I recommend you see...


SUNSHINE SUSIE (THE OFFICE GIRL)

FIVE STARS

GB 1931, Directed by: Victor Saville, with: Renate Müller, Jack Hulbert, Owen Nares, Morris Harvey.

Susie Surster (Renate Müller) comes to Vienna to work as a typist. She has nothing, but her self-confidence. She is that kind of hard-working, light-hearted woman, that can accomplish everything she wants, just by being herself. She manages to get a job, but her boss tries to make her pay for that job, with sexual favours. When she refuses to fulfill his demands, he makes her work extra-hours. And that is, when she meets the Director Herr Arvray (Owen Narres). She has no idea who he is and goes out with him. The Director has the time of his life and it takes until morning, when Susie realizes whom she went out with.

The story of this comedy is nothing new, nothing unique, but since Renate Müller is my favourite actress, and I like her way of acting very much, I loved it. The songs were just as successful as the whole movie. "Sunshine Susie" was shot in England, after the German version "Die Privatsekretärin" became a huge success. And "Sunshine Susie" became famous throughout Europe and the USA. The German version is lost, but this English version has survived and it is on youtube right now.
Listen to Renate Müller sing "Today I Feel So Happy":



Happy New Year.

My dear Flixster-Friends,

since the new Flixster has arrived and I do not agree with it and fear that the community will disappear soon, this will be my last review.

I will miss you all awfully, so please just write me a message, if you want to stay in touch.

My last review and my legacy, will be the recommendation of my favourite movie...


DIE ENGLISCHE HEIRAT (THE ENGLISH MARRIAGE)

FIVE STARS

Germany 1934, Director: Reinhold Schünzel, Book: Ludwig von Wohl, Camera: Friedl Behn-Grund, Music: Franz Doelle.
With: Renate Müller, Anton Walbrook, Georg Alexander, Adele Sandrock.

Gerte Winter (Renate Müller) is a drivingschool-teacher. She built her own car and is pretty and independent. Douglas Mavis (Georg Alexander), a rich heir from England, proposes to her and they get secretly married in Berlin. When Douglas goes back to England, to tell his despotic Grandmother (Adele Sandrock) about his wife, he simply fails. His Grandma makes the decisions and she has other plans for him.

Gerte comes to England and learns what a wimp her husband is. His Grandma is sure the German wife must be a cheap blackmailer. And when nightclub-singer Bella Amery (Hilde Hildebrand) shows up (also to marry Douglas), the Grandmother is sure that she must be the cheap German girl. In the meantime Gerte sneaks into the lordly family and becomes friends with the old lady. She finds a good friend and accomplice in Warwick Brent (Anton Walbrook), who is the family's lawyer and who seems to be such a better match for her.

You will notice that the director and all actors were very famous in Germany in the early 30's. And they all were disliked by the Nazis. So this is an independent movie, from a little studio, which refused to follow the rules for films the Nazis established in 1933.

I recommend you see...

GROßE FREIHEIT NR. 7

FOUR STARS

Germany 1944, Directed by: Helmut Käutner, Written by: Helmut Käutner, Richard Nicolas.
With: Hans Albers, Ilse Werner, Hilde Hildebrand, Hans Söhnker, Gustav Knuth.

Hannes Kröger (Hans Albers) used to be a sailor, but now he is singing in the "Hippodrome" in St. Pauli. This club has everything a sailor needs: music, whores, schnapps and the opportunity to ride horses and donkeys. Anita (Hilde Hildebrand) owns the club and she is the kind of hard-boiled, lonely woman you would expect to run such an etablissement.

Hannes longs to be back at sea, he does not belong ashore. When his brother dies, he takes care of his brother's bride Gisa (Ilse Werner). Gisa lives in a small village and gets ostracized by the other inhabitants, for being a sailors-whore. So Hannes takes her with him to Hamburg. He appears to be rough and farouche, but he is tender hearted. And he slowly begins to fall in love with Gisa. For the first time in his life.

Very untypical for a movie from 1944 is the surreal dream-sequence. Some scenes were shot in Prague, instead of Hamburg. Hamburg was way too much destroyed in 1944 to be the setting for the movie. After they finished "Große Freiheit Nr. 7", it got forbitten at once. It had everything the Nazis did not want. The hero was not as heroic as they wanted it to be, his piercing blue eyes looked way too insane in many scenes. And Hans Albers was one of those actors the Nazis would have liked to get rid of, but who was too famous to let him just disappear.

Watch some scenes of the movie in 4 minutes: