Sometimes it's a melodrama, sometimes it's a comedy. Even though TCM gave it 1.5 out of 4 stars, I just couldn't resist a 1931 pre-Code with handsome Ramon Navarro, so I gave it a whirl.
Handsome Austrian lieutenant Willi (Navarro) meets virgin music instructor Laura (Helen Chandler), pursues her, gets her drunk, spends the night with her. She's in love, but he thinks it was just fun and games. He leaves her 100 gilder on the breakfast table. (Note to pre-Code fellas: when you spend the night with an innocent girl, don't leave her money in the morning; you will only insult her and turn her into a prostitute for real as she wreaks revenge on you while feeling she's good for nothing else now that you've defiled her -- Freddie March made the same mistake in 1934's "We Live Again" -- tsk tsk).
Her heart hardened, Laura calls up Herr Schnabel (Jean Hersholt), a rich brute of a man whom Willi previously saved Laura from. In front of Willi, Laura tells Herr S. that she's "willing to accept your previous invitation ... and quite completely." We get the drift; Laura becomes Herr S.'s mistress and is transformed from shabbily dressed music instructor to kept woman in fancy new apartment with a new wardrobe and dripping in diamond jewelry.
Willi truly does seem to love Laura, and wants to make amends for ruining her life. Laura tells Willi that if he has more money than Herr S., that she will go with him. Willi plays chemin-de-fer (baccarat) with Herr S., but loses 14,000 gilder to him, which he must pay by noon the following day. As he leaves the casino, Laura gives Willi her address; he is waiting in her apartment when she arrives home. They kiss, and Laura tells Willi this is now "Act 2". They spend the night together, and in the morning she is now the one who is leaving money for him. She tells him over breakfast: "I'm a businesswoman now... You taught me how to make love without meaning a word that I say. I amused you once, and you paid me. Well, you're as handsome as ever and just as amusing. I return the compliment," as she reveals the money she's hidden under his breakfast plate.
Willi, determined to prove his love for Laura, leaves the money there and prepares to pay his debt by committing honor suicide. Willi's rich uncle, unable to bear the thought, offers to pay his debt but only if Willi will marry Emily, a member of a wealthy upper class family. Willi would rather die than marry Emily. Willi offers instead to quit the army, get a regular job, marry the woman he loves, and repay his uncle over time. At first the uncle rebuffs this idea, but in the end accepts rather than see Willi kill himself.
Next scene: Laura is teaching music again. Willi interrupts the lesson (as he did the first night he met Laura), some code words are exchanged (student's mother to Willi: Where's your uniform?, Willi's reply as he looks at Laura not the mother: I'm going to a masquerade, as a human being). Willi and Laura kiss. The End.
This movie also had some hilarious moments to it, if I may continue on with the spoilage:
1 - Willi's manservant Josef, who loves to parade around Willi's apartment wearing Willi's underwear; and who, when kicked in the rump from Willi for burning him with a hot towel, says "Thank you sir." He seemed to enjoy that kick!
2 - Willi hanging out with a prostitute at a fancy bar, Herr Schnable walks by and tells him, "Hope you wouldn't do anything I wouldn't do", to which Willi replies slyly with a slight raise of one eyebrow, "We're going to do something you *couldn't* do!"
3 - Willi donning his hat and checking himself out in the mirror after spending the first night with Laura; he tells his reflection "Just as handsome as ever!"
4 - The music student's parents believe Willi to be Laura's cousin. When Willi and Laura are kissing passionately at the end of the movie, the parents look on smiling but then, realizing "oh hey, aren't they cousins?" they turn and give each other a puzzled "what the hell????" kind of look. It was pretty darned funny actually.
Sometimes these 1- or 1.5-star flicks on TCM are duds, sometimes they are enjoyable little trifles such as this. Not a great movie, but certainly fun to watch and I'd definitely recommend it to any fan of the pre-Codes.
Handsome Austrian lieutenant Willi (Navarro) meets virgin music instructor Laura (Helen Chandler), pursues her, gets her drunk, spends the night with her. She's in love, but he thinks it was just fun and games. He leaves her 100 gilder on the breakfast table. (Note to pre-Code fellas: when you spend the night with an innocent girl, don't leave her money in the morning; you will only insult her and turn her into a prostitute for real as she wreaks revenge on you while feeling she's good for nothing else now that you've defiled her -- Freddie March made the same mistake in 1934's "We Live Again" -- tsk tsk).
Her heart hardened, Laura calls up Herr Schnabel (Jean Hersholt), a rich brute of a man whom Willi previously saved Laura from. In front of Willi, Laura tells Herr S. that she's "willing to accept your previous invitation ... and quite completely." We get the drift; Laura becomes Herr S.'s mistress and is transformed from shabbily dressed music instructor to kept woman in fancy new apartment with a new wardrobe and dripping in diamond jewelry.
Willi truly does seem to love Laura, and wants to make amends for ruining her life. Laura tells Willi that if he has more money than Herr S., that she will go with him. Willi plays chemin-de-fer (baccarat) with Herr S., but loses 14,000 gilder to him, which he must pay by noon the following day. As he leaves the casino, Laura gives Willi her address; he is waiting in her apartment when she arrives home. They kiss, and Laura tells Willi this is now "Act 2". They spend the night together, and in the morning she is now the one who is leaving money for him. She tells him over breakfast: "I'm a businesswoman now... You taught me how to make love without meaning a word that I say. I amused you once, and you paid me. Well, you're as handsome as ever and just as amusing. I return the compliment," as she reveals the money she's hidden under his breakfast plate.
Willi, determined to prove his love for Laura, leaves the money there and prepares to pay his debt by committing honor suicide. Willi's rich uncle, unable to bear the thought, offers to pay his debt but only if Willi will marry Emily, a member of a wealthy upper class family. Willi would rather die than marry Emily. Willi offers instead to quit the army, get a regular job, marry the woman he loves, and repay his uncle over time. At first the uncle rebuffs this idea, but in the end accepts rather than see Willi kill himself.
Next scene: Laura is teaching music again. Willi interrupts the lesson (as he did the first night he met Laura), some code words are exchanged (student's mother to Willi: Where's your uniform?, Willi's reply as he looks at Laura not the mother: I'm going to a masquerade, as a human being). Willi and Laura kiss. The End.
This movie also had some hilarious moments to it, if I may continue on with the spoilage:
1 - Willi's manservant Josef, who loves to parade around Willi's apartment wearing Willi's underwear; and who, when kicked in the rump from Willi for burning him with a hot towel, says "Thank you sir." He seemed to enjoy that kick!
2 - Willi hanging out with a prostitute at a fancy bar, Herr Schnable walks by and tells him, "Hope you wouldn't do anything I wouldn't do", to which Willi replies slyly with a slight raise of one eyebrow, "We're going to do something you *couldn't* do!"
3 - Willi donning his hat and checking himself out in the mirror after spending the first night with Laura; he tells his reflection "Just as handsome as ever!"
4 - The music student's parents believe Willi to be Laura's cousin. When Willi and Laura are kissing passionately at the end of the movie, the parents look on smiling but then, realizing "oh hey, aren't they cousins?" they turn and give each other a puzzled "what the hell????" kind of look. It was pretty darned funny actually.
Sometimes these 1- or 1.5-star flicks on TCM are duds, sometimes they are enjoyable little trifles such as this. Not a great movie, but certainly fun to watch and I'd definitely recommend it to any fan of the pre-Codes.
