Douglas Sirk is a director with whom I’ve always been fascinated but whose work I have long needed to explore further. Like many others, my knowledge of his filmography is largely confined to his 1950s work, the time during which he made his famous series of Melodramas. This excellent new release by Eureka! afforded me the opportunity to go right back to the beginning, presenting Sirk’s first three short films and features. Still credited as Detlef Sierck at this stage, this German period is oft overlooked by inadequate retrospectives that focus solely on Sirk’s American films and usually only those from the 50s. What a delight then to discover so many rarely seen gems amongst the films included here.

Two Greyhounds [Zwei Windhunde]

Director: Douglas Sirk
Screenplay: L.A.C. Müller, Rudo Ritter
Producers: Peter Paul Brauer
Starring: Fritz Odemar, Hans Hermann Schaufubß, Mady Rahl
Year: 1934
Country: Germany
Duration: 30 mins

Sirk’s debut short is a fine start to his directorial career. At this stage, his work was primarily comedic and Two Greyhounds is a nifty satirical farce about Weimar Republic capitalism. The story follows two applicants for an accountancy job who arrive simultaneously and each mistake the other for the head honcho. This leads to a lengthy misunderstanding in which neither man can believe their luck as the other gives them free rein in wage negotiations and business arrangements. The situation escalates as first the two men dine together at an opulent restaurant, each under the impression that the other will be paying, and then they head out separately with the confidence of the money they have been mistakenly promised driving their bold business decisions. Although it is essentially a one joke idea, Sirk and writers L.A.C. Müller and Rudo Ritter know exactly how to gradually escalate proceedings in the way really good farce must. Fritz Odemar and Hans Hermann Schaufubß have a ball as the incredulously delirious applicants and the finale ties everything up with a beautiful dollop of irony where a lesser film might’ve just crumbled into chaos.

Three Times Before [3 x Ehe aka Dreimal Ehe]

Director: Douglas Sirk
Screenplay: Hans Fritz Köllner
Producers: Peter Paul Brauer
Starring: Gaby Gardener, Hella Graf, Hans Leibelt
Year: 1935
Country: Germany
Duration: 17 mins

Three Times Before is a difficult film to accurately review since its soundtrack has been lost. Produced in both a silent version with intertitles and a sound version, it is presented here in both versions, with subtitles having been added to replace the vocal track. I watched both versions but greatly preferred the “sound” version since the scant intertitles in the silent version are not enough to coherently tell the story.

Viewing a film bereft completely of even a score is a strange experience. In the case of Three Times Before, it took me several minutes to work out whether the film was a Comedy or a Drama but it becomes apparent during a scene in which an argument between a husband and wife descends into an abortive pillow fight. The film then becomes a sort of comedic precursor to Rashomon, with the couple each relating the details of the argument from their own point of view as they seek advice on obtaining a divorce. While the ending is a bit too neat, sentimental and, from a modern point of view, questionable, it’s still plain to see even from what we have left of it that Three Times Before is an effective little piece imbued with that same cynical edge that characterised Hollywood Screwball Comedies of the era.

The Imaginary Invalid [Der eingebildete Kranke]

Director: Douglas Sirk
Screenplay: L.A.C. Müller, Rudo Ritter
Based on the play by: Molière
Producers: Peter Paul Brauer
Starring: Heinz Förster-Ludwig, Baby Gray, Fritz Odemar
Year: 1935
Country: Germany
Duration: 37 mins

Of the three early Comedy shorts with which Douglas Sirk kicked off his career, The Imaginary Invalid is perhaps the most assured. Though its staginess betrays Sirk’s roots as a theatre director, its comparative opulence in recreating in miniature the final work by Molière is an embryonic example of Sirk’s luscious aesthetic, which would be fully realised as his budgets grew larger in his Hollywood years. The fact that The Imaginary Invalid is also my least favourite of these early shorts hinges entirely on my lack of enthusiasm for Molière’s particular brand of whimsical comédie-ballet, presented here with an authentic level of brio that exacerbated my irritation. For sure, this is an accomplished condensing of a lengthier play and an interesting signpost in Sirk’s filmography, but it wasn’t for me.

April, April!

Director: Douglas Sirk
Screenplay: H.W. Litschke, Rudo Ritter
Producers: Peter Paul Brauer
Starring: Albrecht Schoenhals, Carola Höhn, Erhard Siedel
Year: 1935
Country: Germany
BBFC Certification: PG
Duration: 82 mins

Debut features from great filmmakers are always a source of interest, although that curiosity is often rewarded with an oddity rather than a classic. Douglas Sirk’s debut, April, April!, if not quite a classic, proved to be surprising in terms of both its style and quality. Sirk did make Comedies during his Hollywood years but he became so synonymous with the sumptuous, ripe Melodramas for which he is famous that those working backwards through the filmography are often shocked when they arrive at a demonstration of his deft comedic skills. For anyone viewing chronologically however, Sirk’s early short films clearly point the way towards this hilarious and hugely enjoyable debut feature.

April, April! shares a writer, Rudo Ritter, with Sirk’s excellent debut short Two Greyhounds, and the same cheeky, satirical style is evident. The social-climbing Lampe family, owners of a successful pasta factory, are contacted by Prince von Holsten-Böhlau who wishes to put in a large noodle order for his planned expedition to Africa. When the Lampes laud this honour over their party guests, one disgruntled friend decides to teach them a lesson by fooling them into believing the Prince himself is coming to inspect their factory in person. By the time they get wind of the gag, the Lampes have made such a fuss and whipped up so much publicity that they can’t go back on their claim. So they decide to hire an impostor to pose as the visiting Prince. In the meantime, however, the real Prince has seen a newspaper article about his impending visit and assumed it is something that has been arranged on his behalf and that he must attend. But having never seen the Prince before, when he arrives the Lampes take him for their fraudulent plant.

There are more farcical misunderstandings, not to mention goofball non-sequiturs and romantic subplots, but part of the fun is watching them play out. April, April! packs a lot into a brief runtime and Sirk ensures we’re always on board with the gradually more complex misadventures. Aside from being delightfully constructed, April, April! is also genuinely funny in quite a modern way. Often the mistake with farce is playing it too broad, so that the world is established as ludicrous even before the madcap shenanigans begin. But April, April! is careful to create a realistic baseline, with character types who are instantly recognisable without being cartoonish. The cast occasionally throw funny lines away with everyday mannerisms that make the situation when funnier. One sequence in which a pair of characters who have reached breaking point take it in turns to smack a stick down hard on a table in order to vent their frustrations is the sort of unexpected aside that became popular in the surreal TV comedies of the 90s.

It’s probably fair to say that April, April! works better as a farce than a satire. The fawning over royalty at first seems to be a welcome subject for irreverent pricking but it emerges that it is the nouveau riche who are the real target. The actual Prince turns out to be good-humoured and impishly charismatic, immediately shepherded into the role of romantic lead rather than set up for the equal mockery for which one might hope. As such, April, April! doesn’t have quite the same level of bite as Two Greyhounds, although it is also less one-note and more ingeniously plotted. Ultimately, it is just a delight to discover that the earliest portion of Sirk’s career was dominated by Comedy, and that displayed such a flair for it.

The Girl from Marsh Croft [Das Mädchen vom Moorhof]

Director: Douglas Sirk
Screenplay: Philipp Lothar Mayring
Based on the novel by: Selma Langerlöf
Producers: Peter Paul Brauer
Starring: Hansi Knoteck, Ellen Frank, Eduard von Winterstein
Year: 1935
Country: Germany
BBFC Certification: PG
Duration: 82 mins

Sirk’s first non-comedic film, The Girl from Marsh Croft is often cited as his first dabbling in Melodrama. Certainly, you can see glimpses of the artist who would make those later staples of Hollywood Romantic Drama, but The Girl from Marsh Croft is also an early example of Heimatfilm, a genre that became popular in West Germany, Switzerland and Austria in the late 40s. Heimatfilm is characterised by its attractive rural settings that serve as the backdrop for stories of simple sentimentalism. Sirk’s Hollywood Melodramas, for all their lush Technicolor surfaces, had a deliberately oppressive air to them, with characters crushed beneath the societal expectations of 50s America. Similar expectations play a big part in The Girl from Marsh Croft but they are offset by the big lungfuls of air available to the viewer as we take in the mountainous farmland views.

Adapted from the 1908 novel by Selma Langerlöf, The Girl from Marsh Croft follows the story of Helga, a maid who is impregnated and then discarded by a master who refuses to accept responsibility. When her strength of character in the courtroom impresses a young farmer named Karsten, he takes her into his employ where she thrives. Karsten’s fiancée Gertrud is not pleased with how seamlessly Helga becomes part of the family but her demands that she be fired cause a rift between herself and Karsten. Nevertheless, the wedding plans persist and Karsten finds himself in a troubling situation when a murder takes place on the night of his bachelor party and he can’t remember the events of the evening. Who will stand by Karsten and is he guilty of the terrible crime he can’t recall?

The Girl from Marsh Croft is spiced up with a love triangle and a murder but at heart it examines the morals of the era, with attitudes towards an unmarried pregnant woman being juxtaposed with the unsullied reputation of her former lover. Philipp Lothar Mayring’s uncluttered screenplay makes it clear with whom its sympathies lie and Sirk elevates its dramatic peaks with excellent, intense direction. The opening courtroom scene is particularly moving, and Sirk expertly prefaces it with a lightly comedic scene of a group of maids surveying their possible new masters and indulging in local gossip. Setting the scene is as important as the heftier details of the plot and Helga’s morose intensity as she passes through is beautifully highlighted. Sirk will continue to lose Helga among the wide-open spaces of the rural setting, isolating her in her anxious loneliness. In one impressively unconventional shot, Sirk has his two leads begin a conversation and then sets his camera to roaming around the room, focusing on small details of the setting while his characters converse offscreen. The camera works its way back to them, as if drawn by an unstoppable force. At once, the importance of place and the inescapability of attraction are felt with a force beyond the grasp of mere dialogue.

In its implicit condemnation of judgmental attitudes, The Girl from Marsh Croft also refuses to make its apparent villains clear cut. Gertrud, at first appearing to be paranoid and jealous, is validated in her suspicions and it is in understanding her character that The Girl from Marsh Croft finds its strongest emotional payoff. Her final scenes with Karsten are heartbreakingly plain spoken, and her final departure a moment of muted hurt rather than garment-rending passion. Perhaps the film’s biggest weakness is that it never quite inspires the same level of emotion in regard to its central couple, which is even eclipsed by Karsten’s relationship with his parents. But there is so much more to The Girl from Marsh Croft than its core romance. There’s a sense, again reflected in that wandering camera, that Sirk is more interested in the people and attitudes surrounding his leads than he is the leads themselves: principles over principals, as it were. The result is a film that resonates more strongly the longer you think about it. Such slow-burning appeal would eventually prove crucial in Sirk’s later work, where stripping away Soapy facades gradually revealed one of the eras great overlooked filmmakers.

Pillars of Society [Stützen der Gesellschaft]

Director: Douglas Sirk
Screenplay: Karl Peter Gillmann, Georg C. Klaren
Based on the play by: Henrik Ibsen
Producers: Robert Neppach
Starring: Heinrich George, Maria Krahn, Albrecht Schoenhals
Year: 1935
Country: Germany
BBFC Certification: PG
Duration: 85 mins

An adaptation of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s play of the same name, Pillars of Society finds Sirk working with more famous source material which ultimately proves to be slightly to his detriment. Though not one of Ibsen’s better-known works, Pillars of Society is famous for having a cynical conclusion in which wrongdoing goes largely unpunished. Given its damning satirical view of political corruption, that seems fitting but this adaptation substitutes a climactic moment of meekly redemptive sacrifice which places Ibsen’s story squarely in the melodramatic wheelhouse that would eventually become Sirk’s bread and butter. That said, it also rather cuts the legs off the satire in favour of a predictable and slightly wearying sentimentality.

Aside from its climactic transgressions, Pillars of Society feels sloppier in execution than its predecessors. There are several instances of obviously intercut footage, some of which comes at crucial moments in the narrative and undermines the gravitas. A finale involving a violent storm and a wind-tossed sea falls apart under the weight of obvious artifice. Perhaps it would have been easier to suspend disbelief had the build-up been more engaging. Pillars of Society is a tale of secrets and lies, of the past coming back to haunt a sinner, but the tension on which its success hinges is rarely felt. The film’s major asset is lead actor Heinrich George, a future star of Nazi cinema, who manages to create a villain of some emotional complexity. With his girth and commanding presence, this performance feels like a more subtle and successful take on what Charles Laughton was aiming for in Hitchcock’s adaptation of Jamaica Inn. The rest of the cast are permanently in George’s shadow, which unfortunately means that the film sags when he is off screen.

Pillars of Society isn’t a terrible film but there’s an overwhelming impression that Sirk is struggling to marry his sensibilities with unsuitable material. The result is a slow-moving experience that rarely engages or defines the majority of its characters beyond their designated function in the narrative. As such, it comes across as Sirk’s first feature length misfire.

Sirk in Germany 1934 – 1935 is released by Eureka! on Blu-ray on 24 February 2025. The extras include commentaries on all three films and an informative interview with Sheldon Hall about Sirk’s career. Special features in full are as follows:Limited edition of 2000 copies
Limited edition O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Scott Saslow
HD presentations from new restorations supplied by the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation
Optional English subtitles on all features and shorts

New audio commentaries on all three featuresby Sirk expert David Melville Wingrove
Magnificent Obsessions – new interview with film historian Sheldon Hall on Sirk’s career from Germany to Hollywood
PLUS: Limited edition collector’s booklet featuring a new extended essay on Sirk’s early works by German cinema expert Tim Bergfelder

Sirk in Germany 1934 - 1935
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