Original Title: Delikatessen. Comedy 1930; 82 min.; Director: Géza von Bolváry; Cast: Harry Liedtke, Ernő Verebes, Paul Hörbiger, Hans Junkermann, Ernő Szenes, Gustl Gstettenbaur, Danièle Parola, Georgia Lind; D. L. S.-Tobis-Film.
The director of a delicatessen store, the nephew of the boss, one day hosts a night of revelry in the store and gets fired. He now goes to the competition, brings their business up to par, and eventually outsmarts his uncle with a cunning contract. As the partner of the merged companies, he marries a young lady who was not uninvolved in the aforementioned events.
Summary
Paul Wallis’ delicatessen is a goldmine, as the manager Franz Hellmer is a magnet that draws all the young girls into the shop. Mr. Markow, the competitor from across the street, can do whatever he wants, but his store remains empty. However, there is always female customers at Wallis who want to be served by Franz Hellmer. However, Franz, the town’s well-known cavalier and bon vivant, is very selective; not every customer gets the honour of personal service, only the particularly pretty ones he favours, the others he leaves to the equally gallant clerk Bela Fein.
Every evening, both Bela and Franz go for a stroll. Bela has his own pickup technique: he follows the chosen one of the evening, quickly dropping a gold coin behind them, and when the lady turns around, the connection is made! Tonight he tries it on a pretty girl to no avail, but Franz saves the situation – for himself. Bela stares stupidly after him, Franz can accompany the lady home, but a man who escorts a woman home usually likes to go a bit further with her.
Both of them have ended up at the “Greet Parrot” cabaret. Amazed, Lilo realizes that her cavalier is greeted by all the ladies, and she sarcastically remarks that only dancers and millionaires are popular with all the women. Frank frankly admits that he is only a manager.
Dolly Reves, the star of the cabaret, takes the stage and sings her song “Delicatessen,” whose chorus delights the house:
It doesn’t have to be a fanciest of cuisine,
You can be content with food that’s quite serene.
When you share your time and your hearts combine,
Cucumber and tomatoes are just fine.
It doesn’t have to be a fanciest of cuisine,
You can be content with food that’s quite serene.
And if your tummy is still feeling famished,
A kiss will make it replenished.
She ostentatiously sings to Franz, causing Lilo to eventually lose her mood and want to go home. Franz accompanies her to her house and upon parting, he manages to get an invitation from Lilo to have dinner at her place the next evening despite it all.
Next evening. Lilo appears at Wallis’ delicatessen shop to do her evening shopping. Franz only sees two pretty legs and rushes to the customer to serve her. As he looks at her, they recognize each other: “Two lobsters” Lilo orders, but quickly corrects herself, “just one, I see I have to eat alone! Being a seller is a job like any other…But if one makes more of himself than he is, then he is a braggart! Send the goods to the house!” Without further dignifying him with a glance, she goes to the cash register.
Franz is petrified with shock.
Since the house servant is drunk again, Bela must take the goods to Lilo. Through him, Lilo finds out that Franz is really the manager and would shatter if he had to meet Lilo with Bela tonight at the “Green Parrot”. Amused, she follows Bela’s invitation.
Naturally, they take a seat right next to the table Franz is sitting at, and soon flirting moves from table to table until Bela succumbs to the champagne and Franz is sitting with Lilo at a table. It is very jovial in the cabaret tonight, and when the curfew hits, Franz invites the company to his shop. There, they keep on dancing and making a racket until the raiding party arrives and takes everyone to the station. The morning press has their sensation!
Franz and Bela are dismissed the next morning, leaving Mr. Wallis to manage his business alone. Lilo’s situation is also dire. Her uncle withdraws her monthly allowance to force her to learn to work.
Franz and Bela go to the competition, to Mr. Markow, who immediately hires them. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Wallis appears to buy up Markow’s shop. Markow secretly consults with his two new employees, and eventually he makes a deal with Wallis that he will pay the hundredfold of Markow’s turnover of the next two days as the purchase price.
Lilo asks Wallis about Franz, but he is unable to provide her with any information. He offers the girl a position as a salesperson in his store, and Lilo agrees when she discovers the large poster in the store of her competitor saying “Manager Franz Hellmer.” She is ready to take on the competition with Franz.
Markow’s business is unrecognizable. Girls are swarming in the store, while Wallis is left with gaping emptiness. But Lilo has an idea. She announces a raffle of Bonzo figures and gourmet baskets in the window. Of course, Wallis now has the bigger business. But Franz does not let himself be pushed into a corner by Lilo. Resolutely, he reduces the prices by 50 percent and the next day Markow sells out his entire stock more than twice.
On the next morning, Wallis appears, completely broken, at Markow’s. If Markow insists on his contract, Wallis is ruined. But Franz makes him a proposal. The two companies will be merged and Franz will be the manager of the united company. Both bosses gladly agree to this proposal, as they can only benefit from it. Lilo is of course immediately dismissed by Franz and employed as a housewife.
-ner’s review in Film Kurier No. 70 (March 21, 1930)
A sound film starring Harry Liedtke, produced by D.L.S., has been met with applause from the audience at its end.
Dressed in a white coat as a herring-binder, Harry plays the director of a delicatessen house, surrounded by delectable delicacies and beautiful women. This certainly pleases the viewers, particularly since Harry also acts as a jovial bon vivant in a bar on the side.
Franz Schulz skillfully intertwines the two worlds of purchasable delicacies and consumed pleasures in a compactly structured manuscript for Liedtke and Bolváry.
There is cause for jovial shopkeeping in the competition of a thriving business, as well as cause for couplets and stage shows, skillfully echoed in the tones of E. Seeger and Max Brinck, despite the sorrowful rivalry.
The viewer gets their money’s worth: a fashionable bar business in a finely decorated establishment, a fun American street band, a violin clown, dancing and singing girls, and above all – the memorable hit song of Delicatessen: “It doesn’t have to be the fanciest of cuisine,” which in this lobster and champagne-filled milieu brings the reassuring assurance, “You can be content with food that’s quite serene.”
Géza von Bolváry experiences especially happy moments when, with the help of Willy Goldbergers’ camera, he can cause a delightful commotion, such as a raucous drinking and dancing gathering at a deli late at night being suddenly interrupted by a raid. Or Harry in a delightful situation as the store Napoleon, high above a throng of housewives who can buy from him at half price. Something similar to this had previously been seen in the newsreel; Harry’s royal reception in Breslau, where he was surrounded by an overwhelming crowd along with a cordon of eager policemen.
Ernő Verebes receives applause alongside Harry, his comedy now having become quite natural and no longer forced. Also a good type is Hörbiger, mimicking an ever-drunken house servant, while rotund Ernő Szenes and experienced Hans Junkermann bring their own flair to the performance, and Gustl Gstettenbaur is quick-witted as an apprentice.
Finally, the two female leads of the film – Georgia Lind as a contorting chansonette and the somewhat bland Danièle Parola.
The appealing and synchronized music by Pasquale Perris was well featured, resulting in thunderous applause.
