Lilli Marlene

5/26/2023

Lisa Daniely is quite engaging as the eponymous character in this post-war homage to the sweethearts whose songs lifted many an heart during the hardships of WWII. She is working in a small North African bar that finds itself controlled by the British, the Nazis, then the British again - with both sides aware that she is the source of the legendary song, and with both equally aware of her enormous propaganda value. Amidst all this toing and froing, she meets and gradually falls for "Steve" (Hugh McDermott) before being recaptured by the Nazis and taken to Berlin where she is encouraged to make broadcasts in English to smash morale. Nobody will sing this song like Marlene Dietrich, but Daniely makes a decent fist of her frequent renditions - in English and German - and her porcelain-like fe