Liebelei (1932)

Synopsis: LIEBELEI was Max Ophüls' last German film. Due to rising anti-Semitism, he had already been dismissed from the directorship of a theater and he fled to France in 1933. Taken from a play by Arthur... LIEBELEI was Max Ophüls' last German film. Due to rising anti-Semitism, he had already been dismissed from the directorship of a theater and he fled to France in 1933. Taken from a play by Arthur Schnitzler, from whose work Ophüls would later make LA RONDE, this is a moving story of love, music, militarism, and class conflict in Vienna before World War I. Mizzi (Luise Ullrrich) and Christine (Magda Schneider) meet two army officers, Theo (Carl Esmond) and Fritz (Wolfgang Liebeneiner) at the opera. Christine and Fritz soon fall deeply in love, but Fritz is still involved in an illicit affair with Baroness Eggersdorff (Olga Tschechowa). When the Baron (Gustaf Grundgens) finds out, he demands a duel with Fritz. While LIEBELEI does not contain the sweeping crane and long tracking shots that would later mark Ophüls distinctive visual style, it certainly shows their genesis. There is one striking outdoor scene of Fritz and Christine in a horse drawn sleigh gliding through snow-covered woods that's as beautiful as anything Ophüls ever did. He received some criticism for changing Schnitzler's story from one of cruel male sexual exploitation of female feelings to one of tragic true love. But this change played well with movie audiences which contained a much higher percentage of women in general, and working class women specifically, than Schnitzler's theater audiences, making LIEBELEI Ophüls' most successful German film. [More]

Starring: Magda Schneider, Wolfgang Leibeneiner, Willi Eichberger, Luise Ullrich

Starring: Magda Schneider, Wolfgang Leibeneiner, Willi Eichberger, Luise Ullrich, Gustaf Gruendgens

Director: Max Ophuls

Director: Max Ophuls
Screenwriter: Hans Wilheim, Curt Alexander
Story: Arthur Schnitzler

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