The Only Girl (1933)

A dashing marquis bends from his horse when he discovers a lost garter in the woods and falls. During his delirium he is serenaded by a little hairdresser. She is the person who lost the garter to begin with and has only come to get it back having borrowed it from her employer--the empress of France. The marquis mistakenly thinks he was nursed by the empress, herself, and decides to woo her.

This was Lilian Harvey's last UFA film before she left for the Hollywood. It has a weird charm, opulent sets and a great cast, but somehow never quite comes together. There isn't much chemistry between Harvey and Conrad Veidt or her second lead Heinz Ruehmann. This may have something to do with the melancholy of it's being pretty near the end of the Weimar film era and the heydey of Harvey's career. Many of the most key people at UFA had already begun to emigrate and be forced out of the business.

The tunes are good and the little subplot with Offenbach gives the film a chance to use some bits of operetta to comic advantage. Somehow, however, the film probably wasn't the best send-off for UFA's biggest star.