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La Habanera
''La Habanera'' is a 1937 German romantic melodrama feature film directed by Detlef Sierck (later known as Douglas Sirk). Zarah Leander, who was recently signed by Universum Film AG, UFA, stars, in the lead role of Astrée Sternhjelm and also performs its title song, "La Habanera". Like many of her films of this era, it proved an enormous box office success. Plot In 1927, Swedish tourists Astrée Sternhjelm and her elderly aunt Ana are nearing the end of a visit to Puerto Rico. Ana despises the island, which she considers backwards, but Astrée is enchanted by the Caribbean climate, the openness of the islanders, and the local habanera (music), habanera music. Astrée is especially taken with Don Pedro de Avila, a rich and powerful landowner they meet on their last day on the island. Don Pedro invites the women to a bullfight, where he heroically jumps into the ring after the matador is injured, and kills the bull himself. The next day, as their ship sails back to Sweden, Astré ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Douglas Sirk
Douglas Sirk (born Hans Detlef Sierck; 26 April 1897 – 14 January 1987) was a German film director best known for his work in Hollywood melodramas of the 1950s. Sirk started his career in Germany as a stage and screen director, but he left for Hollywood in 1937 after his Jewish wife was persecuted by the Nazis. In the 1950s, he achieved his greatest commercial success with film melodramas ''Magnificent Obsession'', ''All That Heaven Allows'', ''Written on the Wind'', ''A Time to Love and a Time to Die'', and '' Imitation of Life''. While those films were initially panned by critics as sentimental women's pictures, they are today widely regarded by film directors, critics, and scholars as masterpieces. His work is seen as "critique of the bourgeoisie in general and of 1950s America in particular", while painting a "compassionate portrait of characters trapped by social conditions". Beyond the surface of the film, Sirk worked with complex mises-en-scène and lush Technicolor to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
