Blumen aus Nizza (1936) review - A deeply silly, high-note singing farce

Look, if you hate high-pitched operatic singing and convoluted plots from the 1930s, just skip Blumen aus Nizza right now. But if you have a soft spot for weird old Austrian comedies where people do ridiculous things for money, this is actually a pretty fun watch. 🌸

It is definitely not a masterpiece. But it has this strange, light energy that kept me smiling, even when the plot made absolutely zero sense.

The whole thing kicks off with Maria, played by Erna Sack, who has a voice that could probably shatter every window in your house. She gets discovered by a music guy and sent to Nice (or "Nizza" as they call it) to sing.

Then we get this incredibly weird subplot about a broke nobleman played by Karl Schönböck. He has so much gambling debt that he agrees to fake his own suicide just to create a media buzz for a cosmetics company or something.

Yes, you read that right. A fake suicide for publicity. It is the kind of bizarre scheme you only see in these old movies, and nobody in the film seems to think it is a horrible idea.

The nobleman heads off to Paris to hide, but of course, Maria is also going there. You can see the "mix-up" coming from a mile away, but the movie doesn't care about being subtle.

I must say, Erna Sack is really the main reason to watch this. Her high notes are so absurdly high they almost sound like a whistle. 🎶

There is this one scene where she is singing in a music school and the camera just zooms in on her face for way too long. She looks like she is concentrating so hard her head might explode, but then this beautiful, impossible note comes out.

The guy playing her sidekick, Paul Kemp, is also pretty funny. He has this tired, droopy face that makes him look like he walked into the wrong movie set but decided to stay anyway.

Some of the background sets look incredibly fake. Like, the "Nice" beach scenes clearly have a painted sheet in the background that does not move at all, even when the characters talk about the "ocean breeze".

It reminds me of the cheap sets in Peaceful Alley, though this one has much more singing. Or maybe the lighthearted family confusion in The Head of the Family, but with more champagne.

The pacing gets really slow in the middle. There is a long sequence at a party where people just stand around talking about debts, and I honestly zoned out for about five minutes. 😴

But then Erna starts singing again, and the movie wakes back up.

It is not trying to be a deep drama. If you want something serious, you should probably watch Miarka, the Child of the Bear instead.

This is just a silly, bubbly Austrian musical that wants you to look at pretty clothes and listen to crazy high notes. It is imperfect, the plot is dumb, but I kind of loved it anyway.

Small things I noticed:

• Karl Schönböck has incredibly shiny hair. Like, distracting shiny.
• The "suicide note" scene is played for laughs in a way that feels very dark but is treated like a minor inconvenience.
• The conductor in the concert scene looks like he had three cups of coffee right before they started filming. ☕