A young exotic ingenue decides to get her claws into a married German man, but soon tires of him.
What makes this film memorable is the context. Had the WWII lasted a bit longer, this film, shot between November 1944 and January 1945, would have been in German cinemas in the late spring of 1945. However, the war ended, some of the actors fell out of favour or died - or both, and the film was only released 7 years later. By that time, the greatest German actor Heinrich Georg had been starved to death in a Russian internment camp. Charlotte Schellhorn had committed suicide at 23 - as did countess women when the Soviet troops approached, raping everyone in skirts. Anneliese Uhlig, who had been assigned to keep company and take care of Mussolini when he was rescued by Hitler, found it hard to get work under new regime but managed to marry an American and lead a long and active life in the US.
The film itself is an OK escapist comedy. People travel on luxury liners, there's no sign of war, let alone the imminent downfall of the whole system. It's fluently directed and handsomely filmed, there are great costumes and sets (one scene seems to copy similar sets from Blood and Sand). The acting is pleasant and even though the story is rather trivial, it makes a pleasant viewing even without knowing the background.
What makes this film memorable is the context. Had the WWII lasted a bit longer, this film, shot between November 1944 and January 1945, would have been in German cinemas in the late spring of 1945. However, the war ended, some of the actors fell out of favour or died - or both, and the film was only released 7 years later. By that time, the greatest German actor Heinrich Georg had been starved to death in a Russian internment camp. Charlotte Schellhorn had committed suicide at 23 - as did countess women when the Soviet troops approached, raping everyone in skirts. Anneliese Uhlig, who had been assigned to keep company and take care of Mussolini when he was rescued by Hitler, found it hard to get work under new regime but managed to marry an American and lead a long and active life in the US.
The film itself is an OK escapist comedy. People travel on luxury liners, there's no sign of war, let alone the imminent downfall of the whole system. It's fluently directed and handsomely filmed, there are great costumes and sets (one scene seems to copy similar sets from Blood and Sand). The acting is pleasant and even though the story is rather trivial, it makes a pleasant viewing even without knowing the background.
