Gabriela

Zarah Leander's big comeback after the war. The audience waited for 7 long years for a new melodrama with their beloved star, for new songs, and for new emotions. And it was fortunate that Géza von Cziffra, one of the many filmmakers helped by Karel Lamač, took on the project. After the war, he also produced several films. He was therefore the ideal filmmaker to build on Leander's work at the turn of the 1930s and 1940s and introduce it to a new generation. Everything is familiar, the nightclub plays a key role, and the first scene in which we finally meet the ever-charming star is, of course, the musical number. Her acting partners are Grethe Weiser, Käthe Haack, Siegfried Breuer and last but not least Carl Raddatz. The best new hits were the songs "Es gibt keine Frau, die nicht lügt" and "Wenn der Herrgott will." The film became a tribute to the phenomenon of Zarah Leander and was built on a similar dramatic arc to her earlier triumph Heimat. Even older posters, photo cards, and portraits with Zarah's face were used as decoration to now become the new face of Gabriela... It was also economically successful, with Gabriela becoming one of the highest-grossing films of 1950 in West Germany. (2021.07.06)