Tuesday 3 February 2015

Romanze in Moll (1943)


(A Romance in Minor Key)


Directed by: Helmut Käutner
Produced by: Hermann Grund
Written by: Helmut Käutner,
Willy Clever
Music: Lothar Brühne
Cinematography: Georg Bruckbauer
Edited by: Anneliese Sponholz

Starring:

Marianne Hoppe: Madeleine
Paul Dahlke: Madeleine’s husband
Ferdinand Marian: Michael
Eric Helgar: Michael’s brother
Siegfried Breuer: Viktor
Karl Platen: Michael’s servant
Elisabeth Flickenschildt: Doorkeeper’s wife
Anja Elkoff: Singer
Ernst Legal: Hard-of-hearing man
Hans Stiebner: Fat man
Leo Peukert: Cafe proprietor
Carl Günther: Jeweler
Walter Lieck: Tall man
Hugo Flink: Banker
Ernst Rotmund: Police inspector
Helmut Käutner: Poet
Klaus Pohl: Pawnbroker


Though uncredited, the Maupassant story, Les Bijoux, was the inspiration for this poignant drama, A Romance in Minor Key. In late 19th century France, the wife of a bookkeeper is blackmailed by her husband’s boss after he discovers she is also the mistress of a famous composer. This beautifully made film has a sensitive delicacy that is unusual for Third Reich cinema. The cast – directed by the brilliant Helmut Käutner – is outstanding. Although Goebbles didn’t like this film very much, Käutner went on and made to other brilliant melodramas before the end of the war. Ferdinand Marian, best known for another film we sell, Jud Suss, is, as usual, brilliant.


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