Meyer aus Berlin

Meyer Berliinistä / Meyer från Berlin / Sally op reis (title of the print). DE 1919. PC: Union. P: Paul Davidson. D: Ernst Lubitsch. SC: Hanns Kräly, Lubitsch, Erich Schönfelder. DP: Theodor Sparkuhl, Alfred Hansen. Starring: Ernst Lubitsch (Sally Meyer), Ethel Orff (Paula Meyer), Trude Troll (Kitty), Erich Schönfelder (Harry). Toned and tinted print from Filmmuseum (Amsterdam), Dutch titles, /18 fps/ 51 min. E-subtitles in Finnish by AA. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 22 Jan 2008. The second-to-last appearance by Lubitsch as an actor, and his last comedy role, once more as the Meyer character, the rascal from Berlin. It's a farcical parody both of the Jewish stereotype and of the mountain cult. The pushy character belongs to the same line as What Makes Sammy Run and Duddy Kravitz. The mountain theme appeared also in films like Kohlhiesels Töchter, Romeo und Julia im Schnee, and Eternal Love (Edelweiss). Nicola Lubitsch reveals in the documentary Ernst Lubitsch in Berlin that her father loved to climb mountains. The image of the four protagonists yawning in the mountain hut is one of the most delicious in the Lubitsch oeuvre. Lubitsch was shooting this farce in leather pants, feather cap and alpenstock in Berchtesgaden as Hitler was still fighting the WWII in the Bavarian army.