Made in 1932, Liebelei is one of the last artifacts of pre-Hitler Germany; ironically, it was Ophuls' first big hit, despite its anti-militaristic theme and the fact that both the director and author's Jewish names were erased from the credits when the film opened in Germany. The story, set in turn-of-the-century Vienna, tells of the doomed love between Christine (Magda Schneider) and a young lieutenant, Fritz (Wolfgang Liebeneiner), whose lives are sacrificed to the militaristic code of honor as enacted by the husband of Fritz's ex-mistress. “Ophuls' magical adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's mordant love play (is) a lament to lost innocence, transported by Ophuls' moving camera into the mystical regions of remembrance.... In a brilliant bit of Ophulsian reverse casting, the musical comedienne Magda Schneider (Romy Schneider's mother) plays the tragic role of Christine, while the eminent tragedienne Luise Ullrich takes on the comic part of (her friend) Mitzi....” (N.Y. Film Festival, 1974)
“As I have indicated on many occasions, I love Liebelei. Here we encounter a linguistic obstacle in describing spiritual transports in terms of visual dynamics. How precisely do we describe love (though not life) after death in terms of the visual echo of a camera movement? We can only speak of a cinematic tradition of obsessive style to which Liebelei pertains, a tradition that embraces both Sunrise and Ugetsu....” (Andrew Sarris, Village Voice).