Two early Douglas Sirk films new to Blu-Ray provide a window to the past

To New Shores (1937)
Directed by Douglas Sirk (as Detlef Sierck)
Written by Kurt Heuser and Detlef Sierck
Starring Zarah Leander, Willy Birgel, Viktor Staal, Carola Höhn
Runtime: 1 hour 46 minutes

La Habanera (1937)
Directed by Douglas Sirk (as Detlef Sierck)
Written by Gerhard Menzel
Starring Zarah Leander, Ferdinand Marian, Karl Martell
Runtime: 1 hour 40 minutes

Both films available on a single disc from Kino Lorber on May 11

by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, The Red Herring

Having not ever taken a film class, there are some of the classic, “great directors” that I have very limited exposure to because, for a long time, their films didn’t interest me. Douglas Sirk, famed master of the melodrama, certainly falls in this category. So, seeing a new release from Kino Lorber with two of his early films felt like the right opportunity to get to know Mr. Sirk better. Sadly, the results are a decidedly mixed bag. 

Both To New Shores and La Habanera were released in 1937 and starred Zarah Leander for the film studio UFA, which had come under Nazi control in 1933. Leander, a Swedish actress and singer, was one of the major stars of cinema produced under Hitler’s regime. These were the last two films directed by Sirk before leaving Germany in order to protect his second wife, who was Jewish. The two films also have common ground in that their stories largely take place on foreign soil, which lends an interesting look into how Sirk and the writers viewed other countries.

To New Shores takes place in 19th century London, and sees Leander play Gloria, a cabaret singer who confesses to a crime she didn’t commit in order to protect the military career of the man she loves, Albert (Willy Birgel). She is sent to the Australian penal colony for her troubles. Once in Australia, Gloria is set free when she agrees to marry a local farmer, but is despondent when Albert is announced to be engaged. Shakespearean drama ensues, with mistaken murder suicide, and the revelations of secret affairs for good measure. 

It is very sympathetic to Gloria, while Albert is portrayed as greedy, putting his career before his love, to the point where he leaves her to rot in prison. Sirk shows Australia in a light that feels similar to the American frontier, but with the added class consciousness of British social life. Overall, this is the kind of movie that is a little boring until it gets all twisty in the final act. With a few key musical numbers, this was easily the more entertaining of the two films in this set. It also helps that the need for homeland and national identity is more or less absent. 

La Habanera, on the other hand, was written by Nazi supporter Gerhard Menzel, most famed for penning anti-Polish propaganda. This film sends Leander to Puerto Rico on a trip with her elderly aunt (Julia Serda). While there, Leander’s character Astrée falls in love with powerful landowner (and occasional bullfighter) Don Pedro (Ferdinand Marian) and stays on the island to marry him. Several years later, doctors arrive from Stockholm to investigate a deadly plague called “Puerto Rico fever” while Astrée and Don Pedro bicker over how their son is to be raised. She wants him to know about snow, he wants the child to learn bullfighting, a classic argument. The doctors discover the wealthy on the island have been covering up the disease, and they try to work on a cure in secret. The whole film paints the region as an uncivilized and uncaring place, and the people of Puerto Rico are generally portrayed as racist stereotypes, with the argument between husband and wife resulting in the return to her homeland as the  only reasonable course of action. The racist overtones really hinder the enjoyment of the film, even if Sirk’s ability to capture characters’ emotions bursts through how it is written. 

This Blu-ray is a very bare bones release, with the only extras being commentaries for each film. In retrospect, I wish I had watched them (but especially La Habanera) with the historians’ commentary. The context to these films is vitally important, not just for Sirk’s career, but the fact that they were financed by the Nazi regime. While a gifted performer, this does shade my impression of Zarah Leander as a Swedish woman who seemed content to be one of the biggest stars of Nazi cinema. While I am glad they are  available, I do wish there was a featurette or two about Sirk or Leander’s time in Nazi Germany to give addiitonal framing to these films.