The 1930s saw a fertile period in Dutch film, beginning with the first sound film in 1934 and ending abruptly in 1940 with the German invasion. During these years the Dutch film industry also supplemented its meagre resources by importing European talent. Max Ophüls, then working in France, was one such import and his much-heralded Comedy of Money, made on an extravagant budget for the time, remains a landmark in Dutch cinema. A comic yet caustic parable about the perils of capital, the film follows a bank courier, Brand (Herman Bouber), who loses a large sum of money and is fired. Brand meets some shady characters associated with the International Finance Institution and, from the depths of disgrace, he finds himself on the top of the heap; now the passive clerk has his shot at playing the authoritarian windbag. Employing the renowned cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan, Ophüls executes a delirious assortment of tracking shots and psychologically motivated compositions. The meticulous mise-en-scène was crafted to express the overweening influence of power, a drastic departure from an indigenous cinema that stressed entertainment. To further sabotage the moment's amusement, Ophüls incorporates Brechtian elements, such as the singing ringmaster who interjects a moralistic commentary on the events.