''It Was Always So Nice With You'' () is a 1954 West German

musical comedy film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the 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 serve merely as break ...

directed by Hans Wolff and starring Heinz Drache,

Georg Thomalla Georg Thomalla (14 February 1915 – 25 August 1999) was a German actor. He appeared in about one hundred fifty film and television productions between 1939 and 2000 and was widely known in Germany for his comedic roles. Thomalla was well known ...

and Ingrid Stenn.Commire & Klezmer p.253 The Swedish actress

Zarah Leander Zarah Leander (; 15 March 1907 – 23 June 1981) was a Sweden, Swedish singer and actress whose greatest success was in Germany between 1936 and 1943, when she was contracted to work for the state-owned UFA GmbH, Universum Film AG (UFA). Althou ...

who had been the leading German film star during the

Nazi era Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

, plays a self-referential role as a maturing film star. The film was intended as a tribute to the composer

Theo Mackeben Relief from Mackeben's tombstone Theo Mackeben, born 5 January 1897 in Preußisch Stargard, Westpreußen, died 10 January 1953 in Berlin, was a German pianist, conductor, and composer, particularly of film music.Lamb A. ''Theo Mackeben.'' In: ''T ...

with many of his hit songs sung by Leander and Kirsten Heiberg, another star of the 1940s. It was shot at the

Wandsbek Studios The Wandsbek Studios are film production and television studios located in Wandsbek, a district of the German city of Hamburg. The complex was established in 1948 when Real Film, set up the previous year, acquired a site in Wandsbek for construc ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. 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 ...

Rolf Zehetbauer.

Cast

* Heinz Drache as Peter Martens *

as Karl Holler * Ingrid Stenn as Elisabeth * Grethe Weiser as Aunt Martha * Albrecht Schoenhals as Publisher Conrads *

Carsta Löck Carsta Löck (28 December 1902 – 9 October 1993) was a German film actress. Life The daughter of a merchant grew up in Kiel and worked as a typographer. After training as an actor, she made her debut as Rosi in Hermann Sudermann's The Butterfl ...

as Secretary * Willy Maertens as Father Hannemann *

Helmuth Rudolph Helmuth Rudolph (1900–1971) was a German actor. Selected filmography * '' So Ended a Great Love'' (1934) * ''The Last Waltz'' (1934) * '' Back in the Country'' (1936) * '' Blum Affair'' (1948) * '' Blocked Signals'' (1948) * '' Love '47'' (1949 ...

as 2nd Film Director * Robert Kersten as Filmstar *

Willi Forst Willi Forst, born Wilhelm Anton Frohs (7 April 1903 – 11 August 1980) was an Austrian actor, screenwriter, film director, film producer and singer. As a debonair actor he was a darling of the German language, German-speaking film audiences, as ...

as Film Director * Kirsten Heiberg as Cabarre Singer *

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 ...

as Revue Star *

as Filmstar * Sonja Ziemann as Ballett Dancer * Grete Sellier as Dancer * Willy Dirtl as Dancer * Erwin Bredow as Dancer * Arthur Bankmann as Dancer * Helmut Ketels as Dancer * I.P. Schaich as Dancer * Klaus Zimmermann as Dancer *

Eddi Arent Gebhardt Georg Arendt (5 May 1925 – 28 May 2013) was a German actor, cabaret artist and comedian. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1956 and 2002. He was born in Danzig, Free City of Danzig (present-day Gdańsk, Poland) and died in ...

as Peters Begleiter in Hafenbar

References

Bibliography

* Anne Commire & Deborah Klezmer. ''Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia, Volume 9''. Yorkin Publications, 1999.

External links

* 1954 films 1954 musical comedy films German musical comedy films West German films 1950s German-language films Films directed by Hans Wolff Films about filmmaking Films about composers Films set in the 1930s Films shot at Wandsbek Studios German black-and-white films 1950s German films Films scored by Georg Haentzschel {{musical-comedy-film-stub