Romance in a Minor Key (Romanze in Moll) (1943), directed by Helmut Käutner. Movie night at Tom’s, Monday, April 24.

Helmut Käutner was a German director who worked before, during and after the Nazi era, becoming widely regarded as one of the best directors from that country. I’ve seen a few Nazi-era films, and none of them holds up, nor are as emotionally complex as his works (that I’ve seen, of course). Most movies of this era subtly and not-so-subtly hold up Nazi ideals like love of folklore or dedication to country and family, weirdly enough, many of the same ideals that American films of the time also celebrate. Of course, much of this is due to the fact that the Nazis, specifically Joseph Goebbels, ruled the industry to do their bidding. But Käutner’s movies, like Romance in a Minor Key and Great Freedom No. 7, show complex people engaging in complex relationships, seemingly at odds or uninterested in the ideology of the time. Käutner, then, resembles Preston Sturges in a way–both men were able to skirt censors… well, I don’t know how, but they did. Romance in a Minor Key, the story of a woman who is married to decent, though flawed, man and having a romance with an arrogant composer who is mad for her, couldn’t be made in America at the time. There’s no way. The movie totally endorses the affair, celebrates it, and yet doesn’t condemn the husband. It’s easy to see why the woman would want the affair, but it’s also to the film’s credit that the husband is decent, if not flawed–and you could say that for the composer character as well. Brilliant camerawork and a stunning script (it’s truly amazing and complicated), make Romance in a Minor Key a true lost masterpiece, caught in the understandably repellant tide of Nazi era filmmaking.