"Ich werde dich auf Händen tragen" was the last on-screen collaboration between Harlan and his wife/ leading lady Kristina Söderbaum and his last film as a movie director. Technically, it is one of his finest and most mature films that provides elements of his previous work (nature, a man between two, in this case rather four women)in a melodrama that also pays tribute to Hitchcock and Sirk (whose films Harlan must have seen by that time). Söderbaum's acting is subtle and right for the part, Harlan's ex-wife Körber delivers a stunning performance as the jealous and rather unpleasant housekeeper, whereas Günther Pfitzmann has surprisingly funny moments of comic relief. The real surprise here is the child actress, who plays the little daughter with a mixture of naivety and malice, rather different than any portrayal of a child character in German cinema of the fifties. Yet there are some irritating moments in the film, one of them a scene in which a priest on the train tells the little girl to accept guilt and punishment (in this case to be beaten for running away!).
