Ave Maria (1936): A melodramatic opera fever dream

Is it worth watching?

Honestly, only if you’re a massive fan of opera or have a weird itch for 1930s European melodrama. If you prefer your movies to have, you know, actual pacing or human characters who don't just exist to facilitate a plot twist, stay far away. It’s a weird, lopsided little film that feels like a fever dream you’d have after eating too much cheese before bed.

Beniamino Gigli is the main draw here, and the man can certainly belt it out. When he’s singing, the movie actually has a pulse. The second the music stops, though, the whole thing feels like it’s struggling to remember why it started in the first place.

The vibe is... specific

The story kicks off with a visit to a grave, which is about as somber as it gets. Then we pivot to a smoky nightclub where the "hard-boiled" entertainer starts scheming. The transition is jarring, like switching from a funeral to a circus in the same breath. 🎭

The whole "she’s a liar, no wait, she’s in love!" arc is so thin you could read a newspaper through it. You can almost see the gears turning in the writer's head. Needs a conflict? Add a car wreck. Needs a resolution? Add a wedding. Done.

Odd little things that stuck with me:

• The way the manager drops the secret info while drunk is just hilariously convenient.
• Some of the extras in the background look like they’re waiting for a bus rather than reacting to a famous opera singer.
• The lighting in the nightclub scenes is weirdly high-contrast, almost like a noir movie that got lost on its way to a concert hall.

It’s not as charming as Zwei Herzen im Dreiviertel-Takt, which had a bit more spark. This one feels heavier, like it’s carrying a giant bag of bricks called 'Drama' that it doesn't quite know how to handle.

I found myself staring at the background curtains during the longer dialogue stretches. They’re very nice curtains, honestly. Much better than the writing in those scenes. 🙄

There’s this moment where she’s supposed to be genuinely repentant, but she just looks like she’s trying to remember if she left the stove on. It’s tough to buy into the romance when the chemistry feels like it was written on a napkin during a lunch break.

Still, you can't deny the sheer audacity of the ending. It’s so aggressively sentimental that I almost respected it. Almost.