Review of Immensee - Ein deutsches Volkslied

This film has not aged well. It's a melodrama with capital M, and the director isn't ashamed of using everything in his arsenal not to let us forget that. The acting is pregnant with tears, the dialog is highly noble without ever being more than superfluous, and everything is through-scored with an academic, predictable, serious and dignified symphonic score, which flows over the spectators like syrup over flies. The film might work, if the protagonists were more sympathetic. They are, however, not: Karl Raddatz is incredibly ugly, even though he is supposed to be the handsome hero. Kristina Söderbaum only has one or two emotions to display, and to be quite honest, being a healthy woman who looks as gentle as a pork pie, she really shouldn't have been cast in all these over-suffering roles. But then, her husband knew better. The colour photography is very good, and some of the cast - like pretty Käthe Dyckhoff who enjoyed a brief career during the war - are likable.