Hab mich lieb (1942)

Love Me

 

Directed by: Harald Braun

Written by: Kurt Bortfeldt, Georg Jacoby, Herbert Witt & Johann von Vásáry

Produced by: Georg Jacoby

Cinematography: Reimar Kuntze

Edited by: Margret Noell

Music by: Franz Grothe

Production company: UFA

Distributed by: Deutsche Filmvertriebs

Release date: 8 December 1942

Running time: 100 minutes

Country: Germany

Language: German

 

 

Starring:

 

Marika Rökk: Monika Koch

Viktor Staal: Andreas Rüdiger

Hans Brausewetter: Dr Georg Nöhring, Egyptologist

Mady Rahl: Helene, Monika’s friend

Aribert Wäscher: Director of the Revue Theatre

Ursula Herking: Miss Müller, secretary

Günther Lüders: Paul, Nöhring’s valet

Paul Henckels: Papa Schmidtke

Herta Mayen: singer

Hans von Kusserow: dancer

Lucie Euler: Miss Knispe, landlady

Sonja Kuska: Christine

Karin Lüsebrink: Barbara

Clemens Hasse: Doorman at the “Schneehof”

Emil Heß: Doorman at the “Schneehof”

Eduard Wenck: Train conductor

Willy Witte: Singer

Herbert Weißbach: Head waiter at the cancelled engagement dinner

 

Love Me or Make Love to Me (German: Hab mich lieb) is a 1942 German musical comedy film directed by Harald Braun and starring Marika Rökk, Viktor Staal and Hans Brausewetter. It was shot at the Tempelhof Studios in Berlin. The films sets were designed by the art director Ernst H. Albrecht. The film is a backstage musical and was a major commercial success on its release.

 

Plot summary

 

Monika Koch works as a revue dancer at the theatre. One evening, she is running late for her performance, so she sneaks onto the stage and promptly ends up in the wrong scene. In her desperation, the spirited young woman begins to improvise. In doing so, she reveals unexpected talents as a comic relief: right in the middle of the two leading actors’ aria, she tumbles down a hill as Cupid with a bow and arrow, landing right at the couple’s feet. In her desperation, Monika tap-dances and dances, and accidentally fires the arrow into the leading lady’s back, who then runs off into the wings. Monika finishes the aria with the scene partner who has been left behind. The audience applauds and is delighted, but the theatre director is the exact opposite: he is furious and promptly throws Monika out of the ensemble. To make matters worse, Monika’s landlady also evicts her from her little room, as she can no longer pay the overdue rent. In the stairwell, the hapless Monika bumps into her neighbour, the Egyptologist Georg Nöhring, who feels just as lonely and abandoned as she does. He invites Monika into his flat, and the two quickly hit it off. By the end of the same evening, they are engaged.

 

At the earliest opportunity, Georg tells his best friend, Andreas Rüdiger, about his future wife. Andreas, however, is anything but enthusiastic and believes that Georg is courting disaster if he commits the folly of getting engaged to a woman he doesn’t know at all. To prevent a disaster, Andreas promptly instructs Georg’s valet, Paul, to ring each of the invited guests and cancel the upcoming engagement party. Only Papa Schmidtke turns up at the huge festive table in the upmarket restaurant and is treated to a sumptuous meal for one. Andreas persuades Georg to go on a last-minute winter holiday. But Georg refuses and instead locks himself away at home. So Andreas turns up at the station in his place, where he runs into an angry Monika. She had originally come here to stop Georg from going on the trip.

 

In the train corridor, Monika gives Andreas a proper telling-off just as the express train begins to move slowly and Monika can no longer get off. She is now forced to travel with Andreas – whom she initially can’t stand because of his scheming – to the mountains in Tyrol. To make matters worse, the hotel at their destination is fully booked. Andreas manages to make up for some of the damage he’s caused by offering Monika his room and inviting her to dinner. He even organises an evening dress for her, though it’s far too big. Monika soon realises that Georg’s friend isn’t quite as bad a bloke as she’d assumed. On the contrary: as time goes on, she actually finds him more appealing than her still-fiancé.

 

Meanwhile, Monika’s best friend Helene is worried and wonders where Monika is, given that she was only supposed to pop over to the station for a moment. She goes to see Georg, and the two young people get on exceptionally well from the very start, especially as the Egyptologist thinks Helene bears a certain resemblance to the bust of Nefertiti, a replica of which stands in his flat. Shortly afterwards, Georg decides to travel to Tyrol to see Monika and call off their engagement. Monika, for her part, isn’t angry with him at all and throws her arms round her ex-fiancé’s neck. When Andreas sees this, he misinterprets the scene and leaves his holiday resort in disappointment without telling anyone. Meanwhile, the director of the revue theatre has decided to give her the lead role in the new revue (in light of the excellent reviews of Monika’s impromptu performance in the last show). Andreas is also in the audience at the premiere. In the box next door sit Georg and Helene, who have since got married. Georg makes it clear to him that Monika loves only him, Andreas. He secretly sneaks backstage to confess his love to Monika in the middle of her singing performance.

 

Production notes

 

„Hab’ mich lieb!“ was filmed from 15 June until the end of July 1942 at the UFA studios in Berlin-Tempelhof. It premiered on 8 December 1942 in two Berlin cinemas. The following year, the film was also released in Finnish, Dutch and French cinemas. From the end of May 1944, „Hab mich lieb!“ was also screened in Sweden.

 

Rökk’s husband, Georg Jacoby, took on the role of production manager in addition to heading the production team. Ernst H. Albrecht designed the film sets. The costume designs were by Vera Mügge, and Walter Rühland was the sound engineer. The dances were choreographed by Sabine Ress.

 

The lyrics to Franz Grothe’s music were written by Willy Dehmel. Of the four Grothe/Rökk songs featured in the film – „Es ist nur die Liebe“, „Ich möchte so gerne, ich weiß nur nicht was“, „Komm und gib mir deine Hand“ and „Sing mit mir!“ – the latter in particular became an evergreen.

 

Production costs amounted to approximately 1,441,000 Reichsmark; box-office takings, after a run of just five months, totalled around 3,830,000 RM by April 1943. This made „Hab’ mich lieb!“ an overwhelming box-office success.