Too Beautiful to Be True: Lilian Harvey

Abstract

Lilian Harvey always looked like she had needed to stage a comeback already at start of her career. The prematurely aged face was continually coerced into an iron mask of charm, which in moments of consternation revealed chinks that no makeup could ever hide. The Ufa direction did not want her to be a vamp or a lady; what they had in mind was the sweetest girl in world [das siileste Madel der Welt]. They allowed this face to assume only one expression: mechanical good cheer. Harvey sought to glide over floor like a fairy, but pitterpatter of her gait had more in common with a wind-up doll. This siren never sang, she blubbered as if she had a hurdy gurdy stuck in her throat. Her gestures were forced, her dance steps drilled into her, and when running to Willy Fritsch in a fit of infatuation, she did not swing her hips; instead she swerved, like a flag, as if her person were divorced from her body. Lilian Harvey, eternal blond dream and lucky kid, was perfect synthetic actress, whose human features mimicked mechanical ones of cartoons. It stands to reason that in grotesque nonsense setpiece of Glickskinder [Lucky Kids, 1936], she says role of her dreams would be Mickey Mouse. The Ufa production, Der Kongress tanzt [The Congress Dances, 1931] is considered to be an ideological exemplar of a cinematic social romanticism. During a coach ride around a fountain, Lilian Harvey pulls out all stops, singing That only happened once, it won't happen again,