A brilliant lyrical drama, which premiered right before Christmas 1944, is a minor masterpiece from the actor-director Heinz Rühmann (the husband of the leading actress Hertha Feiler), who has created a beautiful film about finding and losing the person of your dreams. It takes off like a German version of Sun Valley Serenade, but instead of stressing the comic approach, it concentrates on the bitter-sweet relationship of two people, who quite obviously are made for each other, but who need to endure many difficulties in order to finally realize that. The actors are very good and the direction flawless, with some really poetical images. There's one musical number, an instrumental piece performed on about ten concert grands - not unlike the Jose Iturby number in Anchors Aweigh. A very strong entry in the recently re-released collection of war time German classics.
Review of Der Engel mit dem Saitenspiel
