in 1927, ucicky moved into directorship on a series of productions after the release of "die pratermizzi" and "café elektric" (starring marlene dietrich and willi forst) in 1927, when the death of the studio's founder kolowrat and the subsequent bankruptcy of the company forced him to relocate his career to germany. in 1929, he was hired by the ufa film company in berlin and was part of the first wave of directors there to embrace sound film. after directing "hokuspokus"/"the temporary widow" in 1930, he quickly moved into the front rank of young directors, generating a string of popular, successful films, like "morgenrot". his 1933 drama "flüchtlinge" was a major success in germany, in addition to being well received in america, despite it being a propaganda film about a german official (hans albers) who helps to rescue a group of his countrymen from the brutality of the soviet union and return them to their homeland. ucicky was one of the leading directors at ufa throughout the mid- and late '30s, working with major stars, including emil jannings (in "the broken jug", 1937).