Sumurun

'Based on a pantomime by Friedrich Freksa,' say the credits. Evidently 'pantomime' in German signified 'anything goes' since the plot, set in no certain time or place, accommodates knockabout for the kids, Feydeau-like farce with characters hiding in trunks, a couple of love stories and a climax of corpse-strewn melodrama. Original audiences seem to have responded to the crowds and the big sets, but what's striking now is the florid acting, notably Negri's extraordinary contortions to indicate voluptuousness, Lubitsch's own Harpo-esque grimacing and Tiedtke's turn as the keeper of the harem - or Über-Eunuch, as the titles designate him.