Dutch postcard by JosPe, Arnhem, no. 385. Photo: City Film. Liane Haid, Gustav Fröhlich and Szöke Szakáll in Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Don't Want To Know Who You Are (Géza von Bolváry, 1932).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 158/1. Photo: Boston-Film. Gustav Fröhlich, Liane Haid and Betty Bird in Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Don't Want To Know Who You Are (Géza von Bolváry, 1932).
German postcard by Ross Verlag. no. 7086/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Boston-Film. Gustav Fröhlich in Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Don't Want to Know Who You Are (Géza von Bolváry, 1932).
A comedy of mistaken identities
Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Don't Want To Know Who You Are (Géza von Bolváry, 1932) is a comedy of mistaken identities, written by Ernst Marischka and Robert Weil.
The penniless Count Lerchenau (Gustav Fröhlich) has to work as a chauffeur under the name Robert Lindt. However, he lost his last job, because women love him so much.
His former servant Ottokar (Szöke Szakáll) remains loyal to him and tries to get him to marry a rich woman. However, at the restaurant where he is supposed to meet a suitable lady, he ends up flirting with the attractive Alice (Liane Haid) instead.
Robert gives Count Lerchenau as a reference to get a job on President Fuhring's (Max Güllstorff) staff. But then Führing wants to speak to Lerchenau, and Franz has to play the role of the count...
Alice, it turns out, is Führing's niece. When she learns that Robert is only a chauffeur, she wants nothing more to do with him. But after all sorts of turbulence, they find each other after all.
Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 6498. Photo: Boston Film / Lux Film. Gustav Fröhlich in Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Don't Want to Know Who You Are (Géza von Bolváry, 1932).
Dutch postcard, no. 360. Photo: City Film. Liane Haid and Gustav Fröhlich in Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist (Géza von Bolváry, 1932). The mark on the right side of the card refers to the Dutch censorship approval.
Because of the regime, because everything was bombed, and because all the good directors had left
The male star of Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Don't Want To Know Who You Are (Géza von Bolváry, 1932) was Gustav Fröhlich, who had his breakthrough as Freder Fredersen in Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927). Fröhlich often played smart gentlemen in lighthearted musicals and romances. Because of his carefree attendance, Fröhlich was seldom allowed to play other characters. He frequently worked with Hungarian film director Géza von Bolváry, who specialised in Viennese Operettas and romantic comedies. Between 1931 and 1933 they made six films together. These include Liebeskommando/Love's Command (Géza von Bolváry, 1931), Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Do Not Want to Know Who You Are (Géza von Bolváry, 1932), and Was Frauen träumen/What Women Dream (Géza von Bolváry, 1933), which was co-written by Billy Wilder.
In 1931, Fröhlich married Hungarian opera star and actress Gitta Alpár, with whom he had a child, Julika. Alpár was Jewish and the rise to power of Adolf Hitler in 1933 destroyed her successful film career in Germany. Mother and child were forced to leave Germany and fled to the U.S. Fröhlich distanced from his wife because he didn't want to endanger his career. During the Third Reich, he remained one of the most prominent German film stars. Their marriage was dissolved in 1935 as 'illegal' in National Socialist Germany. After the war, Fröhlich tried to apologise for his behaviour but Alpár could not answer his pleas. A circumstance which, according to IMDb, gave Fröhlich a hard time in his last years and beclouded his lust for life.
Liane Haid was the first Austrian movie star in film history. She already appeared in operas and operettas before she made her first film appearance. Very popular were her silent film operettas Im weißen Rößl/The White Horse Inn (Richard Oswald, 1926) and Die Csardasfürstin/The Csardas Princess (Hanns Schwarz, 1927). The transition to sound film, which required a different way of acting, she mastered very well. In the hit film Das Lied ist aus/The Song Is Over (Géza von Bolváry, 1930), she sang the song that became famous: 'Adieu mein kleine Gardeoffizier' composed by Robert Stolz. Haid was at the height of her popularity. In 1933 alone, she appeared in nine feature films. From the mid-1930s, she refused film offers and instead focused on her stage career. In 1942, she escaped from Nazi Germany to Switzerland "because of the regime, because everything was bombed, and because all the good directors had left".
In the early 1930s, Hungarian actor Szöke Szakáll was, next to Hans Moser, the most significant representative of the Wiener Film, the Viennese light romantic comedy genre. Among his German films was Géza von Bolváry's Zwei Herzen im 3/4 Takt/Two Hearts in Waltz Time (1930). The Jewish Szakáll was forced to return to Hungary, because of the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi movement. He was involved in over 40 films in his native land, including Skandal in Budapest/Romance in Budapest (Steve Sekely, Géza von Bolváry, 1933). When Hungary joined the Axis in 1940, he went into exile with his wife and became famous in Hollywood as S.Z Sakall. Many of Szakáll's close relatives later died in Nazi concentration camps, including all three of his sisters and his niece, as well as his wife's brother and sister.
The sets of Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Don't Want To Know Who You Are were designed by the art director Franz Schroedter. The music was by Robert Stolz. The title song 'Ich will nicht wissen wer du bist', composed by Stolz with lyrics by Ernst Marischka, was sung by Liane Haid. In the cast were also Adele Sandrock as Emerenzia, Betty Bird as Käthe, her niece, Julius E. Herrmann as Councillor of Commerce Blume, and Lotte Lorring as his wife Helga. At VPRO, the reviewer writes: 'An upbeat film operetta with very nice songs by Robert Stolz and fine roles by Liane Haid and Gustav Fröhlich. In 1942, scriptwriter Ernst Marischka directed a remake of the film, Abenteuer im Grandhotel/Adventures in the Grand Hotel (Ernst Marischka, 1942) with Wolf Albach-Retty and Carola Höhn. Hans Moser now played the role of Szöke Szakáll.
Dutch Postcard, no. 362. Photo: City Film. Gustav Fröhlich in Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Don't Want To Know Who You Are (Géza von Bolváry, 1932).
Dutch Postcard, no. 382. Photo: City Film. Liane Haid and Gustav Fröhlich in Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Don't Want To Know Who You Are (Géza von Bolváry, 1932).
Dutch postcard by JosPe, Arnhem, no. 384. Photo: City Film. Liane Haid and Gustav Fröhlich in Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist/I Don't Want To Know Who You Are (Géza von Bolváry, 1932).
Source: VPRO (Dutch), Filmportal (German), Wikipedia (English) and IMDb.
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