Grüß' mir die Lore noch einmal: A bit dusty, but charming

Is it worth your time?

Honestly, you probably shouldn't watch this unless you have a serious thing for 1930s German cinema or you’re digging through archives for fun. It’s not for the casual Netflix crowd. If you like stuff like Old Heidelberg, you might find something here, but don't expect a masterpiece.

It’s just… very old-fashioned. The whole thing feels like it was filmed in a bubble.

Notes from the couch

The pacing is a total disaster, but in a way that feels oddly honest. Sometimes a scene just stops. No real exit, no dramatic music cue, just a cut to the next thing. It’s almost like the editor got bored and just decided to move on. I kind of respect that.

• The music is everywhere. Sometimes it feels like people are singing because they forgot how to talk.
• The landscape shots of the Rhine are actually pretty nice, if you like that sort of thing.
• There’s this one guy in the background of the tavern scene—I swear he’s just eating the same piece of bread for three minutes straight.

It’s definitely not as sharp as Soup to Nuts, and it lacks the weird energy of something like Why Cooks Go Cuckoo. It’s just… there. It exists. It’s a movie that happened.

The performances are hit or miss. Some of them are acting like they’re in a grand opera, while others are just standing there trying not to trip over the microphone cables. It’s charming, I guess. In a dusty, attic-find kind of way. 🎞️

I caught myself checking my watch, but then someone started singing about the river again and I just went back to staring at the screen. It’s not a film that demands your attention; it just kind of sits in the room with you. If you’re looking for high stakes, skip it. If you want to see how they made movies back when everyone was trying to be polite and musical, go ahead.