In 1931, induced by the runaway success of their musical comedies, UFA decided to further cash in on the popularity of comedians andnightclub singers of the time by producing a series of shorts featuring a number of performances without a surrounding narrative arc. Today,Kabarett-Programm Nr. 1, the only known survivor of the series among at least six produced, is a document of rare value: one of the mostauthentic audiovisual accounts of German language cabaret entertainment during its prime. Highlights include performances by singer Marcel Wittrisch and dancer Genia Nikolajewa, as well as a lovely sketch by Trude Berliner and Siegfried Arno, two of the most famouscomedians of the time, both of whom fully embraced the new medium of sound film.

Lukas Foerster