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Written by Gregg Shapiro
Oct 6, 2010
Geza Von Radvanyi’s 1958 lesbian classic “Mädchen In Uniform”/”Girls In Uniform” (Wolfe) is available on DVD for the first time. Set in 1910, in the Prussian village of Potsdam, the film opens with teenaged Manuela (Romy Schneider) stopping at a cemetery to lay flowers on the graves of her parents. From there she is whisked off to a convent school by her severe and distant aunt. The “incredibly shy and over-sensitive” Manuela soon realizes that she will have to sink or swim in the shark tank.
Manuela’s life-preserver comes in the form of teacher Elizabeth von Bernburg (Lilli Palmer), a beautiful and refined teacher about whom most of the students are crazy. Of course, this doesn’t sit well with strict headmistress Sr. Superior (Therese Giehse), who believes that her sole purpose is to train these girls to be the future mothers of soldiers.
Before you know it, Manuela is smitten with Ms. von Bernburg, which not only upsets the despised and witchy Ms. von Racket (Blandine Ebinger), who is constantly snitching to Sr. Superior, but also Manuela’s jealous and sneaky classmate Alexandra (Danik Patisson). In spite of the odds against her, Manuela begins to triumph at school, undoubtedly motivated by the extra attentions she receives from von Bernburg. But when the cook slips some rum into the punch at a cast party, following Manuela’s well-received portrayal of Romeo in “Romeo and Juliet,” Manuela drunkenly confesses her feelings for her teacher before the student body.
From there things begin to spiral downward. In spite of a visiting Princess’s (Adelheid Seeck) request that Manuela be looked after, the girl’s “unhealthy fascination” with her teacher has the potential to cost Manuela her life and von Bernburg her teaching position. This remake of the 1931 film of the same name is definitely worth seeing, especially for the performances of the lead actresses. Also said to be the inspiration for the 2006 lesbian flick “Loving Annabelle,” the primary DVD bonus material drives that point home with the featurette “From Manuela to Annabelle” in which Katherine Brooks, director of the latter film, discusses the inspiration for her movie (which also happens to be distributed by Wolfe).
An only child and heiress of two fortunes, Fisher Willow (Bryce Dallas Howard) is a Jazza Age goddess, out of place in her Memphis homeland in “The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond” (Screen Media/Constellation). Under the watchful, but fading, eye of her Aunt Cornelia (an unrestrained Ann-Margret), she has returned home from her studies at the Sorbonne on the heels of a tragic accident perpetrated by her father on a Mississippi River levee.
The screenplay for “The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond” couldn’t possibly have been written by anyone else but Tennessee Williams. From the Southern setting and sensibility to the hint of homoeroticism to the flawed but powerful female lead character, “Teardrop Diamond” is more rhinestone than real thing. And even though she’s not Viven Leigh or Elizabeth Taylor, Howard does what she can here to make Fisher Willow deserve her place among Williams’ women. DVD bonus features include deleted scenes, a conversation with director Jodie Markell and a “behind the scenes” featurette.
