''Melody of the Heart'' (german: Melodie des Herzens) is a 1929 German

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks ...

directed by

Hanns Schwarz Hanns Schwarz (11 February 1888 – 27 October 1945) was an Austrian Empire, Austrian film director. He was born in Vienna on 11 February 1888. Biography He directed twenty four films between 1924 and 1937 in both English-language, English and ...

and starring

Dita Parlo Dita Parlo (born Grethe Gerda Kornstädt or Gerda Olga Justine Kornstädt; 4 September 1908 – 12 December 1971) was a German film actress. Early life and career Dita Parlo was born on 4 September 1908 in Stettin, Pomerania, then in the G ...

Willy Fritsch Willy Fritsch (27 January 1901 – 13 July 1973) was a German theater and film actor, a popular leading man and character actor from the silent-film era to the early 1960s. Biography Early life He was born Wilhelm Egon Fritz Fritsch, the only s ...

and

Gerő Mály Gerő Mály (1884–1952) was a Hungarian film actor who appeared in over sixty films during his career, generally in supporting roles. Mály starred in the 1929 German film ''Melody of the Heart'', the first sound film released by the German stu ...

. The film was the first successful

sound film A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before ...

produced by the German

major studio Major film studios are production and distribution companies that release a substantial number of films annually and consistently command a significant share of box office revenue in a given market. In the American and international markets, th ...

Universum Film AG UFA GmbH, shortened to UFA (), is a film and television production company that unites all production activities of the media conglomerate Bertelsmann in Germany. Its name derives from Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft (normally abbreviated as ...

(Ufa) and was credited with establishing the popularity of the

operetta film Operetta films (German: Operettenfilm) are a genre of musical films associated with, but not exclusive to, German language cinema. The genre began in the late 1920s, but its roots stretch back into the tradition of nineteenth century Viennese ope ...

. It was shot in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. Initially the film was intended to be silent, but halfway through production its producer

Erich Pommer Erich Pommer (20 July 1889 – 8 May 1966) was a German-born film producer and executive. Pommer was perhaps the most powerful person in the German and European film industries in the 1920s and early 1930s. As producer, Erich Pommer was involved ...

was ordered by his superiors to convert it into a sound film. Ufa had recently made a deal with the Klangfilm syndicate (consisting of

Siemens & Halske Siemens & Halske AG (or Siemens-Halske) was a German electrical engineering company that later became part of Siemens. It was founded on 12 October 1847 as ''Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske'' by Werner von Siemens and Johann Geo ...

AEG Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft AG (AEG; ) was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in Berlin as the ''Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektricität'' in 1883 by Emil Rathenau. During the Second World War, AEG ...

, and Polyphon-Werke AG (who sold

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

records) to license the

Tri-Ergon The Tri-Ergon sound-on-film system was developed from around 1919 by three German inventors, Josef Engl (1893–1942), Joseph Massolle (1889–1957), and Hans Vogt (1890–1979). The system used a photoelectric recording method and a non-standard ...

sound film system, under the name 'Ufa-Klang'. A previous attempt in 1925 by Ufa to use an earlier version of the same system, at the time owned by Klangfilm's former competitor, Tobis, had ended in failure. The film premiered at the

Ufa-Palast am Zoo The Ufa-Palast am Zoo, located near Berlin Zoological Garden in the New West area of Charlottenburg, was a major Berlin cinema owned by Universum Film AG, or Ufa. Opened in 1919 and enlarged in 1925, it was the largest cinema in Germany until 19 ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

on 16 December 1929. It was released in four different languages:

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, French and Hungarian.Rogowski 237 Such

multiple-language version A multiple-language version film, often abbreviated to MLV, is a film, especially from the early talkie era, produced in several different languages for international markets. To offset the marketing restrictions of making sound films in only one ...

s, which had been pioneered by

British International Pictures Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC), originally British International Pictures (BIP), was a British film production, distribution and exhibition company active from 1927 until 1970 when it was absorbed into EMI. ABPC also owned appro ...

, were popular in Europe until

dubbing Dubbing (re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and video production, often in concert with sound design, in which additional or supplementary recordings are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production sou ...

became more widespread.

Cast

as Julia Balog *

as János Garas *

as Vater Garas *

Marcsa Simon Marcsa Simon (born Mária Cecília Simon 21 November 1882 – 8 January 1954) was a Hungarian actress. She was born in Tápiószele and died in Budapest. Selected filmography * '' Miska the Magnate'' (1916) * '' St. Peter's Umbrella'' (1917) * ...

as Mutter Garas * János Körmendy as Vater Kovács * Juliska Ligeti as Mutter Kovács * Anni Mewes as Anna Kovács * Tomy Endrey as Der kleine Kovács *

Ilka Grüning Ilka Grüning (born Ilka Henriette Grunzweig; 4 September 1876 – 11 November 1964) was an Austrian-Hungarian actress. Born in Vienna in the old Austrian-Hungarian Empire, she was one of many Jewish actors and actresses that were forced to fle ...

as Fräulein Czibulka * László Dezsõffy as Zugführer Benézel

References

Bibliography

* Bergfelder, Tim & Bock, Hans-Michael. ''The Concise Cinegraph: Encyclopedia of German Cinema''. Berghahn Books, 2009. * * * Hardt, Ursula. ''From Caligari to California: Erich Pommer's Life in the International Film Wars''. Berghahn Books, 1996. * Kreimeier, Klaus. ''The Ufa Story: A History of Germany's Greatest Film Company, 1918-1945''. University of California Press, 1999. * Rogowski, Christian. ''The Many Faces of Weimar Cinema: Rediscovering Germany's Filmic Legacy''. Camden House, 2010.

External links

* 1929 films 1929 musical films German musical films Films of the Weimar Republic 1920s German-language films Films directed by Hanns Schwarz Films set in Hungary Films set in the 1900s German multilingual films Films about prostitution Transitional sound films Films shot in Hungary UFA GmbH films Prostitution in Hungary German black-and-white films Films produced by Erich Pommer Films with screenplays by Hans Székely 1920s multilingual films 1920s German films {{musical-film-stub