Comedian Harmonists (Director: Josef Vilsmaier, 1997, 127 minutes)
The story of the legendary German harmony ensemble, the "Comedian Harmonists." Their international career began in the late twenties and ended in 1934 when the Nazis branded their music as "degenerate" and prohibited it. Formed amid the flourishing film, theatre, and variety scene in Berlin in 1927, the "Comedian Harmonists" enjoyed enormous international success, which for a time overshadowed both the private conflicts and the political tensions of the time. Three of the musicians were Jewish, but they felt so secure in their fame that they ignored the warnings issuing from the "Reich Chamber of Music" and the threats voiced by Gauleiter Streicher. The "Comedian Harmonists" were finally banned from appearing in public in Germany and gave their last concert in Munich in 1934.
