I consider the reviews for Komedie om Geld on imdb so far quite insightful and generally on point. Allow me, however, to delve into the way the project came together a bit more; not only mentioning the 'what', but explaining the 'why'.
After the international success of Henry Koster's De Kribbebijter, another exiled filmmaker was hired to direct a Dutch cinematic prestige project. In celebration of the 15th anniversary of Tuschinski theatre, Amsterdam's most prestigious cinema, Max Ophüls was contracted to helm what would be a rather special production. At the height of the Great Depression, the Tuschinski's deemed it a good idea to release a relentless critique of the banking world - a moral shot in the arm of sorts. At the same time, however, the budget of over 135.000 Dutch guilders made it the most expensive production the Netherlands had ever seen - talk about extreme insensitivity. One should not be surprised that audiences at the time decided to pass on this tonedeaf, hypocritically moralising misfire en masse and see De Kribbebijter again instead.
That said, not all is bad in Ophüls' only Dutch effort. In his autobiography, the director recalls being generally unhappy with the slow shooting process - in France he would have 'finished four films in that time' - but declares having been very content with the actors. It shows. The lead performance by Dutch stage legend Herman Bouber is beyond effective in its sincerity, young starlet Rini Otte is utterly convincing and charming as ever (Ophüls himself insisted on having her join the cast after seeing Jonge Harten) and scene-stealer Cor Ruys appears in a small but powerful part as cunning Bank President Moorman. If anything, Komedie om Geld is worth watching because of its performances. The camerawork is also inspired, as are certain elements such as the clownesque presenter.
Even though the performances, visuals and unique intermezzo's make Komedie om Geld interesting and over-all fairly enjoyable, it remains moralising, not too well-written and in my humble opinion certainly not on par with other early Dutch sound films such as De Kribbebijter, Jonge Harten and Pygmalion. The latter aside, Komedie om Geld is now the only Dutch 1930s film with English subtitles on EYE Amsterdam's Youtube channel and Eye Player. It is beyond embarrassing that the leading film institute in the Netherlands continues to propagate this picture, stating that "oddly enough, audiences did not take to the film", thus proving that they know jack sh*t about the cinematic history they possess.
