Broken Lullaby (AKA “The Man I Killed”) 
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch
Written by Samson Raphaelson and Ernest Vajda from a play by Maurice Rostand
1932/US
Paramount Pictures
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel
“Nobody should try to play comedy unless they have a circus going on inside.” – Ernst Lubitsch
I have never seen a Lubitsch melodrama. I hope never to see one again.
The film begins with images from the Armistice festivities following the German surrender in WWI. Paul Renard (Phillips Holmes) was a French soldier in the war. He is wracked with horrible guilt for killing German soldier Walter Holderin, whom he attended music conservatory with in France.
Paul travels to Germany to ask Walter’s family for forgiveness. We learn that Walter’s death has left his father (Lionel Barrymore), mother (Louise Carter) and fiancee Elsa (Nancy Carroll) with bitterness and unending grief. Dad also hates the French with a passion. So Paul does not get a warm reception.
But before Paul can pour his heart out, the family misunderstands his story and are absolutely joyful to meet anyone from whatever country that knew their son. Paul can’t bring himself to tell the full story. Then he falls in love with Elsa and she with him. Will Paul’s real story come out? And then what?
There are a couple of short sequences in this film where the Lubitsch touch can be detected – the beginning WWI montage and a 5-minute sequence in the middle of gossips up and down a street discussing the possible romance between Paul and Elsa.
I was moaning, groaning and complaining throughout the rest of the film. I like the actors very much but here they all wrench every bit of melodrama out of every overwrought line. I’m quite sure Lionel Barrymore was never this bad before or since. I wonder why Lubitsch did not restrain his players.
So I hated this movie. It has an IMDb rating of 7.6/10. Go figure.
