Fireworks (3 Stars)

This is a German musical comedy.made in 1954.

The film takes place in an unnamed Bavarian town. (It was actually filmed in Switzerland). Thankfully everyone speaks high German. I have problems understanding the Bavarian accent. The four Oberholzer brothers are a successful family in high social standing. One is a judge, one is a politician and one is a high ranking civil servant, but the most respected of the four is Albert Oberholzer, the owner of a factory that makes garden gnomes. I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere. There's also a fifth brother, Alexander, but he ran away from home 20 years ago, and nobody has heard from him since. They don't even know if he's still alive.

The film begins on 8th August 1909. It's Albert's 50th birthday. There's tension in the house, because his daughter's fiancé has written a newspaper article denouncing garden gnomes as trash that have no place in a garden. His daughter is 15-year-old Anna, played by Romy Schneider. She doesn't go to school any more. I don't know what the legal requirements were for school in those days.

At the party there's a surprise guest. Alexander Oberholzer arrives, having changed his name to Sascha Obolski. After leaving home he joined a circus, and he's now the owner of the Circus Obolski. His circus performs in Albert's garden for his birthday, but when the performers come indoors the family is disgusted by the primitive, uncouth behaviour of the people far below their social standing. It doesn't help that one of the women sits at the table with a python wrapped around her neck.

Sascha's wife Iduna flirts outrageously with the four brothers, despite the criticism from their wives. At least the circus will leave soon, and everything can be forgotten.

Or can it? Anna is sick of her stuffy life in an upper class household. She begs her uncle to let her join his circus.

This is a pleasant film, although it seems dated today. There are extended scenes of circus performances, which were the highlights of the film for me. The songs that break out at sporadic intervals are awful, making me want to clutch my ears. Notable is that this was the first German film made by Lilli Palmer, best known for her Hollywood films from 1935 onwards. Her birth name was Lilli Peiser, a German Jewess, and she had the misfortune to have been a refugee twice in her life. First she had to flee from Posen, when it was occupied by Poland in 1918. In 1934 she was one of the sensible Jews who fled to England while they were still allowed to leave.

Despite Lilli Palmer's popularity, Romy Schneider is given the top billing in the film credits and posters. It's true, she's the person with the most screen time, but it's still unusual, because this was only her second film. She already shows a lot of promise in her pre-Sissi days. She had a vitality and freshness about her which she lost when she emigrated to France.