La Maison de Montevideo

The star system of postwar German cinema was faltering badly but vehicles were still being manufactured for it. Heinz Rühmann and Ruth Leuwerik seemed a nice combination as yet untried, so both stars were rushed through this sluggish remake of a minor classic. Both weren't the fan raves they've been in the Fifties, but 'Das Haus in Montevideo' turned a nice profit and pleased all but the most critics. They savaged the movie for its tediousness, banality and overall humdrum.

In all fairness, the picture did have its antic moments and ingratiating characters. Miss Leuwerik took her required pratfalls with the grace and spirits of a seasoned pro, but Mister Rühmann played her comic foil in a smug, balmy fashion that robbed numerous scenes of their laughs. Likewise, director Helmut Käutner was not in top form; his over-emphatic handling soured several potentially charming situations.

When I recently zapped into this film I was for some reason hooked. I had seen it many years ago and in my memory it was an okay film but now I must admit it is nearly perfect. Heinz Ruehmann plays the patriarch German Professor with a family of 12 kids. They love and adore and fear him like a father these days will never know. The moral crisis comes when he or rather his daughter Atlanta inherits a house in Montevideo. His sister whom he had forced into exile because she was a "fallen" women had made her fortune. As it turns out by becoming a famous singer. But when they come to collect the money all appearance seems to suggest that the fortune was made by some less accepted profession. It now turns out that they will only inherit if some member of the family will also become an unmarried mother. Wonderful acting by Ruehmann when he tries to get the idea across to the fiancé of his daughter never directly speaking but rather using incredibly funny metaphors. A pure delight especially when it could turn out into something embarrassing at every moment which it never does. The solution to the crisis is rather silly but acceptable.

Wonderfully designed film and solid adaptation of Curt Goetz' play; a big improvement of Goetz' own film adaptation of 12 years earlier. Certainly no part of Helmut Käutner's best films, it still visible that he was one of the great (neglected) talents of German cinema of the 40's till 60's.

Heinz Rühmann is making this film, almost unavoidably, into a Rühmann vehicle, and plays one of his best roles of the 60's, thereby overshadowing Ruth Leuwerik who does not seem to fit her part.