AMPHITRYON (1935)
Article #846 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-9-2003
Posting Date: 12-6-2003
Directed by Reinhold Schunzel
Featuring Willy Fritsch, Kathe Gold, Paul Kemp

Jupiter comes down from Mount Olympus and disguises himself as a mortal to romance a woman.

Title check: Amphitryon is the name of the mortal whom Jupiter imitates. No problem.

If I were asked to say what I thought about German musical comedies, I would have precious little to say, since I didn’t even know they made any. Well, here’s one, and I still have little to say because it’s all in German without subtitles. It seems well-acted enough, but the music is not particularly memorable, and it’s not possible to say if the jokes are funny when you can’t understand the language, though some of the visual moments are quite striking. There is also a French version of the movie made at the same time called LES DIEUX S’AMUSENT, which I haven’t seen. Some of the special effects are also quite nice. I’ll leave further commentary for those who can understand the language.