“Except for an early attempt with Brecht and Karl Valentin in 1923, Engel started looking into the artistic possibilities of cinema only after the invention of sound: ‘No wonder that sound cinema would unveil the possible fault in representation which silent cinema could hide; likewise it is not surprising that the only directors showing to be up to par with sound are the same ones capable of grasping human beings in their entirety by the strength of their representation’ (Engel, 1931). Jenny Jugo became his favourite actress (11 films from Wer nimmt die Liebe ernst? to Viel Lärm um Nixi) and comedy was his favourite genre. Although Engel’s films after 1933 are somewhat attentive to National-socialist censorship – and it could not have been otherwise – he always managed to introduce in his films what he wanted the most, the representation of how people and relationships constantly change: ‘Both Engel and Brecht tought me that human beings are always changing and I never stopped believing in it, although I had often many doubts. It happened at times with Engel, but never with Brecht’.”

(Fritz Kortner).