This disturbing little fever dream - Fred and Ginger seen through a funhouse mirror - is actually fairly innocuous - until you discover that it was filmed in 1944. In Berlin. Yes, it's "Ich Warte Auf Dich," the glam finale from Die Frau meiner Träume, the second-to-last film ever released in Nazi Germany's very own camp film technology, Agfacolor.
And the star? She's none other than the Brownshirts' Betty Grable, Marika Rökk. A Hungarian born in Cairo, she survived the war, as did her career, particularly in operetta. She's not bad, I suppose, but the whole thing can't escape seeming macabre. Ratchet it up one notch, and you've got pure Mel Brooks, really.
At least it appears she never met Leo Lerman.
Who's Marikka's dancing partner?
ReplyDeleteHe looks like Eichmann,
That would put it beyond Mel Brooks and well into Fassbinder territory.
ReplyDeleteActually, I haven't figured out who the man is; he's not, apparently one of the male leads, but takes over during the musical numbers. Of which, by the bye, it turns out this is just about the least over the top....
I did some research-he's Valentin Fromann, member of a Russian dance family, later toured with Ballets Russes. He must have got stranded in Berlin at some point and needed work.
ReplyDeleteFun fact-his voice was dubbed.
Ich Warte Auf Dich -> I control room on you?
ReplyDeletePardon my German, its a little rusty.
What amazes me about these snippets of detached reality is its glamour amongst the ruins. You just know that these have to have som inkling that what they have is doomed, yet they smile and sing.
I first saw this clip in the documentary Hitler's Hit Parade, shown at NY's Film Forum a few years back.
ReplyDeleteMarikka's a good dancer, but for the Zeitgeist you need a good Aryan goddess, Zarah Leander, the Norwegian songbird.
Ah, Z.Lo is a regular in these parts, you know.
ReplyDeleteFascinating about Fromann. There were a number of interesting Russians stuck in Berlin, my favorite being Princess Marie Vassiltchikov - who's experiences by the summer of '44 belie any glamour UFA was able to pull together at that late date...
I'll Wait For You - Ich Warte Auf Dich
ReplyDeletech warte auf dich
ReplyDeleteDu bist das Glück für mich
Mein Hertz ruft nur nach dir, dir, dir allein
Kein' Frau geht nach hin
wo ich nicht bei dir bin
Dein Bild ist stehts in mir, mir, mir allein
Du weißt genau
was meines Lebens Sehnsucht ist
daß du die Frau
in allen meinen Träumen bist
Ich warte auf dich
Das Leben ist schöner für mich
allein durch dich, durch dich