Paula Hammond - Features EditorDirector Douglas Sirk was the undisputed master of melodrama. Best known for the lavish, sweeping romances he made during the last decade of his career, he had already made several films in his native Germany, before he consolidated his reputation in Hollywood.
Eureka’s latest release celebrates the early works of this filmmaker whose mature works included Magnificent Obsession, All That Heaven Allows, Written on the Wind and Imitation of Life.
In Sirk’s directorial debut – the comedy April Fool! – a businessman and shameless social climber, Julius Lampe (Erhard Siedel), is subjected to a cruel April Fools’ Day prank when he is led to believe a noble prince (Albrecht Schoenhals) intends to personally inspect his pasta factory.
In Sirk’s first melodrama, The Girl from Marsh Croft, farmer Karsten Dittmar (Kurt Fischer-Fehling) falls in love with the disreputable young maid Helga Christmann (Hansi Knoteck) – much to the dismay of his fiancée Gertrud Gerhart (Ellen Frank).
Finally, in Pillars of Society, wealthy Norwegian shipbuilder Consul Karsten Bernick (Heinrich George) must face up to a lifetime of corruption and deceit when farmer Johann Tonnessen (Albrecht Schoenhals) returns to Norway after a twenty-year absence and discovers that Bernick has smeared his good name.
Presented alongside Sirk’s shorts Two Greyhounds (Zwei Windhunde), Three Times Before (3 x Ehe) and The Imaginary Invalid (Der eingebildete Kranke), these three features – all released in 1935 – showcase the burgeoning talents of a filmmaker who would go on to become one of the most important figures in the history of Hollywood cinema.
Presented on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK from brand-new restorations these new releases are a fitting tribute to a true master of cinema.
