GIRLS IN LOVE: The Scent of Pheasant’s Eye (Fukujusō) (Japan, 1935, 67 min.), and Girls in Uniform (Mädchen in Uniform) (Germany, Leotine Sagan 1931, 87 min., sound)

The Scent of Pheasant’s Eye was adapted from Tales of Flowers (1916-1924) by Nobuko Yoshiya, a series of Japanese stories about romantic female friendships. A high school girl (Naomi Egawa) falls in love with her new sister-in-law (Mitsue Hisamatsu) but becomes jealous and moody. When her family loses their fortune, she is sent to boarding school, where she pines for her “older sister.”

Girls in Uniform, the only “talkie” in this program, is an anti-fascist lesbian masterpiece. When Manuela (Hertha Thiele) is sent to an authoritarian boarding school, the only light of sympathy is her beautiful teacher, Fraulein von Bernberg (Dorothea Wieck), whom all the girls adore. She manages to provoke the young teacher’s interest, too, and declares her love for her teacher at a school party. Her classmates band together to save her from a tragic fate.