''Woman at the Wheel'' (german: Frau am Steuer) is a 1939 German

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by

Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. The son o ...

and starring

Lilian Harvey Lilian Harvey (born Helene Lilian Muriel Pape; 19 January 1906 – 27 July 1968) was an Anglo-German actress and singer, long based in Germany, where she is best known for her role as Christel Weinzinger in Erik Charell's 1931 film ''Der Kongre ...

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

Leo Slezak Leo Slezak (; 18 August 1873 – 1 June 1946) was a Moravian dramatic tenor. He was associated in particular with Austrian opera as well as the title role in Verdi's ''Otello''. He is the father of actors Walter Slezak and Margarete Slezak and ...

. It was the last German film featuring Harvey, who had been the leading box office star in Germany during the 1930s, although she made two further films after moving to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Production

The film reunited Harvey and Fritsch who had appeared in several hit films together including '' The Three from the Filling Station'' and ''

Congress Dances ''Congress Dances'' is a 1932 German comedy film directed by Erik Charell and starring Lilian Harvey, Conrad Veidt and Henri Garat. It was an English-language version of the German film ''Der Kongreß tanzt''. A separate French-language versi ...

''. It was based on a play by the Hungarian writer Pál Barabás. Harvey was unhappy with the screenplay, which she felt made her character too unsympathetic, but was contractually obliged to appear in the production.Ascheid p. 144–145 The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

Erich Kettelhut Erich Karl Heinrich Kettelhut (1 November 1893 – 13 March 1979) was a German production designer, Art director#In film, art director and set decorator. Kettelhut is considered one of the most important artists in the history of early German cin ...

Location shooting Location shooting is the shooting of a film or television production in a real-world setting rather than a sound stage or backlot. The location may be interior or exterior. The filming location may be the same in which the story is set (for exam ...

took place in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Synopsis

A young

office worker A white-collar worker is a person who performs professional, desk, managerial, or administrative work. White-collar work may be performed in an office or other administrative setting. White-collar workers include job paths related to government, ...

proposes to his colleague, who accepts. However he is fired because all male employees of the company have to be married (and his ceremony took place three days too late). He finds himself unemployed and works as a house husband while his wife is successful at the office and enjoys being the family breadwinner. Feeling emasculated he eventually leaves her and moves back in with his mother. His former boss tries to affect a reconciliation by re-employing him at the company, but he now has to work under his wife which he finds unbearable. The dispute is eventually resolved when she announces that she is pregnant and will be leaving work to care for their expanding family.

Main cast

as Maria Kelemen *

as Paul Banky *

as Generaldirektor *

Grethe Weiser Grethe Weiser (; 27 February 1903 – 2 October 1970) was a German actress. Biography Born in Hanover, she spent her childhood in Dresden. She escaped from her dominant and sometimes violent father by marrying a Jewish confectionery manufactu ...

as Anni Bertok *

Georg Alexander Georg Alexander (born Werner Ludwig Georg Lüddeckens; 3 April 1888 – 30 October 1945) was a German film actor who was a prolific presence in German cinema. He also directed a number of films during the silent era. Personal life He was married ...

as Direktor Bordon *

Rudolf Platte Rudolf Antonius Heinrich Platte (12 February 1904 – 18 December 1984) was a German actor. Biography Born in Hörde, Westphalia (today part of Dortmund) the son of a merchant, his family moved to Hildesheim three years later. Rudolf left scho ...

as Pauls Freund *

Hans Junkermann Hennes "Hans" Junkermann (6 May 1934 – 11 April 2022) was a German professional racing cyclist who won 35 road races in 18 seasons from 1956 to 1973. He won the German National Road Race in 1959, 1960, and 1961. Biography Junkermann was bor ...

as Diener des Generaldirektors *

Lotte Spira Lotte Spira (; 24 April 1883 – 17 December 1943) was a German stage and film actress. She appeared in supporting roles in around seventy films. She was married to the Austrian actor Fritz Spira in 1905. In 1934 she divorced her Jewish husband ...

as Marias Mutter

References

Bibliography

External links

* 1939 films German romantic comedy films 1939 romantic comedy films 1930s German-language films Films directed by Paul Martin Films set in Budapest Films of Nazi Germany German films based on plays UFA GmbH films German black-and-white films 1930s German films {{1930s-Germany-film-stub