Teutonic film star Marika Rokk and her Third Reich movie musicals are long overdue for re-assessment. Her escapist fantasies were an alternate universe of what life was like in World War II Nazi Germany. Everything seems so normal in this "reel world" it's almost impossible to believe that in the real world a Fascist nightmare was unfolding. Hit songs, opulent production numbers and romantic plots made these extravaganzas almost indistinguishable from Hollywood's wartime out-put.
KORA TERRY can best be described as a "musical melodrama" that starts out as a backstage romantic triangle and quickly veers into an espionage thriller that plays out across three continents. The "Terry Sisters" are the prestigious Odeon Theatre's main attraction. The good twin Mara loves the handsome young musical director, Varany, while worldly bad twin Kora uses stage-door Johnnies to climb the ladder of success. Mara's the one who visits Kora's young daughter in boarding school when Kora finds the child a hindrance to her love-life. During a lavish musical number where Kora balances Mara on her head, Kora loses her balance and Mara comes crashing down, breaking her ankle. This injury lays Mara up and Kora uses the opportunity to seduce Varany in a scene reminiscent of Marlene Dietrich in THE BLUE ANGEL. In her lace teddy, silk stockings and satin bathrobe, Kora smokes, drinks and lounges on a bed while Varany can hardly keep his eyes on the piano as they ostensibly practice a new song he's composing. Unbeknownst to them, Mara and her faithful friend "Tobs", the costumer for the show, overhear them in the next room. Varany is only one of Kora's many conquests, however. She entertains and romances a fast crowd of wealthy socialites, playboys and dignitaries, but when she steals valuable military secrets from one of them things heat up fast. The action switches to Africa where Kora and Mara take singing engagements. Kora encounters Vopescu, the head of an international spy ring, in a casino and agrees to sell the secrets to him. To prevent her sister from betraying her country, Mara shoots her but Kora dies as a result of falling down a flight of stairs. "Tobs" convinces Mara to take on the identity of Kora while he takes the blame for "Mara's" death. In New York Kora becomes a Broadway sensation, but things boil over when all the pieces of the "Terry Sister's" life converge at once. The couple Kora stole the military plans from recognize her while Vopescu blackmails her. Varany, now a famous violinist playing New York thanks to the "Terry Sister's" agent, Herr Moller, realizes "Kora" is actually Mara. When "Kora" is arrested, "Tobs", now released from prison, proves her true identity by showing X-ray plates of Mara's broken ankle. With her own name up in lights instead of "Kora's", Mara finds true happiness again with Varany as "Tobs" looks on approvingly.
KORA TERRY is probably the most outlandish of all Marika Rokk films. This film needs no subtitles or dubbed dialog to figure out it's lurid pulp plot. This may be one of the first of the "good twin/bad twin" opuses that Hollywood became enamored of in the 1940's. Maria Montez in COBRA WOMAN (44), Olivia De Havilland in THE DARK MIRROR and Bette Davis' A STOLEN LIFE (both 46) use the same theme of demure "good twin" killing the selfish "bad one" and impersonating her for the duration of the film until final denouement. Delores Del Rio explored the same territory in the Mexican film LA OTRA in 1946 which was later remade in Hollywood as DEAD RINGER (64) with Bette Davis again. Masterfully directed by Marika's husband and mentor, Georg Jacoby, KORA TERRY holds the attention from start to finish as amazing eye (and ear) candy. The many talents of Marika Rokk are continuously on display and it's her film all the way. Singing, dancing and acrobatics are cleverly entwined with the film's plot. The "good twin" is as blonde as the "bad" one is dark, and the chiaroscuro cinematography of shadows and sunlight would presage Hollywood's film noir by a few years. The singing styles of the two sisters are as different as their personalities which gives Rokk a wide range in versatility. Singing and dancing together and separately, Rokk warbles everything from pop tunes to love ballads and the film ends with a rousing Bavarian folk dance that seems almost impossible for a Broadway stage to contain. Marika shot the "good" twin's scenes in the day and the "bad" twin's in the late afternoon to get her to be able to differentiate their personalities. The scenes with the two sisters work thanks to Rokk's "method" acting, clever trick photography and an amazing look-alike double who's mostly seen in profile. The film's musical composer, Paul Kreuder, related how the girl was found in a concentration camp and won her freedom after the film's completion. Marika Rokk, gorgeously costumed in outré European 40's fashions, is ravishingly beautiful and has three knock-out production numbers. The eye-popping "Cobra Dance" Kora does in an Algerian nightclub/casino is the highlight and must be seen to be believed. Thrillingly provocative, her exotic belly dance goes further than any Hollywood product at that time. An Arabian Nights fantasy comes to life as fakirs play the drums that make Marika rise from a smoking stone altar like a cobra from it's basket. Marika writhes sensuously in veils and lame' bikini (complete with jewel in navel) as she coils a boa constrictor around her neck, then undulates while holding the snake to her face as it flicks it's tongue at her lips.
KORA TERRY's campy kitsch reputation is well-deserved and this cult film can be watched over and over again. The songs and musical numbers alone make this one of the genre's best.
KORA TERRY can best be described as a "musical melodrama" that starts out as a backstage romantic triangle and quickly veers into an espionage thriller that plays out across three continents. The "Terry Sisters" are the prestigious Odeon Theatre's main attraction. The good twin Mara loves the handsome young musical director, Varany, while worldly bad twin Kora uses stage-door Johnnies to climb the ladder of success. Mara's the one who visits Kora's young daughter in boarding school when Kora finds the child a hindrance to her love-life. During a lavish musical number where Kora balances Mara on her head, Kora loses her balance and Mara comes crashing down, breaking her ankle. This injury lays Mara up and Kora uses the opportunity to seduce Varany in a scene reminiscent of Marlene Dietrich in THE BLUE ANGEL. In her lace teddy, silk stockings and satin bathrobe, Kora smokes, drinks and lounges on a bed while Varany can hardly keep his eyes on the piano as they ostensibly practice a new song he's composing. Unbeknownst to them, Mara and her faithful friend "Tobs", the costumer for the show, overhear them in the next room. Varany is only one of Kora's many conquests, however. She entertains and romances a fast crowd of wealthy socialites, playboys and dignitaries, but when she steals valuable military secrets from one of them things heat up fast. The action switches to Africa where Kora and Mara take singing engagements. Kora encounters Vopescu, the head of an international spy ring, in a casino and agrees to sell the secrets to him. To prevent her sister from betraying her country, Mara shoots her but Kora dies as a result of falling down a flight of stairs. "Tobs" convinces Mara to take on the identity of Kora while he takes the blame for "Mara's" death. In New York Kora becomes a Broadway sensation, but things boil over when all the pieces of the "Terry Sister's" life converge at once. The couple Kora stole the military plans from recognize her while Vopescu blackmails her. Varany, now a famous violinist playing New York thanks to the "Terry Sister's" agent, Herr Moller, realizes "Kora" is actually Mara. When "Kora" is arrested, "Tobs", now released from prison, proves her true identity by showing X-ray plates of Mara's broken ankle. With her own name up in lights instead of "Kora's", Mara finds true happiness again with Varany as "Tobs" looks on approvingly.
KORA TERRY is probably the most outlandish of all Marika Rokk films. This film needs no subtitles or dubbed dialog to figure out it's lurid pulp plot. This may be one of the first of the "good twin/bad twin" opuses that Hollywood became enamored of in the 1940's. Maria Montez in COBRA WOMAN (44), Olivia De Havilland in THE DARK MIRROR and Bette Davis' A STOLEN LIFE (both 46) use the same theme of demure "good twin" killing the selfish "bad one" and impersonating her for the duration of the film until final denouement. Delores Del Rio explored the same territory in the Mexican film LA OTRA in 1946 which was later remade in Hollywood as DEAD RINGER (64) with Bette Davis again. Masterfully directed by Marika's husband and mentor, Georg Jacoby, KORA TERRY holds the attention from start to finish as amazing eye (and ear) candy. The many talents of Marika Rokk are continuously on display and it's her film all the way. Singing, dancing and acrobatics are cleverly entwined with the film's plot. The "good twin" is as blonde as the "bad" one is dark, and the chiaroscuro cinematography of shadows and sunlight would presage Hollywood's film noir by a few years. The singing styles of the two sisters are as different as their personalities which gives Rokk a wide range in versatility. Singing and dancing together and separately, Rokk warbles everything from pop tunes to love ballads and the film ends with a rousing Bavarian folk dance that seems almost impossible for a Broadway stage to contain. Marika shot the "good" twin's scenes in the day and the "bad" twin's in the late afternoon to get her to be able to differentiate their personalities. The scenes with the two sisters work thanks to Rokk's "method" acting, clever trick photography and an amazing look-alike double who's mostly seen in profile. The film's musical composer, Paul Kreuder, related how the girl was found in a concentration camp and won her freedom after the film's completion. Marika Rokk, gorgeously costumed in outré European 40's fashions, is ravishingly beautiful and has three knock-out production numbers. The eye-popping "Cobra Dance" Kora does in an Algerian nightclub/casino is the highlight and must be seen to be believed. Thrillingly provocative, her exotic belly dance goes further than any Hollywood product at that time. An Arabian Nights fantasy comes to life as fakirs play the drums that make Marika rise from a smoking stone altar like a cobra from it's basket. Marika writhes sensuously in veils and lame' bikini (complete with jewel in navel) as she coils a boa constrictor around her neck, then undulates while holding the snake to her face as it flicks it's tongue at her lips.
KORA TERRY's campy kitsch reputation is well-deserved and this cult film can be watched over and over again. The songs and musical numbers alone make this one of the genre's best.