Tino Rossi - Bel Ami, 1941

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Tino Rossi, Orchestre sous la dir. de Jacques Metehen - Bel ami (Theo Mackeben / Louis Poterat) (du Willy Frost film "Bel ami"), Columbia 1941

This film was originally made in UFA-Berlin 1939 and was released in Paris under the German occupation, in 1941. The title song immediately became a grand "schlager" in Paris of 1941 - it was sung and recorded by many French artists, including Eva Busch.

French film critics, who in large number collaborated with the press controlled by the Nazis - could find no words to express their enthusiasm for the "artistical quality" of a Nazi-German production. "Bubblier than champagne and lighter than the air of Paris" - was the verdict of French critics on Willy Forst, the co-scenarist, director and star of "Bel Ami".
"In the congenial role of Maupassant's irresistible womaniser, who uses his charm to get to the top - they wrote - the Viennese Forst manages to resurrect the frivolous light-heartedness of a waltzing never-never land in the shape of turn-of-the-century Paris".

In Eastern Europe this Nazi propaganda movie product - in Prague or in Warsaw - was shown merely in the cinemas "Nur fuer Deutsche". The underground armies' orders - which were disseminated in thousands of leaflets throughout the occupied cities of Poland - forbade visiting nazi-controlled cinemas and watching their films.

See also:
http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=2ECLROT9aTA

http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZSADBhXBm4

http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=UWKUkuv8KLU