"Meine Frau macht Musik" (literal translation: My Wife Makes Music) or "My Wife Wants to Sing" is an East German full feature live action film from 1958, so this one is already over 60 years old now. It runs for slightly under 1.5 hours and was directed by Hans Heinrich, one of his earlier career efforts and he kept directing for a long time afterwards, for decades actually, and today he is maybe most known for his work on "Drei Damen vom Grill". So the title already gives away that this is a musical and if there was any doubt about it, then there should not be any doubt left after the really long stage performance sequence at the very end. However, I personally think it is still more of a comedy. Of course there is a story and a plot and some conflict, but it never really feels dramatic whatsoever and you could see that this film did not take itself seriously, which was a good approach. As for the cast, there are not really any big names here that many people will still recognize. The fate of the two protagonists is a bit tragic though for lead actress Frisch decided to end her life less than five years after this film and lead actor Simon died less than 15 years later also still at a relatively young age. However, most of the other cast members here lived a relatively long life luckily and at least one of them is still alive today around the age of 90. Hopefully this is still true when you read my review maybe considerably after I wrote it. Okay, back to the film itself: It is inc olor, which really should not be taken for granted for a 50s movie, but it was the somehhat typical approach from the GDR. Non-drama films were almost always in color, while they left black-and-white mostly to bleak films from that era that had often political story lines linked (in)directly to the years of World War II that were not too long a thing of the past back then. And fairytales of course also always had color, at least those from East Germany.
Now let us not drift too far away. Of course, it must be said that musical from the GDR were not really a big thing at any point and if you watch this one you can see why I'd say. Honestly, even the central character they are trying to sell us as a marvellous singer was one thatg did not make a major impact on me whatsoever unfortunately with her voice. And also with her acting. I think they maybe could have found a better lead actress because as you can see from the title, it was really her who had the challenging task to this film together. Of course, there were also some subplot involving other twists and characters, but at the core it did not really help the movie, so the music was a bit disappointing. The long final sequence I mentioned already was also not as spectacular or memorable as they wanted it to be, not even by standards today. Musicals were a really big thing back then in the United States of course, so even the GDR went for it apparently. In general, I would say though that this is not a tight bleak GDR film as you could think it looking at when it as made. In contrast to that, it felt pretty open-minded with how the characters were acting and one thing that really needs to be said, it is even progressive in terms of females who aspire to have careers outside the kitchen. This was definitely a bit unexpected looking at where and especially when this was made. And also that it was not shown in a way where she was supposed to fail and at the end happily returns to being a housewife, but on the contrary. They want her to succeed. And the husband says on one occasion something like she should not have a career and she belongs hom to serve him and take care of the family and she gives a pretty self-confident response and he is depicted as a bit of an antagonist there. But really only in this scene, not altogether. Overall, I have definitely seen worse comedies from the GDR and if you think they could not deliver humor at all, then go watch this one and perhaps it will change your opinion to some degree at least. I am not saying this was laugh-out-loud funny, but it has aged okay overall I suppose, so you could say the comedy was a bit ahead of its time. Here and there we also have some cuteness or sweetness in this film, like at the end when there is a kiss that is hidden by the guy though, so we don't see lips liplock, maybe because it was still something that was considered fairly explicit back then. Oh boy, if they knew about today's perception of these things. So overall there were certainly moments when I considered giving this film a thumbs-up and positive recommendation, but sadly at the end it is some of the performances and also almost all the music that did not impress me enough for such a verdict. I mean there were okay portrayals too, for example I liked the male lead, but yeah it just wasn't enough. i suggest you skip the watch and go for something else instead.
Now let us not drift too far away. Of course, it must be said that musical from the GDR were not really a big thing at any point and if you watch this one you can see why I'd say. Honestly, even the central character they are trying to sell us as a marvellous singer was one thatg did not make a major impact on me whatsoever unfortunately with her voice. And also with her acting. I think they maybe could have found a better lead actress because as you can see from the title, it was really her who had the challenging task to this film together. Of course, there were also some subplot involving other twists and characters, but at the core it did not really help the movie, so the music was a bit disappointing. The long final sequence I mentioned already was also not as spectacular or memorable as they wanted it to be, not even by standards today. Musicals were a really big thing back then in the United States of course, so even the GDR went for it apparently. In general, I would say though that this is not a tight bleak GDR film as you could think it looking at when it as made. In contrast to that, it felt pretty open-minded with how the characters were acting and one thing that really needs to be said, it is even progressive in terms of females who aspire to have careers outside the kitchen. This was definitely a bit unexpected looking at where and especially when this was made. And also that it was not shown in a way where she was supposed to fail and at the end happily returns to being a housewife, but on the contrary. They want her to succeed. And the husband says on one occasion something like she should not have a career and she belongs hom to serve him and take care of the family and she gives a pretty self-confident response and he is depicted as a bit of an antagonist there. But really only in this scene, not altogether. Overall, I have definitely seen worse comedies from the GDR and if you think they could not deliver humor at all, then go watch this one and perhaps it will change your opinion to some degree at least. I am not saying this was laugh-out-loud funny, but it has aged okay overall I suppose, so you could say the comedy was a bit ahead of its time. Here and there we also have some cuteness or sweetness in this film, like at the end when there is a kiss that is hidden by the guy though, so we don't see lips liplock, maybe because it was still something that was considered fairly explicit back then. Oh boy, if they knew about today's perception of these things. So overall there were certainly moments when I considered giving this film a thumbs-up and positive recommendation, but sadly at the end it is some of the performances and also almost all the music that did not impress me enough for such a verdict. I mean there were okay portrayals too, for example I liked the male lead, but yeah it just wasn't enough. i suggest you skip the watch and go for something else instead.
