Never Stop Beginning: Ufa Star Carola Höhn
Between 1934 and the end of the war, Carola Höhn appeared in over 30 films. In APRIL, APRIL and ZU NEUEN UFERN she starred in films directed by Douglas Sirk. Johannes Heesters was her partner in DER BETTELSTUDENT, Willi Forst in KÖNIGSWALZER, Hans Moser in LIEBE STRENG VERBOTEN and Heinz Rühmann in HURRA, ICH BIN PAPA. Unlike femme fatale Zarah Leander or the sing-and-dance queen Marika Rökk, Carola Höhn specialized in playing modern, intelligent, open-minded young women. After 1945 she made appearances on stage in Berlin, Vienna, Munich, Bremen and Hanover. She was the German voice of stars like Katherine Hepburn, Irene Dunne, Maureen O’Hara and Danielle Darrieux. Theses dubbing assignments brought her from Berlin to Munich in 1950. In 1994 Carola Höhn returned to the Berlin stage, playing the role of Mrs. Higgins in My Fair Lady at the Theater des Westens. “Don’t ever begin to give up – don’t ever give up beginning” is the motto of the ever-young and full-blooded actress.
»Using film clips and interviews with acquaintances and intimates, Fischer fashions a fascinating portrait of a celebrity whose life has been as turbulent as the time and the places in which she lived.« — The Museum of Modern Art Department of Film and Video (New York)
»This documentary was kind of a birthday present to Carola, an amazing woman who started her career in the silent era and is still working as an actress today, at 91. She was a star between 1934 and 1945, a period of German film I despise and tend to ignore. Carola, the only person I met (besides Leni Riefenstahl) who was a personal acquaintance of Goebbels and Hitler, didn’t change my view of these films, but she made me understand how a fair chance for stardom can help you completely shut out reality. Carola survived everything, hard times and light films, and comes out intact.« — Robert Fischer