Eva, the Factory Girl

Based on the operetta of the same name with music by Franz Lehár: Passionate race car driver Georg von Hochheim (Hans Söhnker) is ordered by his energetic grandmother (Adele Sandrock) to take over the management of the family porcelain factory. He goes undercover as a simple worker and promptly falls in love with the talented factory worker Eva (Romy Schneider's mother Magda Schneider). While Georg's true identity remains hidden, jealousy and all kinds of turmoil create tension... Alongside Hans Moser as the authorized signatory, Heinz Rühmann plays the role of Willibald Riegele, one of Georg's colleagues in the factory, in this entertaining film adaptation of the operetta. “Eva” combines music, romance, and false identities into a nostalgic love story with charming characters and classic misunderstandings—driven by Rühmann's inimitable talent for comedic timing. The factory scenes in this German-Austrian co-production were shot at the famous Augarten porcelain factory in Vienna. Despite its entertaining surface, Riemann's comedy deals with issues such as class conflict, unemployment, technological modernization, and the economic crisis. The fact that it reflects the tension between social change and everyday crisis in the 1930s is probably the reason why the film aroused the displeasure of Nazi censors and why some scenes were cut or even banned in Germany.