Poor as a Church Mouse

Poor as a Church Mouse (German: Arm wie eine Kirchenmaus) is a 1931 German musical comedy film directed by Richard Oswald and starring Grete Mosheim, Anton Edthofer and Hans Thimig.^[1] It was based on the 1928 play A templom egere by Ladislas Fodor, which has been turned into several films including the 1934 British comedy The Church Mouse. The film's art direction was overseen by Franz Schroedter. It premiered at the Gloria-Palast in Berlin.

Poor as a Church Mouse
Directed by	Richard Oswald
Written by	Ladislas Fodor (play) Heinz Goldberg Felix Salten
Produced by	Emil Justitz
Starring	Grete Mosheim Anton Edthofer Hans Thimig Paul Hörbiger
Cinematography	Robert Lach
Music by	Ralph Benatzky
Production company	Richard-Oswald-Produktion
Distributed by	Deutsche Lichtspiel-Syndikat
Release date	5 November 1931 (1931-11-05)
Running time	101 minutes
Country	Germany
Language	German

Cast

• Grete Mosheim as Susi Sachs
• Anton Edthofer as Baron Thomas von Ullrich
• Hans Thimig as Frany, der Barons Sohn
• Paul Hörbiger as Count Friedrich Thalheim
• Fritz Grünbaum as Schünzl
• Paul Morgan as Quapil
• Charlotte Ander as Olly Frey, Sekretärin
• Trude Hesterberg
• Senta Söneland
• Rina Marsa
• Ernst Wurmser
• Arthur Mainzer
• Monsieur Thonny
• Gerd Oswald

Production and reception

In that production, "Oswald  emphasized the importance of sustaining the source text while applying the laws of films" according to Christiane Schönfield.^[2]

The film was noted for the scene in "which includes performances of the film's title song in which lengthy moving camera shots show multiple actors who sing in traversing large sets."^[3]