Ich küsse Ihre Hand, Madame

After Cafe Electric and The Art of Love, films that were the result of Marlene's return to film after maternity leave, her first leading role was not long in coming. Laurence Gerard became the first leading lady in a series of four great melodramas that were an excellent culmination of Marlene's work in the silent era. Then she spoke for the first time as Lola Lola. I Kiss Your Hand, Madame was a very popular film in its day. Handsome Harry Liedtke was a proven lover, with Marlene delightfully vacillating between him and the overweight Pierre de Guingand. How could she not, when Harry was hiding the fact that he was merely a chief... From today's point of view, it's rather funny that in 1932 I Kiss Your Hand, Madame was a flop in the US because audiences were too enamored with Sternberg's Marlene, and renaming the main characters from Laurence and Jacques to Lucille and Pierre didn't help either. Today, however, we can appreciate Land's direction (he was the director of The Art of Love and produced I Kiss Your Hand, Madame, so he liked Marlene and it paid off), the singer Richard Tauber from the synchronized version, and the assistant director of photography Fred Zinneman, who has roots in Hollywood. (13/02/2009)