''Hello, Fraulein!'' () is a 1949 German

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serv ...

directed by

Rudolf Jugert Rudolf Jugert (1907–1979) was a German film director. Selected filmography * ''Film Without a Title'' (1948) * ''Hello, Fraulein!, Hallo, Fräulein!'' (1949) * ''A Day Will Come (1950 film), A Day Will Come'' (1950) * ''Nights on the Road'' (195 ...

and starring

Margot Hielscher Margot Hielscher (29 September 1919 – 20 August 2017) was a German singer and film actress. She appeared in over fifty films between and 1939 and 1994. Hielscher was born in Berlin. In 1957, she was chosen to represent Germany at the Eurovis ...

, Hans Söhnker and Peter van Eyck. It was made by the

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

-based company

Bavaria Film Bavaria Film GmbH is a German film production and distribution company located in Grünwald, Bavaria at the district of Munich. It is one of Europe's largest film production companies and one of the leading production and distribution companies ...

in what would shortly become

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. It marked the German debut of van Eyck who had actually been born in

Pomerania Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian Voivod ...

but had spent many years in the United States, leading him to be promoted in the film's publicity as an American actor. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

Max Mellin Max Mellin (30 January 1904 – 17 March 1977) was a German art director.Jacobsen & Prinzler p.275 Selected filmography * '' Goodbye, Beautiful Days'' (1933) * '' Happy Days in Aranjuez'' (1933) * ''The Girlfriend of a Big Man'' (1934) * '' Playi ...

. It was shot at the

Bavaria Studios Bavaria Studios are film production studios located in Munich, the capital of the region of Bavaria in Germany, and a subsidiary of Bavaria Film. History The studios were constructed in the suburb of Geiselgasteig in 1919 shortly after the Firs ...

in Munich. The film's music combines elements of American

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and German

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

.Davidson & Hake p. 49

Synopsis

Southern Germany Southern Germany (, ) is a region of Germany that includes the areas in which Upper German dialects are spoken, which includes the stem duchies of Bavaria and Swabia in present-day Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, and the southern portion of Hesse ...

in the months after the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the commander of American forces occupying a German town tries to promote friendship with the locals by organising a musical show with the assistance of a female music student who has recently returned from entertaining German soldiers on the Eastern Front. By inviting a multi-national

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

to perform, the two achieve greater international harmony although the student ultimately decides to marry a local

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

rather than the American soldier.

Cast

as Maria Neubauer * Hans Söhnker as Walter Reinhardt * Peter van Eyck as Tom Keller * Bobby Todd as Cesare * Heidi Scharf as Renate *

Iska Geri Iska Geri (28 April 1914 – 10 April 2002) was a German film and television actress.Körner p.364 Selected filmography * '' Hello, Fraulein!'' (1949) * ''Third from the Right'' (1950) * '' The Veiled Lady'' (1951) * '' That Can Happen to Anyone' ...

as Grit * Hannelore Bollmann as Herta *

Madelon Truß Madelon may refer to: Given name: * Madelon Baans (born 1977), retired breaststroke swimmer from the Netherlands, competed in three Summer Olympics * Madelon Lubin Finkel, Professor of Professor of Population Health Sciences at Weill Cornell Medica ...

as Berta * Werner Scharfenberger as Teddy * Richard Bendig as Seppl *

Oliver Hassencamp Oliver Hassencamp (1921–1988) was a German writer and actor.Goble p.685 Selected filmography Film adaptations *', directed by Franz Peter Wirth (1963, based on the novel ''Bekenntnisse eines möblierten Herrn'') *'' Burg Schreckenstein'', di ...

as René * Johannes Buzalski as Gabor * Toni Thormal as Jan * Jürgen Wulf as Hans * Peter Fiedler as Fritz *

Panos Papadopulos Panos Papadopoulos (Greek: Πάνος Παπαδόπουλος; 1 August 1920, in Kerassus, Ottoman Empire – 18 February 2001, in Munich) was a Greek actor. Selected filmography * '' Hello, Fraulein!'' (1949) – Musiker * '' Jonny Saves Neb ...

as Musiker * Freddie Brocksieper as Musiker *

Helmut Zacharias Helmut Zacharias (27 January 192028 February 2002) was a German violinist and composer who created over 400 works and sold 14 million records. He also appeared in a number of films, usually playing musicians. Early life Helmut Zacharias was bor ...

as Musiker * Eberhard Keim as Musiker * Cläre Ruegg as Frau Neuhaus * Bob Norwood as Sergeant * Franklie Clay as Sam * Ingeborg Morawski as Frl. Senkpiel *

Petra Unkel Petra Unkel (3 March 1925 – 2001), also known as Petra Unkel-Klinder, was a Hungarian-born actress of German film, singer, voice actress, radio spokesperson and cabaret artist, who was active in the industry from 1929 until 1958. Life and ca ...

as Roswitha * Karl Schopp as Alois * Thomas Quigley * Bill Nuzun * Gertrud Braun

References

Bibliography

* Davidson, John & Hake, Sabine. ''Framing the Fifties: Cinema in a Divided Germany''. Berghahn Books, 2007. * Lutz Peter Koepnick. ''The Cosmopolitan Screen: German Cinema and the Global Imaginary, 1945 to the Present''. University of Michigan Press, 2007.

External links

* 1949 films West German films German musical films 1949 musical films 1940s German-language films Films directed by Rudolf Jugert Films about music and musicians German black-and-white films Bavaria Film films Films shot at Bavaria Studios 1940s German films {{musical-film-stub