Dreiklang on AllMovie

Lil Dagover, appointed Germany's "Actress of the State" in 1937, upholds her lofty title in the romantic melodrama Dreiklang. Dagover is cast as temptress Cornelia Contarini, who brings about the downfall of both an ageing widower named Albert von Moller (Paul Hartmann) and his son Albert (Rolf Moebius). The father's fate is particularly tragic, inasmuch as he is obliged to defend Cornelia's honor after it has been proven beyond doubt that she hardly has any honor left to defend. It is up to Albert to pick up the pieces, sacrificing his own happiness to remove Cornelia permanently from his life. Set during WW1, Dreiklang refresingly bypasses all opportunities to overpraise German militarism, as many films of this era were wont to do. The screenplay was written by Detlef Sierck, who later directed in Hollywood under the name of Douglas Sirk.