Le phalène bleu

German film drama with Zarah Leander and Christian Wolff

This film by Wolfgang Schleif, which is also known under the titles "L'uomo ucciso due volte" and "The Blue Nightreveler", had its brilliant premiere on August 27, 1959 in the Theater am Aegi in Hanover. The Berolina film was produced in the Bendestorf studio, where Hildegard Knef had also filmed her infamous nude scene for "Die Sünderin / The Sinner" (1950), and is based on a rumor novel by Karl von Barany and Siegfried Gauercke that was published in QUICK.

The once celebrated star singer Julia Martens (Zarah Leander) is released after 15 years in prison for murder. She is looking for a job as a singer, but this is difficult for her because after 15 years no one remembers her. Through an old friend (Loni Heuser, who certainly wanted to erect a monument to Gloriafilm distribution boss Ilse Kubaschewski with her portrayal of the nightclub owner Elvira del Castro) she gets the chance to appear in "Blue Nightfalter". There Julia meets a new colleague, the dancer Irina (Marina Petrova), and her young admirer, who turns out to be Julia's now grown son Thomas Martens (Christian Wolff). He grew up believing that his mother was long dead. Julia leaves it at that, but is happy that she has him nearby. But then things come to a head. A terrible secret comes to light that forces Julia to act...

Paul Hartmann, Werner Hinz and Ingrid van Bergen, the German jungle queen of 2009 (in the German version of I AM A CELEBRITY, GET ME OUT OF HERE!), can be seen in other roles in this surprisingly effectively staged film. The director was Wolfgang Schleif (1912-1984), who is no longer so well-known, and who also directed the Heidi Brühl classic "The Girls from Immenhof" (1955) and the Ultrascope film "Between Shanghai and St. Pauli" (1962). For Wolf C. Hartwig's Rapid-Film. The great Zarah Leander (1907-1981) is still in excellent voice in "Blue Nightfalter" and sings four songs, including "Ein Leben ohne Liebe / A Life Without Love".

This film, which was shown in cinemas in Italy and the USA as well as in Sweden, Finland, Mexico, Belgium, Brazil, Spain and Greece, is a small discovery. As a woman with a past, Zarah Leander basically recreates her own life situation as a discredited exceptional singer who became involved with the diabolical National Socialist regime. The audience in Germany could also relate to this, as they were just as involved in the misdeeds of the past as the singer in life and in the film.

Christian Wolff is once again a stunner as a young playboy with his heart in the right place. This actor, who was a reliable ratings guarantee as forester Martin Rombach in the ZDF series "Forsthaus Falkenau" at the end of the 1980s, could do so much more and was a real film star in the Adenauerland film industry. His appearances in "Verbrechen nach Schulschluss / Crimes After School Ends" (1959) and "Via Mala" (1961) are also well worth seeing.

Anyone who has the desire and leisure to rediscover forgotten gems of the Federal Republic's film industry should not hesitate to watch this wonderful film.