Bohemia in the 19th century, stage-coach driver Hans loves the mayor's daughter Marie, but she is promised Wenzel, the son of another wealthy farmer. Marie refuses to marry Wenzel because of Hans, but the marriage arranger tries to "buy" Marie from Hans. But when Wenzel tells Hans that he doesn't want to marry Marie either because he loves circus director Brummel's daughter, Hans decides to accept the offer of money for not interfering in the relations of Hans and Marie. But when Marie hears about this, she doesn't want to see Hans again.

In 17th-century England, Charles II, the rightful heir to the kingdom, is driven from his country by militants working for rogue leader Oliver Cromwell. Charles ends up in the Netherlands, where he falls for local beauty Katie and spends his days happily in the quiet countryside. Unfortunately, Cromwell's associate Col. Ingram and his men track Charles down, and the would-be monarch must resort to swashbuckling his way to freedom.

Evelyne Morin has known much misfortune in her life. Widowed, after being married to an unscrupulous adventurer, she ends up working as a call-girl in a Montmartre nightclub just so that she can bring up her young son. But Evelyne has hopes of escaping from this degrading life. One evening, she meets Georges, a Canadian friend, whom she once considered marrying. Since she last met him, Georges has become rich and highly respected as a doctor. To conceal her downfall, Evelyne pretends to be a respectable woman, with the help of Paul Mazuraud, an odious man who provides her with the wherewithal for her to keep up this deception. When her son unintentionally gives the game away, Evelyne places him in the care of her Canadian friend and then fades away into the fog...

Performace of Chopin's Valse Brilliante by Alexander Brailovsky, one of 2 classical soundies that Ophüls made in Paris.
As it comes from old VHS, some noises are detected, but I will put it for its rarity.

一群电影人拍外景时候遇到了一个年轻漂亮能歌善舞的姑娘，大家都非常喜欢她，希望带她进入电影，打造成明星，于是姑娘在各色人等的阿谀和赞美中来来去去，进入到了摄影棚，却被发现并没有想象的那么有天赋。

A country girl goes to Paris to work as a chorus girl and becomes involved in dope-peddling. Finally tiring of her sordid life, she returns to the country to marry a milkman.

To Max Ophüls this was an assignment (from the UFA), a pure routine job. One hardly recognizes the later Ophüls in this film (shortly made before his masterpiece "Liebelei"), but still Ophüls made this routine job into a well-paced, stylish and sometimes extremely funny romantic comedy; he probably could not do it any other way. The script is fine with some hilarious dialogue. The use of the surnames of the characters is simple but clever.
Having Ophüls in mind the film can also be considered a celebration of happy-go-lucky life: contrasted are those who live an easy going, wine and dine life with those whose narrow-minded life is based on punctuality and mineral water. Maybe that is why the film was banned in 1937: it was considered a film that could endanger public order and national-socialist feelings.
Good cast with Heinz Rühmann who shows his natural comic talent at best and Max Adalbert who is very good as the grumpy uncle; supporting cast good as well. Chauvinism makes me want to point out Lien Deyers (as Gina), a fine, charming and attractive actress from The Netherlands who had a successful career in German cinema.

Two ghosts attend an engagement party, unseen by the other guests. One ghost, Dupont, is the father of the bride-to-be. He looks back on his marriage to her mother. His wife Annette was always very unhappy; business kept him away from home. The doctor recommended indulging her whims for furs and jewels. Then Uncle Émile suggested a trip to Paris. All went well until the day they went to the circus and saw the lion-tamer, Rodrigo the Conqueror. Rodrigo becomes Annette's lover ... and the second ghost... But wait a second. There's a third ghost at the party!
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Annette is giving an engagement party for her daughter. However, the daughter's true love is not her fiance, but an air ace. The ghost of Annette's dead husband comes to watch the party. He is joined by the ghosts of two other lovers of Annette, the lion tamer Rodrigo, and her first sweetheart, a sailor. The three ghosts discuss how their relationships to Annette ruined their lives.

In the late 1800's, Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, falls for Sophie Chotek, a Czech countess. He's already a problem to the Crown because of his political ideas; this love affair with someone not of royal blood breeches protocol. The Crown allows the union only after the couple agrees to a morganatic marriage. The emperor further neutralizes Franz by making him inspector general of the army, sending him afield for months at a time. In June of 1914, fearing for his safety, Sophie seeks permission to accompany Franz to Sarajevo; protocol dictates that no army troops attend Franz while she is present. An assassin strikes. Their deaths spark World War I.

An all-knowing interlocutor guides us through a series of affairs in Vienna, 1900. A soldier meets an eager young lady of the evening. Later he has an affair with a young lady, who becomes a maid and does similarly with the young man of the house. The young man seduces a married woman. On and on, spinning on the gay carousel of life.

1933 film by Max Ophüls

A famous film star is put under an anesthetic after an attempted suicide and relives her melodramatic past. Written by Anonymous
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Gaby Doriot's new popular song "La signora di tutti" will be a hit in France, so her manager is negotiating a new contract with her film production company... The movie studio is bustling, but Gaby is nowhere to be found. Her manager checks her hotel, finding her on the bathroom floor: an apparent suicide attempt. At the hospital, as the anaesthetic is applied, Gaby flashes back to her life back home in Milan... At school, Gaby's affair with a married teacher gets her expelled. She and her sister Anna are invited to a party by Roberto, the son of a well-to-do banker. He and Gaby plan to go to Rome together, but his father's unexpected return sends him off alone. Gaby is on very good terms with Roberto's invalid mother, but his father, Leonardo, is drawn to Gaby... Written by David Carless

1955 film by Max Ophüls

Wide-eyed and poor young Leonora weds an obsessive millionaire named Ohlrig, but the marriage is loveless. Even worse, Ohlrig seems to have manic, violent tendencies. Eventually, young Leonora escapes her unhappy life and begins working with New York City doctor Larry Quinada, who she soon falls for. Unfortunately, Ohlrig refuses to grant his wife a divorce, and things get even darker for Leonora when she realizes she's pregnant with his child.

After discovering the dead body of her teenage daughter's lover, a housewife takes desperate measures to protect her family from scandal.

In 1936, Ophüls left France for the Netherlands, where he was ironically (or perhaps fittingly) granted an extravagant budget for this parable about the vagaries of capitalism in which a bank courier bounces between economic calamity and monetary bonanza. Not a penny was wasted, though, on the virtuoso camera movement and subjective compositions of renowned cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan.

A pianist about to flee from a duel receives a letter from a woman he cannot remember. As she tells the story of her lifelong love for him, he is forced to reinterpret his own past.