La fiancée vendue

In a small town in Bohemia, the mayor and a marriage broker have arranged for an advantageous marriage, which the two principals don't want, being in love with other people. A traveling circus wants to appear in the town, but they still owe money from their last appearance. This, however, is a comic opera, so we can be confident that by the end, there will be a happy ending for all the good guys and a lot of good music along the way.

Max Ophuls adapted Smetana's lively opera for his second feature (he had also made a short, I'D RATHER HAVE COD LIVER OIL the previous year). With a sure-fire property like this one, Ophuls and his collaborators didn't have to do much, but they did not stint, opening it up magnificently, with lots of outdoors shots, and pacing maintained by a rapid cutting rate by editor Paul May. I can't comment meaningfully on the translation of the lyrics, originally written in Czech, into German; the music, however, is as delightful as ever.