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Broken Lullaby (aka: The Man I Killed) 1932


Urbane and charming Lubitsch gives up his sophisticated comedy style that became known as "the Lubitsch touch" for a deeply felt look at his native Germany after WW I, and the result is "the best talking picture that has yet been seen and heard," according to playwright Robert Sherwood. A somber, offbeat drama and a fierce antiwar document, BROKEN LULLABY tells the story of a young Frenchman who goes to Germany to seek out the family of a soldier he killed during the war and beg forgiveness. When he does find the man's kinfolk, they accept him as a friend. The film was Lubitsch's only dramatic sound film and surprised his international following of the time, which was used to the wit of his escapist comedies, but it won a wide audience.

U.K. title: MAN I KILLED, THE
Country of origin: U.S.
Genre: Drama
Color or b/w: Black & white
Production Co(s).: Paramount
Released by: Paramount
MPAA rating: NR
Running time: 77

Lionel Barrymore -- Dr. Holderlin
Nancy Carroll -- Elsa
Phillips Holmes -- Paul
Tom Douglas -- Walter Holderlin
ZaSu Pitts -- Anna
Lucien Littlefield -- Schultz
Louise Carter -- Frau Holderlin
Frank Sheridan -- Priest
George Bickel -- Bresslauer
Emma Dunn -- Frau Muller
Tully Marshall -- Gravedigger
Lillian Elliott -- Frau Bresslauer
Marvin Stephens -- Fritz
Reginald Pasch -- Fritz's Father
Joan Standing -- Flower Shop Girl
Rodney McKennon -- War Veteran
Torben Meyer -- Waiter at Inn

Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Writer: Ernest Vajda
Samson Raphaelson (based on the play "L'Homme Que J'ai Tue," by Maurice Rostand, adapted by Reginald Berkeley)
Cinematographer: Victor Milner
Set Decorator: Hans Dreier

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