La Habanera

1937 Germany. The Nuremberg laws are in place, Hitler is holding secret meetings about creating more "living space" for the German people, and Detlef Sierck (later Douglas Sirk) directs this romantic drama about a Swedish woman in a Euro-centric fantasy version of Puerto Rico. Now, there are some brightly Sirk-esque moments here and there but overall, I really couldn't get into this. Something about a disease?

"He wasn't a Nazi." http://illusionpodcast.blogspot.com/2015/08/episode-67-when-douglas-sirk-was-detlef.html

One of the films Douglas Sirk did in Germany before fleeing country. The movie is a showcase for his Swedish screen protégé Zarah Leander as a girl fed up with life with a Puerto Rican. The movie is pretty standard. Nothing truly remarkable except to see Zarah Leander being captured excellently by Sirk. She sings a few sad song and has a persona somewhere between Garbo and Dietrich. Easy to see why she became a star in Germany.

One of the films Sirk made before he got the hell out of Germany, starring the Swedish actress Zarah Leander, Goebbel's Garbo, Hitler's biggest box-office draw. The plot is pretty silly, but Leander is both talented and beautiful, and Sirk directs this odd melange of romance, music and melodrama with absolute conviction.