1POPULAR CINEMA

In The Model Husband the state of inebriation provides a convenient
framework for the articulation of sexual desire inside and outside of marriage.
Again the representation of sexuality remains limited to double entendres,
veiled allusions, and dirty jokes. It is the function of the heavy
drinking to bring out the discrepancy between the characters’ obsession
with the idea of temptation and their inability to be anything but virtuous
and faithful to their partners. The circumstances are fairly typical of sophisticated
comedies from the period. Rühmann and the wife of his best
friend get together for a romantic evening in order to make their spouses
jealous and, they hope, revive their marriages. While their halfhearted attempts
at creating a compromising situation lead nowhere, except to immature
pranks, both manage to get completely drunk on cocktails and
champagne. Thus when the woman, now in pajamas, lies down next to the
Rühmann character, he first mutters, “What a dame!” and then shrieks,
“But not with me!” Of course, such inconsistencies do not stop “the model
husband” from responding to the sudden arrival of his wife and best friend
with the self-serving question, “How can I help it if women are crazy
about me?”
This sentence articulates the basic conflict between the grandiose visions
of self and the deep fears of inadequacy that lies at the core of the
Rühmann persona. No matter whether the problems are defined in terms of
economic status, as in Heimkehr ins Glück (Homecoming to Happiness,
1933), creative imagination, as in Nanu, Sie kennen Korff noch nicht? (What,
You Haven’t Met Korff Yet?, 1938), or technical know-how, as in Quax, the
Crash Pilot, the basic psychological constellation remains always the same.
Rühmann finds himself in circumstances where he is judged, or feels judged,
by someone in a position of power. To what degree such experiences resemble
the behavioral patterns of adolescence, including its wavering between
regression and revolt, can be seen in the two adaptations of the popular
Heinrich Spoerl novel, including Die Feuerzangenbowle (The Hot Fruit
Punch, 1944). Significantly, it is again an alcoholic beverage that inspires
the quintessential retrograde fantasy of returning to school: out of a desire
to “turn loose” in a tightly controlled environment, a desire to have adventures
free of risk and danger, and a desire to commit transgressive acts
without responsibility. Somewhat polemically, Karsten Witte has characterized
such tendencies as a key ingredient of fascist fantasy production. 24
Rühmann, it might be concluded, was necessary to the staging of these con-
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