Katharina, die Letzte

I was holed up in a hotel room in Austria on a rainy day between rehearsals for an opera I was in, and turned on the TV, which was usually hopeless; bad MTV and dubbed American Sitcoms. But this movie had just started, and I was hooked for the duration. Though I understood maybe one in five words at the most, sometimes far less, I was able to follow this delightful Cinderella story from beginning to end. Franciska Gaal is really hilariously funny and over-the-top as the kitchen maid Katharina, who is so poor she has to wear chunks of wood for shoes, and who is taken out on dates by a rich and handsome man-about-town dressed up as his own chauffeur in order to get into the house Kathariana works in, and where his fiancée lives, guarded by her overprotective father. Naturally Hans slowly grows to love Katharina in spite of himself, and soon she is no longer just a means to an end. Gaal exudes charm in bucketloads, even with her high voice and pigtails that seem to be held out by wires. She sings beautifully too. There are many touching moments in this, and much more subtlety than the plot may suggest. Speaking of singing, the Comedian Harmonists are featured in a nightclub scene, a good bit of priceless footage of this inimitable group. Both they, and Gaal, had their careers ruined by the Nazis, and this is yet another record of a lost world. Invaluable. I hope it becomes widely available soon, along with Gaal's other films, perhaps with some subtitles for those like me!

Hans Holt and Dorothy Poole are in love, but her father refuses to let her marry him. Holt is a wastrel, and father promises that the servant who lets Holt into the house will be fired. They take careful note of this, except for the scullery maid, Franciska Gaal. Seeing his chance, Holt borrows his chauffeur's uniform, asks the country bumpkin out, makes love to her, and charms Miss Gaal into falling in love with him. She lectures him on not smoking his master's cigarettes, and when she thinks he has been fired, buys him the second worst taxi-cab in the history of the movies.

Miss Gaal is an utter delight as the little country mouse who, every time someone speaks to her, is astonished. As the movie goes on and the situation grows more complicated, her confusion and pain becomes more telling.

Looking at this, it seemed to me very much like a Deanna Durbin movie - Miss Gaal even sings a reprise of a novelty love song. It's hardly surprising, because the producer is Joe Pasternak, and the director is Henry Koster (as Herman Kosterlitz), and their next film would be THEEE SMART GIRLS, the movie that made Miss Durbin a star, and saved Universal Pictures. One of the writers is Felix Joachimson; as Felix Jackson, he would move to Hollywood, write for the Durbin combine, and eventually become her husband and producer.

The Hungarians - including Miss Gaal - who made this movie in Germany were a canny bunch. They gave it the polish of Hollywood, and soon wound up there. They also made a funny, touching picture.