Schwarzwaldmädel (1933) - A dusty, weirdly sweet Black Forest operetta

Look, unless you have a deep, inexplicable craving for early 1930s German operettas, Schwarzwaldmädel is probably going to feel like a very dusty relic. If you love old-world melodrama and accordion-heavy folk tunes, you might find some weird, nostalgic charm here.

But if you hate slow-moving, stagey romances where people make massive life decisions based on a single musical number, just run far away. 🌲

The plot is about as simple as a folk tale. We have this elderly choir master who is secretly, desperately in love with his young housekeeper, Bärbele.

But of course, there is a younger student who also has eyes for her. The whole movie is basically a long, drawn-out sigh before the old guy finally decides to do the "noble" thing and step aside.

The Hats are the Real Stars

I need to talk about the hats. The traditional Black Forest Bollenhut hats with the giant red wool balls on them are absolutely massive.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Schwarzwaldmädel (1933) through its definitive frames.

Every time Bärbele turns her head quickly, I kept expecting her to knock over a vase. It is highly distracting, but honestly, it was the best part of the movie for me.

The music is... loud. It has that very specific, tinny sound quality of early talkies where everyone sounds like they are shouting into a metal tin can.

It reminds me a bit of the frantic energy in Arabella, but with much more aggressive accordion playing. Some of the musical numbers go on for so long that you forget what the actual scene was even about.

A Few Weird Things I Noticed:

• The choir master looks constantly like he just remembered he left the oven on at home. 😮
• There is a scene where someone eats soup that feels like it lasts for five minutes of pure, unedited slurping.
• The younger student has this incredibly shiny hair that looks like it was painted on with grease.
• At one point, an extra in the background is just staring directly at the camera for a solid ten seconds, looking completely lost.

It is not a masterpiece like some other melodramas of the era, say, Dream of Love. But it has this weird, clumsy sincerity to it that makes it hard to completely hate.

The romance feels incredibly rushed at the end. One minute the choir master is crying into his organ music, and the next, everyone is smiling and waving like nothing happened.

It is a bit of a mess, but a harmless one. Watch it if you want to see some ridiculous hats and listen to some very loud German singing.