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.

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.

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

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.

1953 film by Max Ophüls

1952 film by Max Ophüls