Abschied (aka Farewell) (1930)

Set in a Berlin rooming house, a young couple (Aribert Mog, Brigitte Horney) are waiting for the opportunity to marry. But when he receives a job offer in Dresden, the other lodgers creat a series of misunderstandings that could jeopardize the couple's happiness. Co-written by Emeric Pressburger (BLACK NARCISSUS) and directed by Robert Siodmak (THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE). This "slice of life" dramedy is quite different from Siodmak's Hollywood output which tended to emphasize the darker side of life. The entire action takes place in boarding house rooms which makes it rather static cinematically and it comes across as an adaptation of a play (it's not). Most of the humor is too broad for my taste (I've never found German comedies particularly funny). When the most amusing bit is an emcee (Frank Gunther) using a black pen on the white dots on his socks so he'll have black socks, you know you're in trouble. After the movie's release, the studio replaced the downbeat ending with a tacked on happy ending without Siodmak's consent. Of interest as an early example of Siodmak's work but not an especially memorable film. With Emilia Unda as the two faced landlady in the film's best performance, Vladimir Sokoloff, Konstantin Mic and Erwin Bootz.