I must say I am very much surprised to read the other reviews here. The reviewers seems to downplay the circumstances that led to the creation of this particular film. Instead the focus is on the artistry of the director and the cameraman. The story is just a melodrama. An escapist movie. Well...
Everyone should be aware that this film was intended to have an important influence on the German public in 1944. Therefore this is no escapist film! Not at all, and the underlying themes, that some reviewers mention, were the very motive for its making. Otherwise, this film would never have got the green light to be shot in the very expensive and difficult Agfacolor process. This film should be as opulent and stunning as possible, overwhelming the public visually while at the same time speaking to the unconsciousness of each viewer.
In 1944, the Third Reich was bound to go down. The film, as most films in Germany at that time, tries to show an undisturbed country, no war at all. But the repeating themes of death and nocturnal feelings, fate and foresee, plagues and diseases speak to a viewer, who has many sorrows and fears for the future. The goal was to get the people go on through hard times, to face the inevitable and become friends with death! Beside the most melodramatic telling of the story, the music plays a very important, and for my ears, very painful part. The constant use of swelling ups and choruses seemed to be trying to prepare us for the worst (which in reality was really to come). The music wants to pull one over to the "other side". Death is hovering over the whole picture. The whole story has a sickly and foul feeling.
The technical aspects of the film should not be overlooked, though. The color photography is great and so is the Art direction. I saw the film yesterday, a very good print at the Austrian Filmmuseum.
Everyone should be aware that this film was intended to have an important influence on the German public in 1944. Therefore this is no escapist film! Not at all, and the underlying themes, that some reviewers mention, were the very motive for its making. Otherwise, this film would never have got the green light to be shot in the very expensive and difficult Agfacolor process. This film should be as opulent and stunning as possible, overwhelming the public visually while at the same time speaking to the unconsciousness of each viewer.
In 1944, the Third Reich was bound to go down. The film, as most films in Germany at that time, tries to show an undisturbed country, no war at all. But the repeating themes of death and nocturnal feelings, fate and foresee, plagues and diseases speak to a viewer, who has many sorrows and fears for the future. The goal was to get the people go on through hard times, to face the inevitable and become friends with death! Beside the most melodramatic telling of the story, the music plays a very important, and for my ears, very painful part. The constant use of swelling ups and choruses seemed to be trying to prepare us for the worst (which in reality was really to come). The music wants to pull one over to the "other side". Death is hovering over the whole picture. The whole story has a sickly and foul feeling.
The technical aspects of the film should not be overlooked, though. The color photography is great and so is the Art direction. I saw the film yesterday, a very good print at the Austrian Filmmuseum.