Daniela de la noche

This one has a great jazz score, a peek-a-boo nude scene of star Elke Summer, spys and double crosses, action and killing, and yet it's all kinda slow. I found it a little confusing and my attention wandered, though I did like the look of early 60's France, with the clothes and the hairstyles. The print on the DVD could have been better: Lots of scratches. I wouldn't be surprised if it was transfered from a 16mm print. The trailer included is more entertaining.

After her first successes in Italian films, Elke SOMMER was unable to get an exclusive contract with the then leading West German film producer Artur BRAUNER and his CCC FILMKUNST. That is why the blonde diva was seen mainly in German-French pulp productions such as DE QUOI TU TE MELES DANIELA! Before her imminent breakthrough in Hollywood (GOLDEN GLOBE 1964 for THE PRIZE)!

The beautiful Daniela Neumann (Elke SOMMER) sets off from Munich to Rome to work as a model in the fashion house of the sophisticated Count Castellani (Ivan DESNY). There she meets the journalist Karl Bauer (Helmut SCHMID, future husband of fellow film star Liselotte PULVER) and becomes embroiled in a confusing espionage story. Soon the first deaths are reported.

This film is only worth watching because it features the very young Elke SOMMER. As a mixture of Brigitte BARDOT and Marilyn MONROE, she was a perfect fit for the era. Director Max PECAS used this potential perfectly for his overly confusing story. The result is not a successful film, but a contemporary document about the beginnings of the soon-to-be world star Elke SOMMER.

Käthe HAACK, who played Emil Tischbein's mother in the legendary 1931 film adaptation of Erich KÄSTNER's EMIL AND THE DETECTIVE, also plays a small role as Mrs. Neumann.

This is basically a mess with a lovely as always Ms. Sommer and good jazz score. Decent location work, but the script is all over the place. I don't know if this made money in the early 60's, probably did. The presence of a 20 y/o Elke Sommer (very well cast) helps it along, but there's no where to go with this story.

A 3 out of 10. Best performance = Elke Sommer. Slight nudity and cool clubs don't make up for the stuttering lack of balance or control. Some beautiful girls, lots of smoking and slick maneuvers by the men doesn't translate into cohesive story. But Elke fans should check this one out (very early in her career) pre-America.

The theme song is kinda hokey, but how can you not love a movie starring Elke Sommer? "Zarte Haut in schwarzer Seide" (called "Daniella by Night" in English) casts her as a young German woman who moves to Paris to become a model, only to get involved in slimy business and espionage. A particularly good aspect is the jazz music played throughout the movie. But the scene likely to open anyone's eyes is the striptease. Knowing how hot Elke Sommer is when clothed, wanna try and guess how she looks when unclothed? Anyway, the movie's nothing really special, but her very presence is good enough for me. WHAT A HOT BABE!!!!!!!!

This film reminded me of the "Perils of (fill in the blank)" comics and adventure stories brought to the screen. The beautiful, innocent heroine repeatedly finds herself in precarious situations through no fault of her own or by trying to do what she conceives to be the moral thing. Yet she escapes unmarked and unmolested although she occasionally has to suffer the loss of her clothes. In the end she emerges whole in the arms of a strong, virile man to whom she willingly and demurely submits. This pretty much describes "Daniella by Night". The scenario here is the world of espionage although these guys are pretty lame spies. Anyway it doesn't really matter because the focus is Elke Sommer. This vastly underrated actor carries the film. Without her it wouldn't even be worthy of the title of "worst flick ever". She seems to float through the action in - or out of - her designer clothes, radiant and smiling, blissfully unaware or unconcerned of the danger around the corner. It's a chic romp with noir overtones, clever use of shadows, slick camera work and a fantastic jazz score. Good fun with erotic undertones.