La Habanera (1937)

Trapped in Puerto Rico, a beautiful young Swede is torn between her passionate, but mildly abusive South American oligarch husband and her longing for her European homeland.

Director:

Douglas Sirk (as Detlef Sierck)

Writer:

Gerhard Menzel

Stars:

Zarah Leander, Ferdinand Marian, Karl Martell

Cast

Credited cast:
Zarah Leander	...	Astree Sternhjelm
Ferdinand Marian	...	Don Pedro de Avila
Karl Martell	...	Dr. Sven Nagel
Julia Serda	...	Tante Ana Sternhjelm
Boris Alekin	...	Dr. Luis Gomez
Paul Bildt	...	Dr. Pardway
Edwin Jürgensen	...	Shumann
Carl Kuhlmann	...	Prefect
Michael Schulz-Dornburg	...	Little Juan de Avila
Rosita Alcaraz	...	Spanish dancer
Lisa Helwig	...	Rosita - Don Pedro's old servant
Géza Földessy	...	Chauffeur (as Geza von Foeldessy)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Franz Arzdorf	...	Doctor #1 in Puerto Rico
Roma Bahn	...	Ebba
Günther Ballier	...	Steward

Storyline

Astrée Sternhjelm is visiting Puerto Rico with her aunt Ana, and is enchanted by the island. The day before leaving she meets the wealthy Don Pedro at a bullfight arena, and is infatuated by him. Just before the ship takes off, she hears the song "La Habanera" sung by some natives at the quay. The song strikes a chord in her heart, and without hesitating she leaves the boat to find Don Pedro. After some weeks they get married. Ten years later her paradise has turned into hell. She is locked up with her son Juan in the big estate by her jealous and controlling husband. In Stockholm her aunt Ana is financing a foundation, which is sending two doctors to Puerto Rico to research a tropical fever. One of them, Dr. Sven Nagel, was once in love with Astrée, and the aunt asks him to find out what has happened to her niece. When the two doctors arrive to the island, they are met with hostility from the authorities and the local doctors, who are afraid that news about the tropical fever in the ...

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

30 December 1937 (Slovenia)

Also Known As:

Habanera

Filming Locations:

Ufa-Atelier, Neubabelsberg, Brandenburg, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universum Film (UFA)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Tobis-Klangfilm)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Finnish censorship visa # 201303.

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Quotes

Astree Sternhjelm: You know, I turned back at the last moment ten years ago as the steamer was casting off. The island seemed to me like a paradise back then. Later, it came to seem like hell.
Dr. Sven Nagel: And now?
Astree Sternhjelm: Now? I have no regrets.
Dr. Sven Nagel: Regret is always foolish.
Astree Sternhjelm: La Habanera...

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Connections

Edited into Spisok korabley (2008)

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Soundtracks

Du kannst es nicht wissen
Music by Lothar Brühne
Lyrics by Bruno Balz
Performed by Zarah Leander

User Reviews

Aryan Propaganda

If you want to see a melodramatic love story, see The Notebook [2004]. This film should be seen for its stereotypical portrayal of non-Aryan people. After all, the film was made in Germany at a time when spurious theories of racial superiority were being concocted by the leaders of Nazism. The moral of the story is that a Nordic woman should never dare to marry or get involved with anyone not from her own race because she will be victimized in the process. In the end, the nobler northerners get it their way against the weaker southerners. This is so even when an argument could be made that don Pedro was simply the victim of a typical pattern of racism for ten very long years. In fact, he couldn't even teach his son Juan to love the culture of San Juan because his mother brainwashed him to long for snow in the middle of the Caribbean. Hard as he tried, don Pedro could not overcome the iron-will of his wife. In hindsight, should the story be true, the ones making a grave mistake are the arrogant people who go back to Sweden before the outbreak of World War 2.