This Ufa musical/melodrama was the Third Reich's greatest box-office success. A Zarah Leander vehicle featuring elaborate revue pieces and some of her most famous songs, it is also a wartime moral tale masquerading as a woman's film. Prominent singer Hanna Holberg meets the on-leave aviator Paul Wendlandt and they spend the night together. (The frank encounter caused German military officials to bristle; a good soldier, they claimed, would not do this. Goering replied that any aviator lieutenant who wouldn't capitalize on such an opportunity wasn't worth his salt.) With war escalating and duty constantly calling, the couple's one night of love gives way to seemingly permanent coitus interruptus. Hanna despairs and revolts; the role allows Zarah Leander a splendid showplace for her renowned masochistic contortions and emotional acrobatics. The singer learns to be patient and to suffer in silence; her great love must reconcile itself to the greater German cause.-E.R.