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With this film you can feel three stars are on the wane and are choosing their material out of desperation. Kate thought "Cameron's in it, so it may be a hit"; Jude thought "Cameron's in it, so it can't be bad"; Cameron thought: "Jude and Kate are in it and have British accents, so it may do for me what Notting Hill did for Julia". But obviously they did not read the script, especially the notes "to be ham-acted". Cameron ham-acted the first scene so brilliantly I am surprised she was ever offered another acting job (in fact, she was just given the speaking role in various Shreks afterwards). Kate managed to act through the first scene but then stuck to her safe laugh of wonderment throughout the rest of the film (but what else could she do when presented with the psycho-look lover to replace the manipulative lover?). Jude slimed through the role asleep in preparation for his destruction of "Sleuth". This sort of British-movie-for-Christmas should now be declared officially dead. There is nothing good to be said about money being invested in bad scripts, bad acting and bad films.

Although the acting and dialogue are not much, this film does offer an interesting reflection on life in the 1930s. The scenes of Tonio walking around New York give an impressive picture of New York from its good and bad sides. The city has a more realistic feel to it than you can find in many American films of the time. Peculiar too is the fascinating mixture of Christian and pagan ritual in the Dolomite town. The pagan festivities have a rawness to them that one no longer experiences in the processions and celebrations of modern-day German speaking areas. As the film was made in 1934, there is obviously some propaganda involved, but it is nevertheless a unique documentation of the time.