Cidade da Ilusão

Emotional and beautifully shot, "Die goldene Stadt" was one of the biggest hits of German cinema in the forties, not only in Nazi-Germany, but all over Europe. It was Harlan's first feature film in Agfacolor and clearly his use of color is not as elaborate yet as in "Immensee" or "Opfergang", but still quite impressive, especially in Söderbaum's vision of the "golden city" and the finale on the moors. Söderbaum's acting has a natural and sometimes dreamlike quality - no doubt she was one of the stars of European cinema the camera really loved. There are some ideological undertones reflecting the political climate, but certainly not more than in Russian oder American films of that period.