The Harmonists - Comedian Harmonists

Berlin in 1928: Young actor and musician Harry Frommermann has the idea of creating a German version of the American a-capella band "The Revellers". He then publishes an advertisement in a newspaper and soon has formed a group out of singers Robert Biberti, Erich Collin, Ari Leschnikoff and Roman Cyckowski as well as pianist Erwin Bootz. After a long time of rehearsing and failures "The Comedian Harmonists", as the group calls themselves, achieve a huge popularity, success and wealth in Germany as well as Europe and even the United States. The group's trademark are not only brilliant singing performances, it's mostly their talent to imitate music instruments so that the audience gets the impression of listening to a whole orchestra playing while indeed the only real instrument is the piano. However, after years of immense success first problems appear with the beginning of the Nazi period, because three of the group's members are Jews and so soon are forbidden to perform in public. The movie portrays the rising of stars, the sparkling side but also the shadows of their success and finally their fall, being destroyed by politics and a mad government. Very entertaining, very moving and brilliantly acted.