Glückskinder

Tricked by his friends, "Frank Black" (Paul Kemp) and "Stoddard" (Oskar Sima), into covering a story at the small claims court, a poet named "Gil Taylor" (Willy Fritsch) decides to impress his newspaper editor by taking on some of the cases himself. As fate would have it, one of the very first trials involves a young woman named "Ann Gardner" (Lilian Harvey), who has been arrested for vagrancy and is about to be sentenced to jail time. Given the circumstances, feeling somewhat sympathetic toward the young lady, Gil attempts to vouch for her, but in the process, testifies to the judge that the two are engaged to be married. Although initially skeptical of this, the judge decides to marry the two at that very moment, which greatly surprises both of them. This sudden event at the courthouse immediately captures the attention of all the other reporters present, and the story makes headlines in every newspaper--every newspaper, that is, except for the one where Gil works. Needless to say, this doesn't please Gil's boss, but more importantly, Gil now has a wife about whom he knows absolutely nothing. Now, instead of revealing any more, I will simply say that this was one of those old films that left me pleasantly surprised. The humor, while not nearly as sharp as in some more contemporary comedies, remained quite delightful in its own way. There were also hints of sexuality here and there, but of a rather subtle nature as well. Regardless, despite being somewhat dated, I mostly enjoyed this film and have rated it accordingly. Above average.

The classic German screwball comedy that is a free remake of It Happened One Night. But Paul Martin himself was the first to admit that he never fully captured the right atmosphere. Be that as it may, Glückskinder is first class entertainment, is very well directed and has brilliant and witty dialogue by Curt Goetz. The cinematography is very good and Paul Martin's use of panning and traveling is outstanding. Furthermore there are a couple of nice and silly songs and dances to finish the film off.

As to the cast: Harvey and Fritsch were the dream couple of German 30's cinema (and a good source of income for the UFA) and choosing them as leads was obvious. However, though both are good and charming (as Lilian Harvey always was), neither do not seem totally equiped for the job; here they lack a certain extra to make the viewer completely involved in their relationship. In this they are outdone by Paul Kemp and Oskar Sima, who both had the time of their lives in their parts.

In all literature on this film I never saw mentioned the small part of the judge played by Paul Bildt. Please note this scene: he is brilliant.

The Murnau institute has fully restored this from several sources. The Coca-Cola poster mentioned by another writer here now seems to feature Wallace Beery, unless my eyes deceive me.

This is very loosely based on It Happened One Night, with a reporter rescuing an heiress (maybe), losing his job over it and fighting with the aid of two friends to get it back while his bride decides getting a divorce is the only way to get them both out of trouble. The lead couple's behaviour sometimes seems a little capricious in order to provide themselves with obstacles to keep the narrative going, but the actors look comfortable in each other's company, their two friends are brightly played, the dialogue rattles along as well as in any Hollywood product of the times, and there's one zany song and dance in a tiny apartment.