Ich bei Tag und du bei Nacht

Käthe von Nagy is a manicurist. She rents a room from Amanda Lindner from 9 PM to 8 AM. Willy Fritsch is a waiter. He rents the same room from 9AM to 8 PM. They never meet, but annoy each other through their treatment of the other's possessions in the armoire they also share. When they do, she thinks he is a rich man, and he thinks she is rich Julius Falkenstein's daughter, played by Amanda Lindner. She and poor student Albert Falkenstein disapproves of Lieven, whom he has never met, because it's a necessary plot point that must be unraveled by the end of the movie.

There's also Friedrich Gnaß, a film projectionist and Fritsch's friend. The operetta his theater is showing for the length of this film provides some amusing counterpoint in this romantic comedy directed by Ludwig Berger.

It's a pleasant one, but no surprise to anyone who's seen other Box-and-Cox romcoms like RAFTER ROMANCE, or the alternate English-language and French language version of this movie that Berger directed pretty much simultaneously. In the French version, Fritsch is replaced by Fernand Gravey, who also appears in the English-language one, where Fraulein Nagy is replaced by Heather Angel. So if you're confused by this one, think how that armoire must feel.

A lot of people mill about a sunny-looking Berlin in this inconsequential little bon-bon which I first saw on German TV without subtitles, and the experience tonight was little different with them.

Interesting members of the supporting cast include Friedrich Gnass, the safe-cracker from 'M' and Albert Lieven who soon fled to Britain; the father of the latter's girlfriend having a menorah on his bookcase.

I by Day, You by Night (Ich bei tag und du bei nacht) is an enjoyable black and white Germany musical comedy -- fully subtitled, even the songs. It was filmed in the spring of 1932 and released in November of that year (this was the year before Hitler became Chancellor and Goebbels started exerting authority over German cinema). There are some great songs in the movie and the Director takes the audience to some nice exterior shots around old Berlin and Potsdam, a beautiful suburb of Berlin where the Sanssouci Palace and other estates of Germany's House of Hohenzollern are located. The film also seemed to have some subtle pokes at Hitler, as there is a character in the film called "Wolf" who is a sort of a hanger on, sponging off of the wealthy executive's daughter in the film (Wolf was Hitler's nickname that some old friends and comrades called him). But the film is not overtly political, and is filmed with good humor. Much German cinema of that period, when it wasn't political (and not all of it was, even in the '30s and '40s), is enjoyable and well-acted. Fans of TCM and the old films should rediscover classic European cinema of the interwar period like this one. Käthe von Nagy is delightful and Willy Fritsch is funny as always. Longtime stage actress Elisabeth Lennartz is also very good, though underused. The Comedian Harmonists also make an appearance.

This great movie is still somewhat of a "non-classic", which is sad. Several German movie books don't even mention it (Klassiker des deutschen Tonfilms). Now the film is restored and available on Blue Ray. It can even compete with many American classics of the times. A great mix of music, fun, realism and comedy, the film makes you also sad because of the talent that left because of Hitler (producer Pommer, Käthe von Nagy, director Berger...). Go watch it if you like old classics (it should be one!).