Three from the Filling Station

This operetta, so frothy that at times it threatens to evaporate, manages to hold the interest due to a charming cast led by Willy Fritsch and Lilian Harvey and pleasant songs by Werner R. Heymann and Robert Gilbert, particularly the jaunty "Ein Freund, ein guter Freund" and the lushly romantic "Liebling, mein Herz lasst Dich grussen." The general tone – breezy, joyous, playful -- brings to mind Lubitsch's American-made operetta films such as "The Love Parade" and "The Smiling Lieutenant."

The Comedian Harmonists (a then-popular close-harmony sextet) appear all too briefly in a nightclub scene and character actor Felix Bressart, familiar to American audiences as one of the "comrades" in "Ninotchka" and other supporting roles, gets big laughs as a barrister. The loose-limbed Harvey gets in some high kicks in the surprise finale.