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.

This was the first opera turned into a film, and it's a wild and hilarious experiment - in almost every scene it shines through how the director wallowed in innovations and breakneck experiments - some scenes are absolutely stupendous, like the fighting spree in the night running amok. - This vein of good humor is perfectly matched with Smetana's equally wildly hilarious opera, and I am sure Smetana himself would have laughed his sides off. At the same time, it pays careful homage to the genuine idylls of the 1850s, the costumes are totally folklore and rustic, the primitivity is consistent and convincing all the way, the horses are for real with actual wild courses with interesting stunts, but above all Max Ophuls' genius shines through the entire production. It does not contain the whole opera of course, you couldn't do that with the experimental first effort to film an opera, but all the major titbits are there, and you miss nothing of Smetana's best music, which after all sets the final and definite touch of absolute comedy and high-humoured spirituality to the whole work. - No opera of Smetana's was more successful, he actually composed ten, and it is still successful yearly at the National Opera of Prague and has remained a stable success world wide on every international scene. Max Ophuls couldn't have failed in using this for the first opera film, and yet he adds to it, with brilliance.

I must agree, though, with the previous reviewer, that it badly needs some restoration.