1POPULAR CINEMA

13. Ein Mann mit Grundsätzen? (1943, A Man with Principles?), Courtesy
Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv
ceived high praise for its balanced treatment of a difficult but highly relevant
subject. 13 Much of the success of the film must be attributed to Jenny
Jugo, a comic actress whose perky personality allowed her to be confident
and assertive without appearing overly dominant. Reviewers were particularly
pleased with the conciliatory ending, which preserved the dignity of
the man even after his moral defeat by a woman.
Whereas Woman at the Wheel uses the fear of gender equality to direct
all of its aggressive impulses against the woman, Our Miss Ph.D. exposes
male prejudice from an unmistakably female point of view, which in this
case is also the perspective of reason and common sense. The shot /reverseshot
patterns privilege her experience of antagonistic situations, especially
when she responds to hostile behavior with composure and occasional mild
mockery. Even the struggle over narrative agency is from the outset decided
in the woman’s favor. Whereas she exhibits such traditionally male qualities
as determination, authority, and confidence, he gradually turns into the
caricature of a male chauvinist. For that reason, it is her probing question
that sets the narrative into motion: “Does one have to be old and ugly
to achieve something unique? Of course not. Does one have to be big and
A Question of Representation 205