Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

dfwforeignbuff Comedian Harmonists tells the story of a famous, German male sextet, five vocals & piano, the "Comedian Harmonists", from the day they meet first in 1927 to the day in 1934, when they become banned by the upcoming Nazis, because three of them are Jewish. Harry Frommermann is a poor, but talented musician writing his own pieces & dreaming of the big success. When he goes to the store nearby & listens to new records he is so deeply fascinated by the tunes that he doesn't even realize that Erna, the young employee, adores him. When the day comes where he can barely afford the food for his parrot, it is time to do something about his situation. He launches a newspaper ad looking for company to found a singing group. He gets to know Robert Biberti & both seem to be on the same level. Soon four other fellows are found. A concept evolves & rehearsal begins. Yes another Hitler movie. But this one is different it's a musical in the great musical art deco age of the 1920 & this movie ends with the persecuted Jews escaping to other countries. The film is big, enjoyable musical biopic of the kind Hollywood used to produce in the '50s. The plot is conventional but high with its production values. The basic story has all the ingredients of a good commercial story: Berlin in its wild, decadent heyday; marital & sexual tensions within the group; a trip Stateside at a crucial point in their career. Add to this a top-drawer cast & you have a very fine enjoyable movie. Some critics panned this movie. I don't know why. It almost seems we saw different films. Six main actors, who bear more than a passing resemblance to the real characters, blend excellently & look comfortable in period costumes & mannerisms: Noethen is very good as Frommermann, torn between love of his homeland & the compromises that keep him there; Becker excellent as the brash, blond Biberti, who sticks by Frommermann to the end; Wiesinger smooth in a tailor-made role as the arranger; & Heinrich Schafmeister quietly impressive Collin, in many ways the rock of the group. Musical staging, which use digitally re-mastered recordings by the actual group, range from the intimate to large-scale, & are briskly staged & cut. The results are excellent. An epilogue reveals what happened to all the Harmonists. One moved to California & eventually became the oldest active cantor in America. Others had a good life also. (addendum I watched this first half of this film with French language. Be sure and switch to German the language it was filmed in. The french dubs were not well syncopated)5 stars.

groggo I wanted to rent this film because of the subject matter -- the great German singing group The Comedian Harmonists, who are still popular in Europe 75 years after the events depicted in this film.Alas, while I watched it, the sadness set in as I started to realize the inevitable was going to hit me square in the eyes.Simply put, you just can't combine these words -- the 1930s, Germany, three Jews -- without being stung by outrage, sadness, astonishment: pick your adjective. You just KNOW what's going to happen before it happens. It's too bad, but this kind of situation becomes ultimately very predictable. This is not to say that the film isn't worth seeing -- it is. There is brilliant acting, splendid sets, a wonderful (and brutally sinister) 1930s Nazi-era 'feel,' and, of course, the music (via the dubbed, original Harmonists themselves), which is nothing short of sublime. I think I'm going to stop watching films set in 1930s' Germany that involves Jewish characters. It was just too crushingly depressing a period. In this film, three tremendously talented Jews in the Harmonists sextet are victimized simply because they're Jews. This is a microcosm of the millions of great talents that were destroyed in 1930s-40s Europe simply because they were born 'non-Aryan,' as the Nazi euphemism would have it.One note: a reviewer here has commented on the wildly incongruous DVD cover, which shows a cabaret-style babe in heavy lipstick peeping out from a top hat. It's obviously a ploy to attract viewers into thinking they're going to see some sexy stuff with hot dancers, when no such thing exists. Shame on those who decided to do this cover. It's really an insult to the basic subject matter of the film.

Mort-31 Joseph Vilsmaier is Germany's Steven Spielberg. He is the routinier. He can make a film about anything, and you won't notice that it's his movie. Still, everybody knows Vilsmaier because there are only few movies he made and all of them were made a lot of fuss about because they were supposed to be great epic tomes that costed a lot of money. This movie about the famous a-cappella-band Comedian Harmonists is just the same. It's long and it tells a true story; nothing special. Vilsmaier tried to combine six biographies, which could only go wrong. The musical scenes are the only pleasant change in this movie. But even they show that the money spent for the production was not invested in quality: we hear the original voices of the Comedian Harmonists through the mouthes of the actors – but we don't believe in a second that it's the actors who sing.

ShrewSpeaks This story entices the viewer. You follow the group's love for the song and entertainment until it erodes away under Hitler's power. Touching and as confounding as real life can be.Bravo, gentlemen, bravo.