Introduction

RELEASED IN DECEMBER 1931, Die Koffer des Herrn O.F. (The Trunks of Mr. O.F.) premiered at the Mozartsaal in Berlin to great interest within both film press and industry. Considering those involved in its production, this is not surprising. The film's script was co-written by the noted leftist playwright and filmmaker Léo Lania. Its songs featured lyrics by Erich Kästner and music by the increasingly prominent composer Karol Rathaus. The cast included the veteran Alfred Abel as well as rising stars Peter Lorre and Hedy Kiesler, soon to be known in Hollywood as Hedy Lamarr. It was, however, the film's director and co-writer, Alexis Granowsky, who provoked the majority of interest. Granowsky had come to Berlin from the Soviet Union, where he had had great success with his Jewish Academic Theatre of Moscow, working first for Max Reinhardt before turning to film for Das Lied vom Leben (The Song of Life, 1931), a sensational combination of montage technique, buoyant musical sequences portraying the rich and poor, and a frank realism that would provoke censorship. In his review of Koffer, Fritz Olimsky would praise the director especially: “Alexis Granowsky greift aus der Problemwelt unserer Zeit das zurzeit allbewegende Thema ‘Weltkrise’ heraus und behandelt es in einer wunderlich persönlichen Art” (Alexis Granowsky takes from our contemporary world of problems the recent, ever-present theme of “world crisis” and treats it in a wonderfully personal manner).