JasonTomes

Germany in February 1945: Hitler was in his Berlin bunker, the Russians were advancing through East Prussia, the British were bombing Dresden, the Americans were preparing to cross the Rhine – and in Bavaria actors and technicians were making "Dreimal Komödie." Although this film was released in 1949, it had been completed four years earlier. From watching it, you would never guess.

"Dreimal Komödie" is a silly, escapist, romantic comedy, set in a prosperous peaceful Germany where politics never impinge. In style, it is very close to what Americans call screwball comedy. The humour arises from the characters telling preposterous lies without the slightest hesitation (and never resenting being told preposterous lies either). Ilse Brand (Margot Hielscher), a young couturier, is worried that her schoolgirl sister, Ulla, may be posing for a sculptor named Professor von Arnim, who specialises in nudes and has an unconscious habit of unbuttoning other people's clothing. Going to rescue Ulla from supposed moral danger, she meets Arnim and his musician friend Geiger. Both are instantly smitten with Ilse, and the rest of the film consists of their pursuing her with a persistence that would amount to harassment in reality - only "Dreimal Komödie" is always very far from reality. The title, "Three times a comedy," seems to relate to the deceptions practised when the men follow her to the countryside: Ilse pretends that her cousin is her fiancé, Geiger pretends that he has a broken leg, and Arnim pretends that the house in which they are staying was once the home of Goethe.

Personally, I found the relentless levity of "Dreimal Komödie" just too inconsequential, but it is a well-made film of its kind. In playing a sculptor, Ferdinand Marian (Professor von Arnim) may be unconvincing, but in playing a humorously urbane skirt-chaser, he is highly accomplished; his 'star quality' is evident. Paul Dahlke makes a thoroughly competent foil as Herr Geiger. Margot Hielscher is not so skilled in comedy, but she is beautiful, and her comparatively straight acting makes it a repeated surprise when Ilse is shown to be as dishonest and mischievous as the men.

What kept me watching "Dreimal Komödie" was the consciousness of when and where it was made. That a film like this could emerge from a nation in the abyss says something about the human spirit - though what exactly is perhaps debatable. Of course, the British during the Blitz made George Formby and Arthur Askey films, but these often contained a hint of patriotism. There is nothing of that sort here, only frivolousness with an under-current of sex, although Marian had earlier taken leading roles in Nazi propaganda films and Hielscher regularly entertained the troops as a singer. Whatever you may think of the comedy, circumstances make this film rather extraordinary.

The three-act operetta "Leányvásár" by Viktor Jacobi was a big success in Budapest in 1911, and an English adaptation entitled "The Marriage Market" did good business in London and New York two years later. The work has subsequently disappeared from the English-speaking stage, but it evidently retained enough popularity in its native country in 1985 for Hungarian television to make this version of it. It is not a lavish production. Indeed, it looks as if the singers, costumes, and sets of an operetta theatre were simply transported to a studio and a few outdoor locations. On the credit side, this means that the principals are capable operetta performers, and they give an enjoyable performance of the score. On the other hand, stage routines and props do not appear to advantage in the open air, especially under a grey sky in a stiff breeze.

"Leányvásár" is set in California, and the first act is essentially 'cowboy operetta'. This is decidedly incongruous, as Jacobi's music is firmly in the Central European tradition. As a European western, the show might be said to exist somewhere in the wide cultural space between "Carry on Cowboy" and "The Girl of the Golden West". The comic fisticuffs in the saloon bar go on and on. Into this unaccustomed milieu come two Austro-Hungarian aristocrats, Count Rottenberg and his silly son Fritz, who are in the USA to find a wealthy bride for the latter. Lucy Harrison, the daughter of a millionaire senator, and her friend Bessy are with them when they crash their car near a 'Wild West' one-horse town. There they find the annual 'marriage market' taking place. Lucy assumes this to be some kind of light-hearted folk festival and pairs off with cowboy Tom Miggles. Then she learns that he takes it quite seriously and considers her his wife. Senator Harrison hurries her away, but Tom is not to be shaken off. Of course, there is a romantic happy ending.

Even as operettas go, "Leányvásár" is pretty formulaic, alternating between love duets for the leads (Lucy and Tom) and humorous duets for the second couple (Bessy and Fritz), with intervals of unsophisticated comedy. Some of the songs are memorable, however, especially the one really American-style number in the score, the ragtime duet "Gilolo". The (misguided?) attempt to 'open up' the stage show with outside filming adds a certain amount of extra humour, e.g. Lucy 'singing' while swimming and clutching a lifebuoy in a rather choppy sea. Operetta enthusiasts will enjoy the chance to make the acquaintance of an unfamiliar work. Others will view it as a curiosity at best. If Hungarian singing cowboys are what you're after, this is the show for you.

"Just a song of Paris, Music made for two, Brings me sweetest mem'ries, Memories of you!" The quality of the lyric of the title-song is broadly indicative of the quality of the film. That said, it is not a romance, but definitely a comedy, albeit one with a few (not very credible) romantic moments.

Matthew Ibbetson (Dennis Price) is a rather prim young man who has recently succeeded his father as head of a family firm producing patent medicines. Concerned about falling sales in France, he visits Paris and becomes enamoured of Clémentine (Anne Vernon), a cabaret singer. Shortly afterwards, she turns up in London and asks him to set her up in an apartment. Not the sort to contemplate keeping a mistress, Matthew thinks he ought to marry Clémentine, but he anticipates opposition from his overbearing mother (Hermione Baddeley). Worse still, an absurdly jealous old admirer (Mischa Auer) follows the singer from Paris, vowing melodramatically to kill his rival. Farcical incidents ensue.

"Song of Paris" falls between two stools. The farce is not sufficiently sustained to induce real hilarity, while the wit is never sharp enough for the piece to succeed as light comedy. In the last ten minutes or so, the silliness of the humour abruptly moves up a gear (and failed to carry me along with it, so the end did not come too soon). I see that Frank Muir and Denis Norden had a hand in the script. The cheerfully unsubtle tone does indeed recall 1950s radio comedy, and, for all its efforts to evoke the ambiance of 'Gay Paree,' the film is every bit as primly English as Mr Ibbetson. At first, Clémentine comes across as a good-natured courtesan, interested in the foreigner chiefly on account of his wealth. Once in London, however, she turns into a 'nice' girl who wants to get married and settle down – when the film might have been funnier had she retained more of her original character.

Dotted through the film are three or four songs. Clémentine sits at the piano, waves her hands over the keyboard, and the sound of an orchestra comes from nowhere to support her vocalising. Musical interludes of this kind seem to have been popular in the 1950s. Nowadays they seem embarrassingly phoney.

"Song of Paris" raises the occasional smile. No film can be all bad that has such standard British comic turns of the era as Kynaston Reeves as a vicar and Richard Wattis as a civil servant. Dennis Price, Hermione Baddeley, and Mischa Auer are all proficient comic actors, moreover, who do their best with the material given them - which only makes the viewer wish they'd been given something better. Ibbetson is perhaps too naïve a character to suit Price's talents; just a few years later the role would surely have gone to Ian Carmichael.