Das Hofkonzert

Douglas Sirk contemptuously called it " a piece of Viennese pastry " , a potboiler made to capitalize on the success of " Schlussakkord " ;this latter film , "zu neuen Ufern " and "la Habanera " (both featuring Zarah Leander) were great vintage Sierck .

"Das Hofconzert " is a musical , the film operetta being at the time a UFA crowd-pleaser ; it may be considered ,from that point of view ,a forerunner of later films such as "meet me at the fair" or "take me to town" ;but beware !it's operetta and has nothing to do with the music which is heard in the above-mentioned later works ; the songs take half of the film and if you do not like the style,you have to move on .

The screenplay is eminently predictable : a diva pretends she is hoarse and thus won't be able to perform for "das HofKonzert " (= the court concert) ; so they hire a younger singer ,Christine , from Munchen , in search of her father who left her mom when she was a baby -the viewer will guess who he is since he appears-;she falls in love with an officer ,a VIP's son ;in parallel ,her maid Babette falls in love too ,but with a soldier .She knows her place .

Don't expect a "liebelei " ! "Your father is ......."hocher " hocher" (=higher ,higher) ;although at first the girl is dismissed ,and even expelled , there won't be any misalliance .Although Tom Ryan ( "exquisite ironies and magnificent obsessions") wrote "it's anchored in a woman's efforts to restore the sense of family ", it remains a light viennoiserie ,as easy to watch as to forget.

Kurt Meisel,cast as Babette's crush , would be later the commandant of the concentration camp in my favorite Sirk movie " a time to love and a time to die"(1958)