Cinema
Ray of Sunshine
Sonnenstrahl
Paul Fejős · 1933
Synopsis
Vienna, 1933. A queue of unemployed men learns that there will be no work today. One of them writes a few lines and goes down to the Danube to end it all; a young woman jumps before him, and he dives in to fetch her. The city pays him fifty schillings for the rescue. They stay together and turn that sum into capital.
Context
The film was shot in Vienna in 1933 and released in December. A French version, Gardez le sourire, was shot in parallel with René Sti, the two stars being the same and the rest of the cast French. Adolf Lantz's screenplay starts from a subject by Boris Palotai and the director, and the sets are by Emil Stepanek. The film gives a large place to the neighbours of a municipal housing estate in Red Vienna.
Who it is for
Eighty-seven minutes, in German. The film opens with newsreels about unemployment and does not hide its purpose: to show what solidarity can achieve.
Prizes and reception
Hailed on its release by the critic of the workers' press as far superior to German production, and regarded ever since as its director's Austrian masterpiece.
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