Die verliebte Firma was released in 1932 and is Max Ophüls’ first feature- length film in the role of director. A film about filmmaking that not only pokes fun at the whole industry, but also touches on the very contemporary subject of the casting couch. The plot centres around a film team desperately trying to complete their musical comedy in spite of tantrums, creative disputes, bad acting and the fact that many of the cast and crew are smitten with a novice actress, recruited at the eleventh hour. A more fitting title would be Die selbstverliebte Firma, or: The Company in Love with Itself, as everyone from the director downwards considers their role to be the most essential part of the production, and (with the exception of the female starlet) tries to use this influence to get the novice to themselves. The dominant jokes of these situations are undermined by the slight unease of the young actress; even if lightly brushed aside, it’s interesting to see that the casting couch was being addressed as early as 1932. Die verliebte Firma was an enormous success upon its release, with critics particularly praising the sound and dialogue – still considered a brand new feature in German cinema in early 1932, and one which many filmmakers were struggling to get right. The fact that three popular actors of the time (Anny Ahlers, Lien Deyers and Gustav Fröhlich) starred in the film must have also boosted its publicity. For the digital restoration of the film in 2023, the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau- Stiftung used a second generation dupe negative, made from a vintage release print. Despite copied-in missing frames and defects in image and sound which could not always be fully restored, the dupe is the longest of the surviving film elements, as well as the only one to have the original 1.19:1 aspect ratio.

Miranda Reason