Ein Stern fällt vom Himmel (1934)

Josef Reiner is a Viennese music student, an exceptionally gifted tenor but not particularly good at managing in life. Young Annerl Bachinger, a piano teacher, secretly adores Josef for his clear, bell-like, wonderfully beautiful voice. Reiner has just missed out on a singing role in a film production starring the popular tenor Lincoln, because his magnificent operatic voice fails him whenever he sees someone bite into a lemon. This is Annerl’s chance to prove her love to “her” Josef. She goes to the film production company to put in a strong word for him with the director. By chance, she finds herself on a film set where Lincoln is present. She thinks that, in this room set up as an office, she is looking at the head of the film company. Lincoln takes a liking to the pretty young woman and invites her to an evening at a Heuriger, where Josef Reiner is supposedly due to perform. As luck would have it, Lincoln’s manager, Tomson, is also there, but he must not know that the screen favorite is there too. When Tomson hears Reiner’s voice, which sounds remarkably like Lincoln’s, he becomes furious, believing that the screen favorite Lincoln is lowering himself to a simple evening’s entertainment at a Heuriger. The star and his manager promptly clash the following day, and during their argument Lincoln grabs a bottle, thinking it contains whisky. But it contains a corrosive liquid that temporarily makes the singer unable to sing. Now it is Josef Reiner’s hour. At first he refuses to lend Lincoln his own voice for the remaining film scenes, but eventually he is persuaded. While Lincoln opens and closes his mouth, Josef sings for him from behind the curtain. The whole affair soon threatens to be exposed, as Josef realizes that Lincoln is beginning to take an interest in the pretty Annerl—more than Josef can bear. Tomson and Josef then clash, and the press present witness the whole thing. To save the compromising situation, Lincoln claims that it was all staged so that he could introduce the new singing talent Josef Reiner to the general public in this way. In the end, Josef gets not only the chance for a great singing career but also wins Annerl’s heart.