entire cast, each of whom were so well suited to their roles, down to the most insignificant of characters. Emila Unda is marvelous as the drachen-like headmistress Frau Oberin, and Ellen von Schwanneke is adorable as the rambunctious Ilsa. Interestingly, all of the "girls" were portrayed by women in their mid-20s. 

In 1958, Maedchen in Uniform was remade in Germany with Lilli Palmer as Fraulein von Bernburg and Romy Schneider as Manuela, but both actresses failed to conceal their characters' sentiments, a key element that made the original so interesting. Wieck and Thiele never clearly revealed the thoughts and feelings of their characters. Palmer, being much older than Wieck when she took on the role, brought a more maternal nature to the character, wearing her emotions on her sleeve; while Schneider displayed none of Manuela's forlorn helplessness, thereby removing the pity the audience feels for the character.  

Given the serious nature of its plot, the original Maedchen in Uniform could have easily become dark and somber, but instead the film has a cheerful tone in spite of its rigid setting. Cinematographer Franz Weihmayr made the most of pleasing highlights and subtle shadows, and Sagan emphasized the comradery and playful spirit of the girls through little scenes that show common girl-school behavior. The students are often breaking the school rules....eating chocolate, passing letters, talking while dressing ( this is one of the pre-code moments that a few old men may find mildly erotic ). Director Ida Lupino would later use a similar technique to give heart to The Trouble with Angels ( 1966 ), also set in a private girls school.

Maedchen in Uniform is currently not available on DVD in the United States but you can view it on Youtube here ( subtitles can be seen by clicking "CC" ). It has the most accurate translation of any version I've seen.  

This post is our contribution to The Early Women Filmmakers Blogathon being hosted by Movies Silently. Be sure to check out the other great reviews of 20th century films directed by women. To read a comparison between this film and the 1951 French film Olivia, which was based upon Maedchen in Uniform, click here.