Fräulein Raffke

We always hope that the unfamiliar titles spacing out the filmographies of people we admire will prove to be masterpieces. Well this one has Werner Krauss going all out as a business Czar with a desk full of telephones and Hans Albers coming out of it rather better as a seedy monocle wearing aristocrat who sees Krauss' fortune as the pot of gold while the millionaire thinks wedding of his daughter Lee Parry (Mrs Eichberg) to Albers will give him entry to the nobility.

The opening gives it a chance - lines of flunkies, bathing beauties, a palais de danse and lots of acting from Krauss continually adjusting his comb over. However this soon gives way to a "never darken my door" weepy.

Parry suffers in a variety of outsize hats and the plot fails to provide any surprises. Quite ambitious with big none too imaginative sets and hoards of extras, this one has community with the contemporary melodramas of Michael Curtiz and Cecil B. De Mille - there's even a Golden Calf ball but, at this length, it's not as much fun.