The Final Chord (1936)

A young, impoverished German woman named Hanna (Maria von Tasnady) gives her infant up for adoption and emigrates to American to live with her husband. When her husband commits suicide, ... See full summary »

Director:

Douglas Sirk (as Detlef Sierck)

Writers:

Kurt Heuser (screenplay), Douglas Sirk (screenplay) (as Detlef Sierck)

Stars:

Willy Birgel, Lil Dagover, Mária Tasnádi Fekete

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Willy Birgel	...	Garvenberg, Generalmusikdirektor
Lil Dagover	...	Charlotte Garvenberg, seine Frau
Mária Tasnádi Fekete	...	Hanna Müller (as Maria von Tasnady)
Maria Koppenhöfer	...	Frau Freese, Wirtschafterin
Theodor Loos	...	Professor Obereit
Peter Bosse	...	Der kleine Peter
Albert Lippert	...	Gregor Carl-Otto
Kurt Meisel	...	Baron Salviany
Hella Graf	...	Frau Czerwonska
Erich Ponto	...	Vorsitzender des Schwurgerichts
Paul Otto	...	Staatsanwalt
Alexander Engel	...	Mr. Smith
Walter Werner	...	Dr. Smedley
Eva Tinschmann	...	Oberschwester
Erna Berger	...	Soprano

Storyline

A young, impoverished German woman named Hanna (Maria von Tasnady) gives her infant up for adoption and emigrates to American to live with her husband. When her husband commits suicide, Hanna returns to Germany and works her way into becoming the live-in maid and nurse to her child being raised by an orchestra conductor and his wife.

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Plot Keywords:

suicide | germany | radio | poisoning | new york | 

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Genres:

Music | Drama

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Details

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

9 September 1936 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Final Chord

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universum Film (UFA)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Tobis-Klangfilm)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in Bewegte Bilder. Deutsche Trickfilme der Zwanziger Jahre (1975)

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Soundtracks

Symphony No. 9
Written by Ludwig van Beethoven

User Reviews

Has anybody seen my boy ? (no room for the mom).

"Schlußakkord" was the movie preceding "La Habanera" when Douglas Sirk was still Detlef Sierck and it is par excellence the movie which predates his great melodramas of the fifties.Not that the subject was very new:A young, impoverished German woman named Hanna (Maria Von Tasnady) gives her infant up for adoption ;when she comes back to her native land ,her son is now living in a rich family ,the man is a conductor and his wife ,a frustrated woman ,plays around until she gets this child she longed for;the biological mother takes a job as the brat's governess but of course the posh woman abetted by her former nanny ,a sinister-looking matron Rebecca's Mrs Danvers style , comes to hate her and dismiss her.Those who like stuff such as "the old maid" or "to each his own" or " a stolen life" should have a wonderful time watching this work.

There are sequences which predate Sierck's future works: a drunken guy wearing a carnival mask entering the heroine 's room at a dramatic moment makes one think of this skeleton bursting into an apartment in "tanished angels" (1957);the trial predates that of "written on the wind"(1956) with its new developments;and the final is almost as pompous as the ending of "imitation of life" (1959).

The shows are omnipresent:concerts (Beethoven's 9th symphony which cheers up the heroin far away from her land;pretty soon Sierck would have to leave it too) ,stage dramas ,heavenly choirs -the camera shows a statue of the Virgin babe in arms before filming the mother and child reunion;even more remarkable is the brat's little "show" : telling the story of "SnowWhite and the six dwarfs" -because a dwarf is missing- becomes a "tale in the tale", for as the young princess bites into the poisoned apple,his true mom is about to have a bad time.