by Hal Erickson
synopsis
It must have galled American filmgoers of 1931 to watch all those happy Germans downing legal flagons of beer in the frothy operetta Bockbierfest. Ludwig Stossel (who years later played the "little ol' winemaker" in a series of TV commercials) plays Livius Heitze, the president of an anti-alcohol society. Though Livius is an abstainer, he's not exactly a prude: one of his two daughters is illegitimate, and neither is aware of the other's existence. By and by, both girls fall in love with men in the beer business, causing a double headache for Livius when he finds out. Bockbierfest is enlivened by three rousing songs, the best of which is If Had My Youth Again.
